The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction, Paranormal




Breathtakingly suspenseful and beautifully written...

The search for the truth becomes an adventure of monumental proportions...

A feat of storytelling so rich, so hypnotic, so exciting that it has enthralled readers around the world.

Um, was I reading the right book? Because I got none of that from this story.

While I like books that are rich in historic detail, I found that The Historian had too much of that in it. I began to feel like I was reading a history text book at times. I got really impatient and wanted to have the story move along at a faster pace. For me it seemed like every time the book would pick up pace, it would get bogged down again by another history lesson. The history parts were essential to the book and some of it was interesting, but there was just too much rambling on and on...and on. It was a very long book, over 900 pages. I don't necessarily mind very long books. I've read quite a few of them, but I didn't feel like this one needed to be so long. This book needed more editing for sure.

Another thing I disliked about this book was the fact that every time something exciting started to happen I would get disappointed because it ended all too soon. At one point there were bad guys after two characters and then the point of view switched right in the middle of it. When we get back to the two characters they are somewhere else and no explanation is given to how they got away. It felt like the bad guys in the book were there to just 'mug for the camera' so we wouldn't forget they were there and then leave so we could get back to all the history.

Also the whole reason behind what is going on in the book was ridiculous enough to be funny. I truly cannot believe that is why Professor Rossi was taken and all those mysterious books were given to people.

On the up side, I do think the idea of Dracula being real and alive, and the main character finding out she is descended from him was a good idea. It just should have been way more exciting than this. This was an incredibly boring and disappointing read.



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