The Historian

The Historian’s premise—an interesting twist on the Dracula legend—hooked me, and then the story hooked me and wouldn’t let go. (By pure coincidence, I read it right after having re-read Stoker’s Dracula.) Kostova manages a complex plot, various characters, and several time periods in the 20th century while not getting bogged down in minutiae. Her scene descriptions, particularly of Budapest and Istanbul, I found amazing. As the perspectives of different characters in different decades are depicted, it feels somewhat like frame stories within frame stories, and is all the more compelling for that. There were lots of “Wow” moments. This… show more.

The whole storyline is unique.

It’s not a typical paranormal romance, it’s a vampire book without it. It’s well written, and I love how the author takes the reader on a journey around the world not based in one location.

There is suspense but with a historical factor driving it and that’s what makes it such a unique book.

I definitely recommend this book for the audience who is steering away from the paranormal romance tropes and wants to sit down to read a unique book. 

The Historian is brilliantly brooding. Kostova builds a wonderfully gothic atmosphere of menace using a combination of history and legend to make her fiction utterly believable. The novel is fascinating, delving behind the iron curtain as it does. Her characters are strong and step right out of the page for the reader, so you are completely gripped by their story throughout.

This book should have been called The Historians because nearly every character in it from Vlad the Impaler to the narrator, herself, are historians. Kostova's characters use history to track down the ancient vampire, and this is the reason I found this book so compelling as I was also using history when writing my novel. A plus for me was that I also found myself caring for the characters. The Historian spans centuries and takes you through many countries in the hunt for the vampire who has wreaked havoc on so many lives and does so in a compelling way.

Can’t really start a “life after death" list without a vampire story, can I?

While old Dracula has a special place in my heart, this book led me on a tour through eastern Europe I can only hope to someday trace. Through her brilliant descriptions and suspenseful storytelling, the author has demonstrated why vampire stories will never go out of fashion.