by: Elizabeth Kostova
A 16 year-old girl finds an old book in her father's library which doesn't have any writting in it, but has a picture of a dragon with the words "Drakulya" in the center of the book. She questions her father about the book and he goes on to tell her the story of how he found the book and what happened to him afterwards.
He begins by telling her that when he first received the book he confided in one of his professor's at his university about it. That professer had an intriguing story that included him saying that he believed Dracula was still alive. Hours later that professor mysteriously disappeared.
I had a hard time with this book. I liked it at first, then it got slow. Then it picked up again and I liked it, then slow again, etc. I wanted to know what was going to happen but I just couldn't seem to make myself get through it. It was like wading through a swamp. I wanted to get to the other side but my legs kept getting stuck in the mud and every step was labored.
I enjoy history and research, which is the majority of this book, and I found a lot of it interesting, but it began to get very tedious and I found myself not really paying attention. The author was very good at giving me the heebie jeebies though. Many a night while reading alone in the recliner I got the creeps and didn't want to open the door to put the cat out.
By the end I was all into it again and thought the whole book was worth it. All the build-up and suspense. I couldn't wait to see what happened. And then... major let down. The ending for me was very anticlimactic. I was disappointed. I was expecting more.
2.5 stars
4 comments:
I completely agree about the ending. It was one of those books I could not read at night and then expect to go right to bed. So I was hoping for a big bang finish, but I did not get it.
I am completely disappointed! I was looking forward to reading this book. Bummer.
I still liked the book. I found a lot of it fascinating, but I am kindof into dark scary things. I read somewhere that books you don't like or are written poorly are still good to read so you know how not to write. I read a book recently that reminded me of the historian. It was called Ysabel and I liked the book, but the end was anticlimactic. I also felt like the author did not wrap things up for me. I generally don't like vague endings or when they just say "and they all lived happily ever after" I need the details...all of them
I read this a couple of years ago and felt roughly the same as you. It was good, but not great, and the ending was horrible. I mean really, what was she thinking? Took everything a bit to far in my humble opinion.
Still, it was creeptastic in places and made me worry about Dracula jumping off the roof to catch me at night.
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