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I am shocked at the low ratings on Amazon
“I loved this book. It is expertly written and infinitely interesting. The tension is built slowly, and the horror isn't explicit, which I suspect contributes to the low ratings some have given this book. No, it is not fast and cheesy and fun like True Blood or even Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but it has a classic and timeless quality missing in today's vampires and vampire stories. It doesn't rely on cheap thrills and gore; rather, it actually weaves a real story into the familiar Dracula myth, building an inescapable link between the past and present. In short, it is LITERATURE. It was by far the best book I read in 2008, and I do a lot of reading. I recommend it only to those interested in reading something above and beyond the common Borders/Barns&Noble Best Selling Pulp tables.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-11-05. -
Would make a great movie
“The Historian is a tale that spans the centuries. Each generation seems to be searching for Drakulya. Each generation has one person that is the Historian. A professor disappears and one of his assistants goes searching for him.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-11-04.
This book is listed as a thriller. It didn't thrill me. I struggled to finish it. To me the first half was boring. However, the second half was much better. The book had an eerie quality. It was read in a quiet voice. The action was slow. There are a lot of descriptions. This is not a bad book it just isn't the fast action thriller that I prefer. Neither is this a book of romance. The gist of the story is the search for the one and only Drakulya (Prince Vlad Tepes).
It is obvious that Elizabeth Kostova has well researched the Drakulya myths. She takes a different approach to this topic than most authors. She does not use blood and gore to draw readers in. She uses lots of descriptions and a slow pace to weave in legends, myths and truths. This is not a short book. At over seven hundred pages it tends to bog down. This book would probably make a bunch of money if turned into a movie. I can see the vampire fans lining up for opening day. ” -
Amazing Story about an Amazing Lore!
“I was told of this book by a mutual friend one evening when we discussing vampire lore. She said that this sounded right up my alley and I immediately went on a hunt for a copy at my library system. It took me about the first 10-13 chapters in this book to get into it but I never felt like I wanted to give up, I could sense where Kostova was going, that she was building the plot, the story line and then boom. The minute Rossi disappears, Paul meets Helen, the ball that was rolling casually starts spinning out of control. I couldn't put this book down. Kostova's prose, her descriptions made it feel like I was right there with Paul and Helen in Istanbul, Romania, and Hungary. As the story progressed and we got to the nit and gritty of the story: to find Rossi, to find Dracula, my pulse rate increased. I found myself so involved with the book that I couldn't leave it be. It went outside with me, to the bathroom with me, and I forgot to eat.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-10-30.
My only complaints about the book are the spot where it drags in the middle of the book, the scripts that the monks leave, that Paul and Helen try to decipher are difficult to get through, although they are needed to get the puzzle pieces. My other is that the final stance, the ultimate climax is so fast, if you blink you, it's like you miss it. I still love this book, but alas, that is the one thing I wish I could change.
That all said, this book was instrumental in me getting back into reading (something I hadn't done religiously since 2000) and it couldn't come at a better time. I was going through a very traumatic experience in my life and The Historian allowed me to escape from the pain and the worry of that time period and focus on something else, something amazing.
I'd recommend this to anyone who is into vampire stories and historial fiction, it was an incredible read and definitely worth going through such a large story. ” -
Had good elements --- but disappointing
“Many reviewers have already voiced how I feel... The good ideas, but poor execution.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-10-29.
The Da Vinci Code movie kept popping to my mind as I read this --- it really felt like the backbone of the book was a movie treatment, with everything else layered over it. The location descriptions and history were fascinating. And there were suspenseful and interesting sections. But there were huge, jarring plot holes and parts that were COMPLETELY unnecessary. The daughter's trip to find her father.... A fall from cliff with no lasting ill effects? A scary man on a train who goes out of his way to follow them and then totally disappears? And the show-down at the end? Puhleeze. It felt like the author had a deadline to make.... I also found the layers of notes and letters and storytelling a little klunky. And seemed actually just a little gimicky.
Maybe there really is a reason for those writers workshops that new authors often partcipate in and mention in their acknowledgements, because I think this novel could have used that type of forum. The ideas were really interesting. And Vlad Tepes' story was fascinating. But it was packaged in a gimicky, huge-coincidence-driven Hollywood movie treatment.
Read it but be warned.
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Great Ideas, Disappointing Execution
“I really wanted to like this book. It was an unfolding mystery involving old books and book collectors that played out across generations. And the central character had been amassing his library for centuries, driven by some dark obsession that was both frighteningly familiar to book lovers and twisted by his own evil nature. I envisioned something that might have been written collaboratively by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles) and Alberto Manguel (The Library at Night), combining the long-lived, selfish wisdom of the vampire accented by an appreciation of the long histories of books in their collections.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-10-23.
It isn't a bad book, really. It just doesn't live up to its potential. The suspense-building in the first part of the book is well written. The writer's technique of using excerpts from old letters and journals creates an atmosphere of aged documents, dusty and obscure. And is specifically reminds readers of Bram Stoker's Dracula, by recreating this classic vampire tale's epistolary style. I didn't even mind the extensive treatment of medieval monks and their migration patterns, being sure that I was moving slowly toward a memorable encounter with an evil, but complex and interesting Dracula. One that would raise him to the level of a Lestat or a Memnoch.
And there is the great disappointment. Vlad Tepes is more a cartoon monster than a memorable personage. His long existence has not produced any insights or perspective, even twisted by selfish evil. There is no purpose, or even sense to the evil he wants to inflict on the world. This disappointment is so great that, very rare for me, I find myself wishing I had not read the book. My anticipation of it was so much more enjoyable than the reality.
I would not see you suffer this same pain. Do not read this book. Its disappointments far outweigh its delights.”
