Elizabeth Kostova - The Historian

Pros: Beautifully written, the scenery, the many facets of the book.
Cons: It's long.

I saw The Historian at Barnes and Noble several months ago. I decided upon looking at the cover that I was going to read it, without even knowing what it was about. I thought the hard cover book had a sort of Davinci Code appeal. ...

Pros: lots of detail about the historical Dracula, fantastic settings and more complex characters
Cons: slow pacing, changing points of view

Unless you've been living under a rock, you're at least familiar with the success of Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code and its best-selling blend of Biblical history, art, cryptography and conspiracy theory. Since then, there's been much ...

Pros: richly detailed history and cultural geography of eastern Europe
Cons: perhaps a bit overlong

It's been decades since a popular novel caused a stir that could rival Dan Brown's The da Vinci Code, the insanely popular - and slightly controversial - thriller about... well if you don't know what it's about, there are (at last count) one ...

Pros: Some interesting historical information
Cons: Really lame ending, too long

I’d wanted to read Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian since I first saw it in the bookstore because the cover seemed so intriguing. I was even further interested when I found out it was a book about Dracula. What kept me from reading it for so long ...

Pros: Beautifully written, great book for bibliophiles.
Cons: Probably won't excite fans of the vampire fiction genre.

Warning: There are a few spoilers here. If that matters to you, and you really think you want to read this book, just go out and get it. You won't be sorry. Or, skip to the last two paragraphs where there are no spoilers. Before I got around to ...

Pros: Cognitively engaging. Penetrates the ivory dome. Masterfully written - lavishly delivered.
Cons: Finicky ending and perhaps a little too many plot redundancies.

I must concede at the outset that ‘The Historian’ is evidently a very tricky book to review. I must have written, deleted and re-written this introduction a number of times now, and yet am still uncertain about it all, confound it. The ...

Pros:

An interesting retelling of Dracula

Vivid descriptions of various locales
Cons:

Way too long for it's own good

I want you to imagine for a second that you're at a fancy French restaurant. Money is no object, so you tell the chef to prepare the finest, greatest meal he can muster. And he's up to the challenge. From divine appetizers to wonderful entrees, the most ...

Pros: Good detail, accurate and interesting travelogue at times.
Cons: Derivative and boring.

A good friend of mine bought me this book on impulse from Costco, saying that he'd heard something good about it. The dust jacket talks about finding codes hidden in books and tracking a historical mystery. The author photo is terrible, and she looks ...

Pros: very interesting and rich, full of beautiful detail.
Cons: loooooooooong...and a bit dull at times.

The Historian, this two pound tome proves to hold a delicate balance between beautiful descriptive text, and just plain boring text. I personally feel like it can be deceiving to say that this is a well-written book. Although the prose is verbose and ...

Pros: Looks good on a bookshelf
Cons: Stiff language. Boring. Childish. Silly.

This is a 700 page novel that covers a hunt for Dracula. I won't give the end away, in case someone cares to go that far. That is the storyline. It takes place over about 30 years and almost as many countries. The novel is written more as an ...

Pros: The storyline has great potential
Cons: The storyline is obfuscated by heavy and vapid prose

As painful as it must be to be impaled by Vlad Tepez, the antagonist in Elizabeth Kostova's "The Historian," reading this overblown bombastic book is even more agonizing. I admit it: I was bitten by all of the hype that surrounded the debut of this book. ...

Pros: Vlad Tepes is a fascinating historical figure.
Cons: Unfortunately, there's a lot to learn and it takes time.

I adored this book. I tend to buy all of my books, and since I devour them at a high rate of speed, my "habit" costs me a ton of cash. But this novel, of course, is different than most. It's written in a Victorian style, which always makes me pause ...

Pros: good characters
Cons: Boring!!!! No plot, and way to many flashbacks.

I love a good vampire story, this one is not good and hardly a vampire story. There are way too many sub-plots which appears to be the authors attempt at complexity, however it is more convoluted than complex. I dedicated three weeks to this book and still couldn't get through it. I finally surrendered and returned it to the library 3/4 of the way through.