School of Shards

Vita Nostra (English) #3

by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko, Julia Meitov Hersey (translator)

The haunting final chapter of the modern classic Vita Nostra trilogy. The Dyachenkos’ magical dark academia novel brings the story of Sasha to a revelatory climax as she learns to take control of her powers and reshape the world...or destroy it forever. Beautifully translated from Russian by Julia Meitov Hersey.

The Institute of Special Technologies teaches students just one the magic that allows them to become parts of speech, and in doing so, transforming into a specific piece of grammar (a verb, or an adjective, or an article) so they will be able to shape the world around them. As the new provost, though, Sasha is facing an enormous the students in the world she just created, her “world without fear,” are unable to master the curriculum. Whether it’s the magic or the natural order of things, what they need to learn and become—Speech—is the basis of the material world.

And if she can’t teach it, Sasha knows that matter will soon cease to exist.

To protect the world, Sasha must collect fragments of her former reality. Only three people carry these fragments within her younger brother, Valya, and the Grigoriev twins, Arthur and Pashka, the sons of her former lover, Yaroslav Grigoriev. Sasha must lure these three to the Institute and make them learn—and understand—at any cost.

But she knows how difficult the path is, even more so from the other side of the teacher’s desk. Forced to act ever more ruthlessly, Sasha also notices the faster the world around the Institute changes. It is a vicious circle.

And one she must break.

To do so, she will have to shape reality again, one in which communication doesn’t break down and Speech once again needs to evolve and grow and flourish.

Sasha has already given up so much in pursuit of this dream—often her nightmare—and she might be asked to make one more sacrifice so that the world and Speech might live on.

Genres: Fantasy, Dark Academia, Fiction, Audiobook, Adult, Contemporary, Magical Realism

366 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 8, 2024

About the author

Марина Дяченко
Marina and Serhiy Dyachenko - co-authors of novels, short fiction, plays and scripts. They primarily write in Russian (and in the past also in Ukrainian) with several novels translated into English and published in the United States. These include, Vita Nostra (2012), The Scar (2012), The Burned Tower (2012), Age of Witches (2014) and Daughter from the dark (2020). The primary genres of their books are modern speculative fiction, fantasy, and literary tales.

Reviews

[Rachel Ashera Rosen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some years ago, I had my brain melted and then rearranged by Vita Nostra, which still remains one of my favourite fantasy novels—and fantasy series—of all time. Its long-awaited conclusion, School of Shards, is haunting, moving, and absolutely perfect. It's one of those books that I put down and immediately wanted to reread, not only because it's stunningly written, but because there were layers of theme and character that I wanted to pick apart.

School of Shards picks up in the new reality that Sasha created in Assassin of Reality—a world without fear, without plane crashes, without child death, but without free will. Now the provost of the Institute of Special Technologies, she has become the same inscrutable taskmasker who terrorized her as a student. But the Great Speech is falling apart, and with it, the world outside of Torpa. And so Sasha must pull from her own past—her half-brother Valya and the twin sons of her former lover Yaroslav—to fix what she's broken.

Even with the world closing in on the town and its strange magic school, this final chapter in the trilogy feels like it has a much greater scope. The post-Soviet malaise of the first novel expands to a global scale. Words, language, no longer holds the fabric of reality together. The central metaphor is so apt for our present moment, and maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I just found myself thinking that this is a book that does what I want fantasy to do. This is why the genre is meaningful.

I would be remiss if I didn't also note the elegance of Julia Meitov Hersey's translation. As is fitting for a book about language, the language of the story itself is beautiful, lyrical, and melancholic.

My immense gratitude to the publisher for the ARC!

[Fred Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of books that I have read in the last few years, the Vita Nostra trilogy is far and away my favorite. The underlying ideas, that language underlies a mutable reality and really defines existence, that the world is not what it seems, are very intriguing. Many of the rather bizarre exercises and concepts that the students at the Institute of Special Technologies encounter remind me a lot of the Gurdjieff Work. This novel brings the trilogy to a conclusion. Sasha became the assassin of reality in the previous book. Now she deals with the consequences of that. She had became a non-human morpheme and in the course of this novel regains some shards of humanity. I really liked her character, Valya (her brother), Kostya, and Portnov. Not so sure about the twins. The ending actually brought a sense of resolution to the books, although I am sorry to see them end.

"You see there is no such thing as 'the true world.' There is only the world we're ready to see and accept."

[Anna Otto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fortunate enough to be given an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I have read the first two books in the Vita Nostra trilogy and I have been waiting for the final entry. So glad to see it finished. It’s a worthy successor, focusing primarily on the next generation of Words, but also describing the role of Sasha as the assassin and creator of realities. My heart ached for Valya, Sasha’s brother, and the twin sons of Yaroslav, the brave pilot she had loved in book two. The mad school in Torpa that our heroes study and work at is back with a vengeance, and we get to follow them from acceptance to its ranks to the conclusion of their studies. I don’t want to give up too many spoilers but will say their course of study is complicated. Temporal loops, threats of arson, and impossible to complete homework assignments abound. It was bittersweet to see Kostya, Sasha’s first love, take the place of his father, Farit. I think it gave me a glimpse of Farit’s character in a way the first two books hadn’t, and made me want to reread them.
Overall just a magical book, suffused with affection for its characters, and even better than the first two. I hope it finds more readers searching for fantasy and magical realism. It’s been compared to Harry Potter, but I would say this is a far more complex universe, with multidimensional heroes, meant for adults.

[Zana · Rating 3 out of 5]

"She is a special Word; she is Password. She can manufacture new realities and destroy old ones. Sasha wanted to create a new world according to her own design—a world without fear."

I love you and I miss you, Sasha.

Even though this third book wasn't my favorite, I still enjoyed my time reading it. If you're a huge fan of this series, I'd recommend it. But bear in mind that this didn't really feel like a conclusion to the series (imo). It read more like a soft launch for a spinoff.

I'll be honest. I wanted a lot more Sasha and a bit more Dima, and a lot less storylines with the new batch of students.

Every scene with Sasha felt like I was wandering in a desert, thirsty, but only seeing mirages instead of an oasis. But on the rare occasion that we were given an extensive Sasha scene, I cherished it like it was my last drink of water.

I did like how the new students were tangentially (or in Valya's case, actually) related to Sasha. But other than that, seeing them go through the Institute's trials and tribulations (technically abuse, if we're being frank), felt like a rehash of the previous two books. It really wasn't as exciting as it could've been. I was pretty disappointed.

I honestly wished that this was more focused on the faculty and less on the new students, like Emily Tesh's The Incandescent. But it is what it is.

Thank you to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for this arc.

[Me, My Shelf, & I · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it, but it started to get a little too preachy about love and fear and drive and the human condition and lost a lot of the series's weirdness.

I think I might treat Vita Nostra as a standalone because I liked it better that way.

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more of a 3.5. May need to continue stewing on this, as I only just finished it. This was a fun and entertaining conclusion to this trilogy, but I think this is the weakest of the series, unfortunately. It sort of felt like a re-hash of the first book with different characters. I didn't find the conclusion to the mess Sasha created in the second book to be as satisfying as I had hoped, and I wasn't that interested in the new characters. The first book Vita Nostra is still the best and should be regarded as a classic in magic school/mind-bendy weird dark academia, if it isn't already.

So my overall stance is: definitely read the first book; continue on in the series at your own peril. I had no expectations that the rest of the series was ever going to be translated into English and considered "Vita Nostra" a standalone for a long time.

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Чисто субъективно, для меня это лучшая книга в серии. Марина Дяченко, кажется, нашла наконец баланс между всеми сущностями этой истории: метафизической и материальной, драматической и комедийной, фантастической и будничной. Концовка, которую мы не ждали, но заслужили.

[Ronan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐

Acho que foi um ótimo encerramento pra esta trilogia. Mais um livro sensacional dos Dyachenko.

[Yumeko (blushes) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suppose the problem is glaring: when you can't understand something, you can't judge it for its worth. If your understanding of something, well, I wouldn't and shouldn't say surface level, is too occupied with the experience, maybe you can't look outside it and see it for being basically a bunch of possible nothings. On a side note, I wonder if this is what mathematics would look like in an alternate reality. Maybe it's a little ridiculous to say, but what the characters study feels like the most accurate depiction of math without it literally being math, and uh minus the many superpowers and the drawbacks.
I feel the need to name them out loud: Sasha, Portnov, Sterkh, Coach, Yaroslav, Kostya, Valya, Grigeriov Pashka and G. Arthur, and even Yegor. Everyone's made their stamps on my brain. Oh yes, the places too, The Institute of Special Technologies, Sasha's room, Sacco and Vanzetti Street, because spaces have their meanings, and meaning is the projection of will onto the area of application.
I'm happy to have graduated from the Institute fully human with only a cursory knowledge on the sometimes incomprehensible ideas. I continue to fail at mentally distorting a sphere such that its external surface becomes internal.

[Alenka of Bohemia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still think this is one of the most unique and mind-boggling series I have ever come across, but I also do not think I will ever feel as drugged and bewildered as when I read the first instalment. The follow-ups are both interesting and well thought through, but they are missing that incredible atmosphere bordering on horror.

[lookmairead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird. This book just makes me miss book 1.

[Mikhail Korobko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Не знаю, что сказать про книгу. С одной стороны, книга глубоко вторична: это все то же, что и раньше, с небольшим развитием темы (мы смотрим теперь со стороны преподавателей института). По событиям и сюжету в целом все близко к предыдущим книгам. Написано неплохо, но без огонька — видно, что цель была в том, чтобы закончить книгу по завещанию мужа.

С другой стороны, если вам близок этот мир, понравилась вторая часть, а от первой вы в восторге (как я) — стоит прочитать, учитывая все вышесказанное и не ожидая шедевра. Хотя бы затем, чтобы увидеть завершение истории Саши и философии этого мира.

Всем остальным — скорее не рекомендую.

[Becky]

If this isn’t a 4-star for me I will quit reading

(this works every time)

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A satisfactory conclusion to a series that has had some high highs and some low lows.

I’ll start with the translation, which has at least improved since the first book. I’ve spent this entire series begging for a new translator (which we did not get), and I don’t think the translation was ever truly what I would call good, though it’s infinitely better in the third book than in the first.

As for the story, it’s kind of the opposite. Conceptually I love all the mind bendy play with language. It’s the best part of the series. And the way the school sets up is fine, if not as rooted in strong sense of place as I would like.

The books lose me a bit when it comes to the characters, who have actually become less compelling as the series progresses, and weren’t wonderful to begin with. While I get that part of the message is the harshness of this world and that its characters must adapt to it, that doesn’t make them a particularly likable bunch, or even an interesting one. Sasha is completely insufferable, and the rest of the characters feel flat and hard to root for, though I can’t say I felt compelled to root against them either.

In all, I loved all the high-concept stuff here and I love that these books really make you think about how language evolves through use and what that might mean in a world where it manifests in a very literal sense. But the story and the characters aren’t especially winning (nor are they, say, fun to hate), and as a result it’s hard to feel strongly about anything happening here as the series concludes.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[isabell · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

this is such a fitting end to the trilogy. while i do not believe the magic of the first book alone can be recreated (i simply had never read anything like vita nostra before), it still was a great end to the trilogy all about the consequences of sasha‘s actions in assassin of reality. i‘m sad to see the characters and this world go, but the books will always be there fore me to pick up again

[emma]

incredible day for annoying people

[ThatBookish_deviant · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

[Julia Horjus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vita Nostra was zoooooo apart en echt één van mijn favorieten, en School of Shards was de perfecte afsluiting van deze trilogie. Geef me meer speculative fiction!

[Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reeling from the despair of having reached The End of a series that I love but unable to articulate why

[Eno RoJo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Challenge 2025: 14. Un libro sobre una educación no tradicional.

Siento que hay demasiadas metáforas que no alcanzo a pillar

[Hot Mess Sommelière ~ Caro]

UM WHAT???

Book 3??? I am so here for it

Also these new covers are atrocious! Hideous! I would have never even glanced at them!

Please bring the old covers back (Thank god I own book 1 as a hardcover with the old cover)


What a travesty

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

School of Shards is the finale of a trilogy that began with Vita Nostra. That first book is an all-time favourite of mine, by far the best thing I've read in the magical education sub-genre. (A local librarian agreed with me that it's the best and The Atlas Six is the worst, so this opinion has professional endorsement.) However neither sequel can quite equal the fascination of discovering the extraordinary magic system the Dyachenkos have created. In the first book, the protagonist Sasha joins a strange and threatening school that seems like a cult. In the second book, she embarks upon postgraduate studies there. In this, the third, she is running the school and shares protagonist duties with other characters. One is her younger brother, the other a pair of twins who are her sons in a distant existential sense but not literally. These new arrivals are trying to understand what the school teaches, while Sasha deals with the thornier problem of reality collapsing.

School of Shards seemingly takes place in a pocket dimension, where absolutely nothing outside the town housing the school exists. Sasha is struggling to build a better reality, which relies upon training up a class of new students. They do not initially fill her with confidence. I found it interesting to see Sasha in the role of teacher rather than student. As many of us have discovered, being good at studying doesn't necessarily mean you have any aptitude for passing on your knowledge. Her brother and the twins are intriguing new characters and I enjoyed their reactions to weird developments. Valya's hamster was delightful. The stakes faced by these boys were the same as Sasha's in Vita Nostra: danger to their families if they fail their exams. The stakes facing Sasha, however, were existential and much harder to grasp as a reader. Honestly, I didn't have clear enough memories of Assassin of Reality to really get my head around them. I do recall that both books have brilliant depictions of time loops, though.

Despite this moderate befuddlement, I enjoyed School of Shards very much and definitely recommend the whole trilogy. It is marvelously strange, a truly original and richly thought-provoking variation on a frankly worn out concept. I am in awe of the scope and ambition of the Dyachenkos' imagination.

[Penny Geard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book adds the perspective of several teenage boys, which I was pleasantly surprised not to hate 😅. And we do still get Sascha's perspective, which was a relief!

This did have some similar weirdness to the first two books, but I think the lack of progression of the ideas from those previous books makes it feel like a letdown. The first book in the series still stands above the rest of the series. I think it doesn't help that the sequels are significantly shorter.

Overall, still enjoyable, but not enough metamorphosis :P

[sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

overall i wish we had gotten more sasha in this. like i understand the need for the other povs but it doesnt mean i like them!

this book could have been a bit longer. the ending was anti-climatic.

i dont think the sequels live up to the greatness of vita nostra unfortunately. but i still enjoyed this a lot. also it’s official…sasha is one of my favorite book protagonists.

do i know who nikolay valerievich is…hell no!!

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

this series made me want to vomit (in a good way?) unfortunately nothing will ever compare to the first book, which is one of my favourite books of all time.

[Claudia]

Glad this series had a non-miserable ending despite its bleakness lol

[Bree Amaral · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I understand the ending? Maybe?? But the journey was quite good.

Probably my least favorite in the series though because our main characters are petulant boys. Ew. But Sasha still slays.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m typically not a huge fan of sci-fi/ fantasy, nor dark academia (currently over utilized as a plot device, in my opinion). So you know this trilogy has to be really well done , to engage me: which it did, using a literary basis - speech - for the power of its characters and their universe. 3.5 stars (only because I think the first book was a transformative 4).

[Varadia · Rating 2 out of 5]

So this rehashed the first book but with the original main characters (or a subset of them, including Sasha) as the teachers and administration instead of students. And the students are all dudes related to Sasha or her former boyfriend. And we all learn that you can't have a truly meaningful world without death and fear.

A theme which has been done before, and better.

So.

Yeah.

Just read the first book and stop.

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally going back and reviewing this.

To be honest, this was my least favourite book in the series and I think that it's closer to a two stars than three but... I did like the ending.

I think writing and plot wise, it was the weakest book out of the three. It felt like it didn't quite know where it was heading.