I'm not allergic to religious allegory in my fiction by any means - but this was in no way a religious novel until the last five lines. I'm also not the first person to say 'WTF' about the ending. It does however put the 'contrast' into 'compare and contrast', in the sense that neither the protagonist nor any other student wants to be there they've in fact been strongly coerced to be there if they refuse or fail in their studies Bad Things happen to their loved ones and their studies are not only nonsensical but once they start making sense of them in the desperate course of not failing, bad things happen to their brains and eventually bodies.It's a compulsively horrifying read. I'm not the first person to compare this to Harry Potter in the sense that it follows someone chosen to attend a school for magic over the course of their study. and suddenly all she could ever want.Ī complex blend of adventure, magic, science, and philosophy that probes the mysteries of existence, filtered through a distinct Russian sensibility, this astonishing work of speculative fiction-brilliantly translated by Julia Meitov Hersey-is reminiscent of modern classics such as Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, Max Barry’s Lexicon, and Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale, but will transport them to a place far beyond those fantastical worlds. Yet despite her fear, Sasha undergoes changes that defy the dictates of matter and time experiences which are nothing she has ever dreamed of. Using terror and coercion to keep the students in line, the school does not punish them for their transgressions and failures instead, it is their families that pay a terrible price. The books are impossible to read, the lessons obscure to the point of maddening, and the work refuses memorization. Situated in a tiny village, she finds the students are bizarre, and the curriculum even more so. Sasha Samokhina has been accepted to the Institute of Special Technologies. The definitive English language translation of the internationally acclaimed Russian novel-a brilliant dark fantasy combining psychological suspense, enchantment, and terror that makes us consider human existence in a fresh and provocative way. It’s a book that has the potential to become a modern classic of its genre, and I couldn’t be more excited to see it get the global audience in English it so richly deserves.” - Lev Grossmanīest Books of November 2018 - Paste Magazine “ Vita Nostra has become a powerful influence on my own writing.

“Vita Nostra” - a cross between Lev Grossman’s “The Magicians” and Elizabeth Kostova’s “The Historian” is the anti-Harry Potter you didn’t know you wanted.” - The Washington Post

Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko