It was weird.
It wasn’t what I expected when I was looking for a story about “Magic Schools”.
I can’t say I fully understand what was happening as I’ve read it, or the message it was trying to convey. Sometimes I had to double back a paragraph or two just to better my vague understanding of the story.
Nevertheless, I devoured this book in one day; words just kept pouring as I read, giving glimpses of a fleeting story. That is to say, I enjoyed my experience in reading it. I don’t know if it’s something I’d read again in the future, but at least I know it was a good adventure.
What are your thoughts to this book?
How do you interpret its ending?
Why is Sasha short for Alexandra?
Wow, one of these old-school “random nerd dumps information”-Wikipedia-articles:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryna_and_Serhiy_Dyachenko
I love it, let’s hope the editors never find it.
What do you mean by these nerd dumps?
The Russian abbreviation comes from the older form Aleksashka, which was shortened to Sashka, which then gets shortened to Sasha.
Sounds like an interesting read, worth adding to the list then?
Yeah, it is. It’s a unique novel to say the least.
I’m currently reading it. So no spoilers. But I can answer one thing - Sasha is not short for Alexandra. Like many other cultures, Russians have a “home name” and a “formal name” for people. Sasha is just her home name. That’s why no one at the institute calls her that unless they know her closely.
