So much so that she’s a perfect candidate for the institute.
The characters: Sasha Samokhina is a sixteen year-old girl who loves to learn. I haven’t read a Russian novel in over twenty years, so I’m hoping the translation isn’t rough. Yet despite her fear, Sasha undergoes changes that defy the dictates of matter and time - experiences are like nothing she has ever dreamed of…and suddenly all she could ever want.” This is not a novel intended for children, yet this is sounding like a twisted, older sort of Harry Potter set in modern Russia. Using terror and coercion to keep the students in line, the school does not punish them directly for their transgressions and failures instead, their families pay a terrible price. The books are impossible to read, the lessons are obscure to the point of maddening, and the work refuses memorization. As she quickly discovers, the institute’s ‘special technologies’ are unlike anything she has ever encountered. Against her mother’s wishes, Sasha leaves behind all that is familiar and begins her education. Though she does not want to go to this unknown town or school, she also feels it’s the only place she should be. As summer ends, her domineering mentor directs her to move to a remote village and use her gold to enter the Institute of Special Technologies. As the days progress, Sasha carries out other acts for which she receives more coins from Kozhennkov.
He rewards her effort with a strange golden coin. The teenage girl is powerless to refuse when this strange and unusual man with an air of the sinister directs her to perform a task with potentially scandalous consequences. The premise: From the inside jacket cover, “Our life is brief…While vacationing at the beach with her mother, Sasha Samokhina meets the mysterious Farit Kozhennikov under the most peculiar circumstances. The main image is copyright Josephine Cardin/Trevillion Images and the texture is copyright Black Digital Cat/Shutterstock. The authors’ names are at the bottom and translator Julia Meitov Hersey’s name is just under theirs. A blurb from Lev Grossman is just above the title, while under the text is the image of the young woman. I like how the title is covered in golden droplets that match the text. Weird, odd, and a perfect image for this book that warrants the same adjectives. The cover: A black background shows a girl with her head turned to the right, away from the reader, as she seemingly is engulfed by water, though the liquid does not go below her shoulders. Published by Harper Voyager on November 13, 2018.
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