jessthebookworm's review
4.0
An historian is delivered a mysterious book, a book which simply opens up in the middle with a picture of a dragon. He soon realises that his mentor has the exact same book, and that his mentor has a story to tell on its origins.
What follows is the retelling of a search, spanning a few decades, on the history of Vlad the Impaler aka Dracula. The author takes us backwards and forwards in time, giving up tiny pieces of information at a time regarding the sordid history of Dracula. All the while the reader is taken on a journey through France, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Budapest, at various stages in their history. The author describes these places so amazingly that I felt as though I was there, and it really has made me want to be there in person.
The search for Dracula is done with such a mesmerising pace, and the suspense and horror are slowly built up excellently, and once I got into the book (which took me just over 150 pages), I was hooked and dying to know what happened next.
I don't know what I expected when I picked this book up, but it wasn't something so well-researched and academic in feeling. I don't know if I was expecting another romanticised vampire story, but this was not that. It was more a historic account of the supernatural.
Although it look me quite long to get into it, I enjoyed it at the end, and would recommend it for classic vampire lovers and wannabe travellers.
What follows is the retelling of a search, spanning a few decades, on the history of Vlad the Impaler aka Dracula. The author takes us backwards and forwards in time, giving up tiny pieces of information at a time regarding the sordid history of Dracula. All the while the reader is taken on a journey through France, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Budapest, at various stages in their history. The author describes these places so amazingly that I felt as though I was there, and it really has made me want to be there in person.
The search for Dracula is done with such a mesmerising pace, and the suspense and horror are slowly built up excellently, and once I got into the book (which took me just over 150 pages), I was hooked and dying to know what happened next.
I don't know what I expected when I picked this book up, but it wasn't something so well-researched and academic in feeling. I don't know if I was expecting another romanticised vampire story, but this was not that. It was more a historic account of the supernatural.
Although it look me quite long to get into it, I enjoyed it at the end, and would recommend it for classic vampire lovers and wannabe travellers.
brentmayberry's review against another edition
5.0
Listen, this story is as good as it gets. No, it's not perfect, but it's close.
Yes, most of the story is told through letters...long, excruciatingly detailed letters that you and I and any person with a schedule would likely never write. That is this book's only achilles heel: this small deviation from plausability.
Other than that, this book is a jewel. I loved Kostova's prose, the way she describes things, personifies things. It was a lovely experience to read, and I've fallen even deeper in love with the Mediterranean.
The places and characters and events and sights and actions...when you close your eyes and think about them...are vivid, almost tangible, and I cherish that about any book.
The story is very compelling, too. A mysterious book bearing the name of Dracula sends curious scholars all over central Europe and the Mediterranean in search of more clues as to the final resting place of Vlad the Impaler. Along the way, they are met with vampires, gruesome history, and remarkable men and women...the kind of people with whom you'd want to spend weeks and weeks just talking and learning and enjoying history.
Yup, it gets the five stars. It's one of the rare books I'll read again sometime in the future.
Yes, most of the story is told through letters...long, excruciatingly detailed letters that you and I and any person with a schedule would likely never write. That is this book's only achilles heel: this small deviation from plausability.
Other than that, this book is a jewel. I loved Kostova's prose, the way she describes things, personifies things. It was a lovely experience to read, and I've fallen even deeper in love with the Mediterranean.
The places and characters and events and sights and actions...when you close your eyes and think about them...are vivid, almost tangible, and I cherish that about any book.
The story is very compelling, too. A mysterious book bearing the name of Dracula sends curious scholars all over central Europe and the Mediterranean in search of more clues as to the final resting place of Vlad the Impaler. Along the way, they are met with vampires, gruesome history, and remarkable men and women...the kind of people with whom you'd want to spend weeks and weeks just talking and learning and enjoying history.
Yup, it gets the five stars. It's one of the rare books I'll read again sometime in the future.
tnbcgirl's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
lizkrinke's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
5.0
dougsasser's review
4.0
Bram Stoker's Dracula is a collections of journal entries, letters and newspaper articles. Kostova uses a similar theme by imagining Vlad the Impaler, who inspired the Stoker character, is also not dead. Historians and scholars have been trailing him for hundreds of years. The author takes the often bland world of scholarly research and makes it a place of great suspense.
cthulhussy's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
kellyskubic's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
mikespeegle's review
5.0
For want of tonal depth the battle was lost. Kostova's work is historically anchored with an easy aplomb that writers like Dan Brown can only aspire to. Unfortunately, the nested narrations have a tendency to run together; an adolescent western girl can sound so much like a middle-aged eastern man that the reader may find themselves flipping back to the beginning of a chapter to find out who is narrating. What's more, even while in mortal peril, Kostova's characters struggle with conveying urgency.
nataliebonetti's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5