Assassin of Reality: A Novel

(Paperback)

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The eagerly anticipated sequel to the highly acclaimed Vita Nostra takes readers to the next stage in Sasha Samokhinas journey in a richly imagined world of dark academia in which grammar is magicand not all magic is good.

InVita Nostra, Sasha Samokhina, a third-year student at the Institute of Special Technologies, was in the middle of taking the final exam that would transform her into a part of the Great Speech.After defying her teachers expectations, Sasha emerges from the exam as Password, a unique and powerful part of speech. Accomplished and ready to embrace her new role, she soon learns her powers threaten the old world, and despite her hard work, Sasha is set to fail.

However, Farit Kozhennikov, Sashas dark mentor, finds a way to bring her out of the oblivion and back to the Institute for his own selfish purposes. Subsequently, Sasha must correct her mistakes before she is allowed to graduate and is forced to do what few are asked and even less achieve: to succeed andreverberatebecoming a part of the Great Speech and being one of the special few who dictate reality. If she fails, she faces a fate far worse than death: the choice is hers.

Years have passed around the Instituteand the numerous realities that have spread from Sashas first failurebut it is only her fourth year of learning what role she will play in shaping the world. Her teachers despise and fear her, her classmates distrust her, and a growing lovefor a young pilot with no affiliation to the schoolis fraught because a relationship means leverage, and Farit wont hesitate to use it against her.

Planes crash all the time. Which means Sasha needs to rewrite the world so that cant happen...or fail for good.

Reviews

"A tense, gripping, and satisfying story that will leave readers wondering about their own physical limits and what would be possible, if only one had the proper motivation. Translated from the original Russian, this dark and unforgiving magical world treats its characters in ways that make Harry Potter and even Naomi Novik's Scholomance Trilogy look like preschool." Booklist (starred review) "This is a novel that transcends genre and will astound readers looking for serious, contemporary fiction." Library Journal(starred review) Vita Nostraa cross between Lev Grossmans The Magicians and Elizabeth Kostovas The Historian [...] is the anti-Harry Potter you didnt know you wanted. Washington Post "VitaNostra is singular and brilliant - unlike anything Ive ever read." R.F. Kuang, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel Vita Nostrahas become a powerful influence on my own writing. Its a book that has the potential to become a modern classic of its genre, and I couldnt be more excited to see it get the global audience in English it so richly deserves. Lev Grossman, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Magicians Vita Nostratakes the trope of young people selected for a school for magic and transforms it into an unnerving, deeply philosophical coming-of-age tale. [...] Herseys translation is plain and straightforward, a wise choice that enhances the deep strangeness of this trippy, vivid novel. Publishers Weekly (starred review) This dark, ambitious, and intellectually strenuous novel will feel like a fresh revelation to fantasy readers glutted with Western wish-fulfillment narratives. Kirkus Reviews(starred review) on Vita Nostra Imagine that Hogwarts has opened a satellite campus inside Harry Hallers Magic Theater fromSteppenwolfby Hermann Hesse, and assigned Kafka, Dostoevsky and Rod Serling to oversee the curriculum. BookPage on Vita Nostra

Author Bio

Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, a former actress and a former psychiatrist, are co-authors of twenty eight novels and numerous short stories and screenplays. They were born in Ukraine, lived in Russia, and now live in the United States. Their books have been translated into several foreign languages and awarded multiple literary and film prizes. Marina and Sergey are recipients of the Award for Best Authors (Eurocon 2005).