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I was born in Russia and grew up between Russia and Ukraine before moving to the U.S. in 2015. I had no prior knowledge of English, so I had to study the language primarily through reading fiction—that's how I fell in love with the craft.
I graduated from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, where I lived and studied ecology for four years before returning to the U.S. to work in a completely different field. I've been doing random things all my life (singing at the Bolshoi Theatre, representing the Central Park Zoo in Congress, playing dozens of sports, to name a few), mostly for the experience. Still, I was never as certain about something as I am about writing.
I think every story, whether fictional or not, serves a purpose other than entertainment—it is a form of experience.
Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
In Amira Vasileva’s Chosen by a God, eighteen-year-old Valia lives with her ailing mother in the village of Endra outside Clahmore. Valia takes a job in a small bookstore as a mysterious figure begins appearing whenever she is alone. Her life changes after an envelope bearing the Church seal names her as the first thirty-first disciple ever summoned to Svyatadel. Each year, thirty descendants of the gods enter the religious stronghold, where they train for the chance to become one of three Chosen Ones entrusted with divine power for a single year. Valia arrives weeks after the other candidates, with an invitation whose origin is unexplained. Her place among them could explain why the figure has followed her, if she can match students already familiar with the lessons expected from a future servant of the Church.
Amira Vasileva’s Chosen by a God is an incredible fantasy, and divine order is part of everyday life across six fascinating kingdoms. Savion, the Revered Mother’s right hand, is fantastic as Valia’s instructor, turning a castle floor plan into a lesson on invasion. I love Luan, the young prince of Nordvik, especially in the prayer room as he tells Valia what it was like growing up as the king’s youngest son. Still, it’s the near-cinematic settings that steal the scenes. Trinity Castle’s Streeda wing begins beyond a colored-glass tunnel that throws light across the corridor. Elsewhere in the castle, an indoor garden grows beneath a glass ceiling, with trees rooted directly into the soil. Imaginative throughout, readers who enjoy divine magic inside royal worlds will adore this book.
