"Vita Nostra" started out really strong and I loved how different this story was to other fantasy stories I've read. The protagonist was really interesting, I loved her inner conflict and character development, the supporting characters were interesting, and the storyline unique.

Unfortunately, the plot became a little too weird for me towards the end and the tension that had built up all throughout the novel just faded a little.

Still, I loved the writing style and how different the story felt.

Vita Nostra was first published in Ukraine in 2007, in the original Russian. After garnering prizes and a cult following, this novel by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko is now being published by HarperCollins in an English translation by Julia Meitov Hersey. It has been compared to «The Magicians» by Lev Grossman, who has claimed that Vita Nostra «has become a powerful influence» on his own writing. A Goodreads reviewer describes it as «Harry Potter, were it written by Lev Tolstoy». It’s a helpful analogy, but one which does not really prepare you for the novel’s enthralling weirdness.

It starts out like a slice of post-Soviet realism, with Sasha Samokhina, the 16-year old protagonist, vacationing at a rather sordid resort with her (single) mother. Sasha notices that she is being stalked by a stranger, whom she cannot avoid, however hard she tries. Things soon take a turn for the bizarre. When Sasha finally speaks to the stranger, he sets her awkward challenges which border on the abusive, and test her physical and psychological endurance to the limit. The price for failing is high – one near-miss brings about nearly fatal consequences for the persons closest to Sasha. It turns out all these rather disturbing goings-on are a prelude to Sasha being called to join the mysterious «Institute of Special Technologies». Potterheads will be disappointed to learn that this is no Russian Hogwarts. It is situated in the nondescript provincial town of Torpa; its more advanced students seem deranged or crippled; its lecturers are threatening; its curriculum, and particularly the dreaded «Specialty» lecture, seems maddeningly – and pointlessly - difficult. And there’s a clear sense that failure is simply not an option. Throughout the novel, Sasha considers not entering the Institute and, eventually, escaping from there. But can she ever bring herself to do that when it would put her life and her family in mortal danger? The atmosphere of dread never lifts – and it is accentuated by the fact that for most of the book, neither Sasha nor the readers are really aware what the course is all about, what its aims are and what it will all lead to. Like the protagonist, we are kept in the dark and slowly discover (part of ) the truth with her.

These gradual revelations makes Vita Nostra eminently readable, despite the fact that its plot is not really spectacular and often built on abstruse concepts. At one level, it can be enjoyed as a coming-of-age or college novel, one in which Sasha Samokhina experiences love and grows into an independent adult. At the same time, the fantastical elements give it an added dimension, making us wonder what the heck is going on at the Institute. By the end of the book, we notice that the novel has prodded us into considering weighty philosophical concepts, such as fate and free will – do we really have choices, or are these set by others, or by our own fears and limitations?

This was one of the most mind-boggling, unusual and memorable books read this year – and probably the one with the most striking cover. If I chop off a couple of stars from my rating it is because I found the language used rather awkward – I can’t say whether it’s the translation or a quirk of the original, but I felt that the shifts from colloquial to a more high-flying style were clunky and unconvincing. But this is, ultimately, a novel one reads for its baffling ideas – I recommend it precisely for being so strange.

Sometimes a book is so custom-made for me that I am unsure whether I can reasonably recommend it to anyone or if the reading experience was incredible just because the book hit all my favourite things. This is one of those times. Combining some of my greatest loves in fiction: dark fantasy, inspired by Russian literature, set in the middle of nowhere with plenty of snow, combining boarding school tropes with unconventional storytelling, this book was everything to me.

This book follows Sasha, whose life is changed forever when she is approached by an otherworldly man who tells her she is stuck in a time-loop and the only way to change this is to get up at four in the morning (never missing a day) and nakedly swimming in the ocean. She does so every day, vomiting up weird gold coins afterwards. Returning home and to what she thinks will be normalcy, she is approached again, having to follow new sets of rules, always throwing up gold coins afterwards. She does not feel she has a choice when the man tells her she will be attending a rural university instead of the one she had planned for all her life.

This book is a wild ride, and for the vast majority of its duration it stays opaque and the reader is left in the dark just as much as Sasha is. I did not mind this one bit and I loved this introspective, weird book a whole lot. There is a menacing undercurrent here that is made even more spell-binding as we closely follow Sasha and her fears without ever really being in her head at all. I found the use of third-person narration worked really well here and made the book all that more compulsive for me.

While Sasha is definitely the heart of this book and I adored her prickliness and her focus and her love for her family, I have to admit my favourite characters were the two main teachers and her mentor, the latter one being so very fascinating and awful and just everything I wanted him to be.

I do want everybody to read this, for one thing because it is brilliant and one of the highlights of my reading but also for another, totally selfish reason, I want it to be successful enough that the second book gets translated as soon as possible. I want to spend more time in this world and with this characters and I have very many theories where this might go next.

Vita Nostra, first published in 2007 in Ukraine, tells the story of Alexandra (Sasha) Samokhina, who whilst vacationing with her mother meets Farit Kozhennikov, a strange and sinister-looking man who forces her to attend a remote and mysterious university. This novel follows her adventures and exploits. One word that cannot be used to describe this novel is boring. It is certainly far from that and combines many different genres to create a truly original story. While I did enjoy aspects, I, unfortunately, found it rather perplexing and surreal, so much so that for the majority of the time I had no inclination about what was actually happening! However, there was something stopping me from just giving up and moving on to something else.

As a fan of Haruki Murakami and his intensely descriptive prose, I also appreciated that here, although those who don't enjoy that style of writing may wish to avoid this, as it means that the story is quite static and takes rather a long time to come to fruition. In the end, the story does make sense, and I respected the attempt at making it a unique title that readers will remember for a long time. By the time the conclusion came, I was very sad to be leaving this fantastical, fictional world and can now absolutely understand why this book has a cult following! I suspect I will pick this up again and see what sort of impression it leaves on me after the second time. Intriguing, extraordinary, well written, wonderfully atmospheric and thoroughly unforgettable. If you enjoy fantasy, I urge you to give this a go!

Many thanks to HarperVoyager for an ARC. I was not required to post a review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

A highly original book that is difficult to pin down for a satisfactory description. Urban fantasy? Sci-fi? Speculative? Weird? It has elements of many of this but doesn’t fit neatly under any label.

While on holiday with her mother in a small seaside town, Sasha Samokhina meets the unsettling Farit Kozhenikov who gives her a series of bizarre tasks to complete. Sasha feels powerless to refuse and Kozhenikov promises that failure will result in dire consequences. After failing her entrance exam to university Sasha discovers that she has been selected for the mysterious Institute of Special Technologies, where the lessons are inexplicable, the teachers terrifying and the older students damaged. The what, why and how of what is happening are all equally obscure as Sasha begins a bizarre and disturbing process of mental and physical metamorphosis as everything she knows about time and matter disintegrate.

Esoteric and metaphysical, the spiraling plot and lack of answers make for a frustrating read that part of me wanted to abandon, but that’s all part of the Dyachenko’s devious writing. The reader experiences Sasha’s own bewilderment, and both her desire and her inability to escape, picking apart the reality of her situation right beside her.

A few of the sections drag on a little too long after their purpose has already been achieved, making the pacing uneven and the story sometimes gets caught up in its own sense of mystery, edging over into self-indulgence. But it’s also clever, absorbing, challenging and infuriating. Harness your patience and it is well worth a read. I hope that the rest of the series is translated into English in due course.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK, Harper Fiction, the authors Sergey and Marina Dyachenko, and the translator, Julia Meitov Hersey, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of Vita Nostra in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I was drawn to this book because of the beautifully mystical cover. I just loved it. Now the question is, does the cover do the book justice? In my opinion, it certainly does.
I found the storyline to be well thought out and written. It was mystical, atmospheric in detail and intriguing. I lost time once I turned that first page. The storyline had me truly absorbed. I enjoyed this book immensely and have ordered a printed edition. While this was my first book from the authors, it certainly won't be my last.
Definitely well worth a read for fantasy fans or if you are in search of something that is just a bit different.

Like weird? This is your book! Like Harry Potter written by Dostoyevsky, with bits of Kafka and the X-files rolled in, all set in a post-Soviet landscape and a mysterious college. I honestly had no idea what was going on most of the time. To take the beginning: our heroine is set a task by a mysterious mirror-sunglassed guy to go swimming and is soon vomiting up strange gold coins... then she has to go running every morning ending in taking a pee...

There's something intriguing here but the flat prose (or translation?) and long drawn-out scene setting left me impatient - I wanted the story to get going faster than it actually does. For more patient readers than me, do be aware that things don't make much sense and you have to trust that they will by the end. This has a cult following and I wanted to be part of the club - but sadly it's not to be. I didn't click with this but plenty of people do - and I envy them.