On The Table Read Magazine, “the best entertainment eBook magazine UK“, Marina Vantara’s Mission Homo Liberatus: The Beginning is a gripping fusion of WWII history and sci-fi mythology, reimagining the Khatyn massacre through a hybrid hero’s battle against energy vampires and the shadows of forgotten trauma.
Mission Homo Liberatus
Marina Vantara’s Mission Homo Liberatus: The Beginning is a daring and genre-defying novel that weaves the harrowing realities of World War II with speculative fiction and mythic storytelling. At its core, the book confronts the 1943 annihilation of Khatyn, a Belarusian village destroyed by Nazi collaborators, reimagining this tragedy through a lens of supernatural metaphor and philosophical inquiry. The result is a work of startling originality that blends historical precision with imaginative audacity, marking the start of a planned trilogy that explores memory, trauma, and human potential.
Set in late-Soviet Belarus in 1985, the novel centers on Yan, a hybrid protagonist born of a human mother and the mythical Lemurian race—an ancient, fear-transcending species from the legendary island of Lemuria. Having evolved beyond human limitations, the Lemurians unlocked superhuman abilities and fled Earth to escape its descent into chaos. Yan’s return to his mother’s homeland sets the stage for a multi-layered reckoning with the psychic scars of war and the hidden forces that manipulate human suffering. The novel introduces the concept of “energy vampires,” psychopathic entities who thrive on pain and control humanity from the shadows. Among them is a reimagined Grigory Vasyura, the real-life war criminal responsible for Khatyn’s destruction, now cast as a malevolent force in Vantara’s speculative narrative.
Drawing from Soviet archives and eyewitness accounts, Vantara grounds her story in the chilling details of Khatyn’s massacre, ensuring historical fidelity while weaving a dark tapestry of conspiracy and memory manipulation. Yan’s journey to uncover the truth about his mother’s murder and the village’s fate brings him into contact with a cast of compelling characters: a disillusioned intelligence officer, a dying hypnotist, and a gifted teenage girl who may hold the key to the survival of the homo liberatus race. Through their stories, the novel explores themes of intergenerational trauma, state control, and the battle for truth in a world where memory itself is a contested space.
Vantara’s fusion of historical documentary and speculative fiction creates a narrative that is both grounded and otherworldly. The novel’s philosophical undertones challenge readers to consider the forces that shape human evolution and the enduring echoes of past atrocities. As Yan navigates the haunted landscapes of Belarus, the story becomes a meditation on awakening—not just of a species, but of a collective consciousness determined to reclaim its agency.
Mission Homo Liberatus: The Beginning is a bold and ambitious debut in a trilogy that promises to span generations and timelines. For readers who crave stories that blur the boundaries between fact and fiction, Vantara’s work is a fearless exploration of history’s shadows and humanity’s potential. With its vivid characters, archival depth, and mythic imagination, this novel invites us to confront the past as a living force—one that demands we fight against forgetting.
Marina Vantara
“I didn’t write this book just to entertain. I wrote it because there are stories — real, brutal, buried stories — that must be remembered and never repeated. ‘Mission Homo Liberatus’ was my way of resurrecting one such story and refusing to let it be erased. By fusing historical fact with speculative fiction, I wanted to invite readers to question what they’ve been told, to remember what was meant to be forgotten, and to imagine what humanity could become if we ever managed to evolve beyond fear. This isn’t just a fantasy. It’s a warning. And maybe a blueprint, if we’re willing to work on deepening of our self-awareness.
–Marina Vantara
Marina Vantara is a Belarusian-born author, musician, and scholar whose rich multicultural background shapes her evocative storytelling. Raised in Russia and having spent over a decade in Ukraine before settling in London in 2006, Vantara’s experiences across post-Soviet cultures infuse her work with profound historical and emotional depth.
A trained musician and graduate of literature, she balances her writing career with teaching piano and Russian literature on a freelance basis. Her academic and personal journey informs the vivid authenticity of her debut English-language novel, Mission Homo Liberatus: The Beginning, a genre-defying blend of historical fiction and speculative mythology. Vantara is also the author of the widely acclaimed educational book 7000 English Words in the Russian Language, a resource celebrated for helping language learners navigate linguistic and cultural intersections.
With a voice that bridges worlds, Vantara’s work resonates with readers seeking stories that illuminate the complexities of history, identity, and human potential.
Find more from Marina Vantara now:
Marina Vantara’s official website.
Apple Books: https://apple.co/45qpjDN
Kindle: https://amzn.to/4n7JJIg
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