Reviews tagging 'Death'

L'Historienne et Drakula, Tome 1 by Elizabeth Kostova

31 reviews

imrereads's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

4.25

I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. Despite it being so long and slow-paced, I found it very engaging. Well-crafted, mysterious, interesting characters, gothic vibes, history, folklore and delving too far into academics. I saw someone describe it as a vampire story for history and literature lovers, and that's a good pitch. Certainly significantly more about history and folklore, than vampires, but all aspects are present. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Blood, and Murder

carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious reflective 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

4.25

I found the development of the relationship between Helen (sidenote: Elena is a MUCH cuter name than Helen, and I hate that she was referred to as Helen, even though Elena is her real name) and Paul to be very sweet. I liked the relationships overall (Paul and his daughter, who I do not think is ever named despite being the titular historian; Paul and Rossi; Helen/Paul and Bora; Helen and her aunt; Helen/Paul and Stoichev; Rossi and

Helen's mother

)

I appreciated that the one question I had -- if Dracula doesn't want to be found, who/what is giving these people the books that set them on the chase? -- was answered.

I overall liked it, however, it dragged a little throughout, but the ending felt rushed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Cancer, Torture, and War

hannahhorror_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Dark academia at its finest. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

caidyn's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Wow, what a great book. It was so winding and Gothic and just amazing. Definitely a favorite book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Abandonment

srm's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

There's a lot I like about this book, but ultimately it's a loooooooooooong time to spend to get where we got.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

rorikae's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

‘The Historian’ by Elizabeth Kostova is a complex story about three generations of a family that have been pulled into a search for information about Dracula. 
The story twines between the story of a college student as she seeks to learn what happened to her father and his mentor as they searched for news about Vlad the Impaler and the legend of Dracula. It is mostly told through recollections that the daughter (and her father before her) have found, including letters, journals, and notes. 
I’m quite conflicted about this book. I enjoyed it but I feel that the length is unnecessary (even though it is well paced). So much of this story is recollection that it feels very passive as other characters are doing things and the daughter’s story is really just a frame narrative. For the length of the book, it doesn’t feel like a great much happens, which is part of why I feel it could have been greatly cut down in length without sacrificing the story. There were some interesting revelations throughout the story, which I did enjoy. The ending was very quick (especially considering how long the book is). This is very much a book for people that want an academic focused but fictional look at Vlad the Impaler and legends of Dracula. Action is minimal but Kostova does a good job of keeping questions moving throughout the story in a way that pulls along the interest of the reader. 
Important note: this book was published in 2005 and uses the slur for the Romani people multiple times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Grief, Car accident, and Abandonment

Minor: Confinement and Kidnapping

jelliestars's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

itisnatal's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, and Racial slurs

spellbookspines's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Miscarriage, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt

renettereads's review against another edition

informative mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Despite having the physical copy, I listened to the audiobook version of The Historian and really enjoyed the narration of it. Because there are ultimately two timelines and a varied cast, it helped to have different voice actors perform this. 

Now The Historian ultimately follows several historians as they track down Dracula after they each have a strange encounter with a book. Though this is an interesting take on vampire mythology, I found it very dense. 

Combined with a slow pace and suspense that often didn’t pay off, I thought a book about Dracula would be more adventure and less research-based. In saying that, I did enjoy this angle, but just felt like it was a little bit too much fact and not enough vampire for my liking. Plus, in my opinion, this could’ve been a lot shorter. 

Still, the prose is beautiful and the worldbuilding strong, but I couldn’t help feeling that it was a little convoluted. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death