From the Bookshelf of The Roundtable…

Vita Nostra (Vita Nostra, #1)

Marina Dyachenko,

Sergey Dyachenko

Start date: February 1, 2022

Finish date: February 28, 2022

Discussion: 2022 Fantasy Tournament

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 24 topics — 619 comments total

2022 Fantasy Tournament

* 2022 Fantasy Tournament Schedule
By Christopher · 55 posts · 27 views

last updated Jun 09, 2022 01:10PM

FINAL ROUND: The Fifth Season vs. Circe vs. The Curse of Chalion
By Christopher · 18 posts · 20 views

last updated Aug 18, 2022 03:50PM

showing 8 of 8 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Feb 10, 2022 Petra rated it liked it

This kept me intrigued throughout, even when I wasn't keen on the story. That says a lot. This is such a strange story to follow and think about. What's happening? Where is this story going? What's going to happen to the students? The questions don't end.
But I came to appreciate the message (as I understood it) of maturing, growing and becoming more than one's Self.
It's not often that one comes across a story as original as this one. Original in a good way, although sometimes confusing way.
If ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Sep 06, 2020 Nadine in California added it

Shelves: world-lit, speculative-fiction

DNF early on. Whatever the opposite of propulsive is, that's what it was for me. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 31, 2022 Dawn rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audible, magical-realism, audiobook

I don't get it. I don't understand. It makes no sense.

What I am hoping is there isn't actually anything to understand. Then I won't feel like such an idiot and I can just go with the story was not interesting enough, or the characters weren't developed, or whatever else I can come up with, rather than......I feel like I've missed the entire point of the book because I'm not smart enough. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 24, 2019 Wendy rated it really liked it

Shelves: in-translation, audiobooks, fantasy, 2019

More than a decade after leaving the academic world, I still have occasional reoccurring dreams in which I wander labyrinthine corridors the week before final exams, searching for a class I never realized was on my syllabus, often while trapped in a time loop. Vita Nostra brought all that buried academic anxiety to the surface in what often felt more like a satire/allegory of academic life than your typical fantasy novel. It's packed with interesting questions and ideas, but I'm still not entire ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 22, 2022 Christopher rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, fantasy, 21st-century, russian

An incredible, mind-bending story about a girl who is much more than she seems, and a world that becomes stranger and stranger the more that you read. I really hope that they translate the sequels, because I'm dying to spend some more time in this dark, esoteric world.

Copied from our book group discussion, just so that I have a record of my thoughts upon finishing: (view spoiler) An incredible, mind-bending story about a girl who is much more than she seems, and a world that becomes stranger and stranger the more that you read. I really hope that they translate the sequels, because I'm dying to spend some more time in this dark, esoteric world.

Copied from our book group discussion, just so that I have a record of my thoughts upon finishing: (view spoiler)[I finished this over the weekend and I've been processing since then. I really, really liked this book. Like everyone else, when I got to the end I thought "WTF?", but sitting with it for awhile and reading everyone else's thoughts, I really appreciate the ambiguous ending.

For me, a lot of my enjoyment of the book came from feeling like understanding was just out of my grasp, a feeling that I know I shared with the characters. I liked being in the same confused, lost state as them, but getting glimpses of what was going on.

I think the magical stuff is basically gibberish. I don't think there's any sense to a person actually being a word or the world being a system of language or whatever it is they said. I think the ideas behind the magic and the story can be boiled down to this passage, spoken by Portnov:

"It's the nature of our specialty: nothing can be explained. One can only achieve understanding on one's own. You are a command, a part of the Speech of Creation. A load-bearing structure. I told you once you were a projection. Remember? Here it is: You are a projection of the Word that is destined to reverberate. And every day you get closer to the original. You are a foundation upon which an entire universe can be built. And this cannot be explained, Sasha, it can only be understood."

I like the idea that something can't be explained, it can only be understood. That could be seen as a cop-out to not have to write a coherent magic system, but I think there are lots of things in the real world (someone's feelings, for one) that can be understood but can't be explained well.

I really like and agree with Kai's interpretation of the ending that she shared in the previous thread.

There was an avalanche of Biblical allusions at the end of the book. The very ending has two quotes directly from the Bible, about the Creation: "In the beginning was the Word" and "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." I think that Farit's last conversation with Sasha before her test, where he offers her the chance to erase the past three years of her life and start fresh, was an allusion to Satan tempting Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane before his crucifixion. I didn't notice any other Biblical references or allusions in the beginning or middle of the book, so I wish the authors has weaved those in earlier on, rather than just sticking them on at the end. Or of course, maybe I just didn't notice them.

A lot of the book reminded me of Gnosticism, which would fit with the weird Biblical references. I learned about this in college when I studied early versions of Christianity that no longer exist, and it's also an important theme in Cormac McCarthy's work, which I love. The Gnostics talked a big game about having "secret knowledge" that unlocks enlightenment. The God of the Gnostics was also quite different from mainstream Christianity... he basically created the Earth but then hid himself away (I don't see any hint of God in Vita Nostra, other than Sasha when she makes her new creation at the end of the book). The most significant supreme entity in Gnosticism is the demiurge, which I think is roughly equivalent with Satan (Farit). Not a very uplifting religion, in my eyes. (hide spoiler)] ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 31, 2022 Rosana rated it it was ok

Shelves: translation, 2022, fantasy

I looked forward to reading this book for a Fantasy Book Tournament with a group here in GR. The premise seemed interesting: written by an Ukrainian husband and wife team, a story about a wizard boarding school with dark undertones - an anti Harry Potter of sorts.

But if the idea was good, it lacked in execution. The story feels repetitive and much of the writing goes nowhere. The authors attempt to portray a deeper meaning in the process of discovery that the characters are forced into going th ...more

Like · see review

Feb 08, 2022 Lori rated it liked it

Shelves: zy-text, z-reviewed, z-read-2022, fiction, fantasy, roundtable, rt-book-read, series

Magical school that students are forced by fear to attend. Set in post-Communist Russia, I don't see this setting working in any 'first-world' country. The ending can completely ruin the book, depending on how you view it.

I found the cultural portrayal fascinating, especially the things that are a given but do not exist in the USA (or Europe, or SA, etc.). The culture is still highly centralized and the secret police seem to be still around. The story is adequate.

3 Stars - a good solid read, in ...more

Like · see review