Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Who Is The Historian?, April 16, 2009
Like all respectable vampire tales, this one spans centuries. However, that is where the similarity ends because I have never read a vampire tale quite like this. The protagonists span three generations. I can see someone turning this book into an epic movie or mini series. Each generation has one or more of its own historians. All are looking for the real Dracula (Prince Vlad Tepes) for both professional and personal reasons. The search for the truth will take them to several different countries and to journeys of self discovery that none anticipated.
Readers I must warn you that if you are hoping for a romance novel, this is not it. There are several love stories woven within and through the primary story, but as compelling as they may sometimes be (I wept at page 526), they take a back seat to the search for the "Dark Prince".
This is an adventure but not in the usual sense as there is really not much action (until near the end). Remember, these are historians so you can imagine their method of searching. I did not find this novel "Genuinely terrifying" as quoted from the Boston Globe but I agree it is "A thrill ride through history" as stated by the Denver Post. If you love history, traveling, and emersion into other cultures, you will love this book. It will feel as if you have been on an exotic vacation.
Warning, I found the first half of the book difficult to read. Elizabeth Kostova is a stickler for details (possibly in the excess) and I found it hard to form attachments to the characters. The initial moving back and forth through different events within several generations was a bit confusing, but if you can hang in there, by the second half of the book you should have a strong bond to one or more of the protagonists and you will be thankful for the details that brought you to that realization.
This is a book that should make you think, "It could happen". I can even see readers who tend to enjoy non-fiction more than fiction finding merit and a great deal of fun in following our heroes through situations that are exotic and yet, believable.
What do our heroes find? I am not one to be accused of creating spoilers. My personal joy is in sharing a book with someone and then watching them discover the prize for themselves. I will tell you that what they find is quite fascinating so enjoy. Oh, and with all the historians in this story, I put this question to you. Who is THE Historian?
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best book I've read in years, November 28, 2008
I read this book a year ago, and I have been searching for an equally good read ever since, sadly without success. I was totally enthralled from the first page to the last. I enjoy historical fiction and historical mysteries, both cravings that this novel satisfied. I do not usually like fantasy/supernatural/horror stories, but Kostova incorporates the vampire theme so deftly that I didn't need to suspend my disbelief for even a moment. The writing is mesmerizing, the characters feel like flesh-and-blood people, and the descriptions of Prague and Humgarian villages made me feel like I'd been there. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I hope Kostova publishes another novel soon.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"I vowed to make history, not to be its victim.", February 7, 2009
Author Elizabeth Kostova's unusual debut novel combines her ten years of scholarly research on Vlad Tepes, the Impaler of Wallachia, sometimes known as Drakulya, with the stories that have become part of local folklore in Bulgaria and Rumania, and the legends created and perpetuated by Bram Stoker (in his novel Dracula). A sadistic prince from the mid-fifteenth century who killed up to 15,000 of his own people, often impaling them on stakes and leaving them to die horrible deaths, Vlad terrified his enemies from the Ottoman Empire, though it was Stoker who created the belief that he was a vampire.
Three people from the twentieth century, all of whom have studied Drakulya and his history, tell interlocking stories here through letters, archived research documents, scholarly lectures, and their own experiences. All believe that Drakulya still walks the earth, selecting his acolytes and spreading his evil through bites on the neck, which leave them "undead." As these characters tell their stories in alternating scenes from different time periods, they travel widely, often to libraries and universities, searching for clues about Drakulya, whom they believe is connected to recent disappearances and deaths.
Historians and scholars will be fascinated by the detailed information revealed in this novel as the three main characters uncover key information about Vlad/Drakulya. The characters' trips to Rumania, Hungary, and Bulgaria, then under Communist rule, provide fascinating glimpses of Eastern Bloc life, both in the cities and in the countryside, and scenes which are set in archives and libraries show the excitement of the scholar on the track of important information. Travels to remote, previously uninvestigated sites connected with Vlad suggest the intriguing nature of field work. The plot is used primarily as a framework which allows the author to disclose the historical Vlad, revealing information slowly as mysteries begin to be solved.
Those looking for a fast-paced blood-and-gore thriller may be disappointed by the author's serious approach. Though the story is often exciting---and has a conclusion which packs a wallop--the characters themselves are undeveloped, and the constant shifting of location as the points of view change makes the stories difficult to follow, at times. Foreshadowing is often obvious, and the use melodramatic elements is sometimes unnecessary and intrusive--a gypsy curse, ghostly appearances in a photograph, feelings of "presences," convenient letters and postcards, and frequent use of coincidence. At almost seven hundred pages, the story sometimes lags because the dramatic tension cannot be maintained when the focus shifts suddenly from action to research. A unique and fascinating story, filled with odd occurrences, this is an interesting combination of scholarship and legend, a debut novel from an author with a promising future. Mary Whipple
Dracula (Literary Touchstone Edition)
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