The Historian

“The Historian” is the tale of a father and daughter drawn together, not so much by love but by fear. It's the tale of a hidden secret, not one but two secret societies, and the danger that comes from learning about them.And the book is about Dracula, so the heroes of this book had better learn about that hidden secret before it's too late. The Dracula of this book is the Walachian despot, Vlad III, known as the Impaler. But like the Dracula of Bram Stoker's novel, he's a vampire.The story is told primarily at three points of time: 1972-74, 1954, and 1930. These are the stories of the daughter, her father, and the father's professor. As the book unfolds, we see exactly how these characters are intertwined and how they become destined to play the roles they do.As a horror fan, I'm of course intrigued by anything relating to Dracula. However, perhaps the greatest appeal of “The Historian” is as a travelogue. The reader gets to experience many interesting sights in Europe, from London and Istanbul, to Budapest and Sofia, along with locations connected with Vlad the Impaler: Poenari Castle (Vlad's castle) and Snagov Monastery (Vlad's tomb). Kostova's descriptions of various libraries and monasteries makes them come alive.But it's not just a travelogue. There are mysteries to be solved and plot twists and constant danger. The Cold War and the paranoia it created are captured perfectly—the heroes can't just hop on a plane and go wherever they like to stop Dracula's schemes. Indeed, the rivalry between the two regimes play into Dracula's hands.There seems to be at least one annoying coincidence, or oversight, built into the story. Dracula and his evil society that seeks to protect his secrets has left several clues laying around, even after having five hundred years to eliminate those clues. And it's not like they are unaware of the clues. In fact, they have the curious habit of delivering a certain book into the hands of the heroes, impelling them to start looking into Dracula's secret!This book has been criticized for being slow, and it does unfold at a leisurely pace. But that is one of the charms of “The Historian”, not a detriment. It's just not for the ADD crowd.Having said that, I would also say that the action ping-pongs between the three time periods just a little more often than I like. It's a trifle annoying and potentially confusing—but not enough that anyone should not read the book. Still, if “The Historian” is ever made into a movie, I'm sure the producers will cut back on so many scene-shifts.I love the book, but the ending could have been more dramatic and more horrifying. SPOILER: If the heroine's mother had been turned into a vampire, that makes a much better motivation for faking her death—since a vampire's first victims are her close family members. Yet this is the book's only shortcoming. Even with that ending, “The Historian” leaves the reader with a confirmation of the immortality of Dracula.

Vampire fiction has become increasingly popular over the last few years. From Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series, to Anne Rice's Lestat and his companions of the night, Charlaine Harris' more down-home, southern-style vamp, Christine Feehan's dark Carpathians, and Poppy Brite's sinister goth bloodsuckers, to name a few, modern novelists have been successfully drawing inspiration from Bram Stoker's classic, "Dracula," which still has a loyal following 110 years after its initial publication. I must admit I have been a fan since I was first terrified, many years ago, by Bela Lugosi, who played the film version of the fanged count. Author Elizabeth Kostova has come up with a creative and scholarly contemporary version of the mythical vampire tale with her debut novel, "The Historian."In 1970's Amsterdam, the teenage daughter of an international diplomat, known only as Paul, discovers an ancient book and a packet of old letters in her father's library addressed to, "My dear and unfortunate successor." The young woman, (we never learn her name), lost her mother when she was just a baby, and has led a very sheltered life, cared for by her father and a housekeeper. When she asks her dad, who is a former history professor, about her unusual find, he tells her that Bartholomew Rossi, a brilliant historian, and his own Ph.D. advisor and mentor, wrote the missives, not realizing that Paul would be the "unfortunate" beneficiary. He also tells her the medieval book had mysteriously come into his possession over 20 years before. Paul was a student then, and one evening, working in the library stacks, he saw that someone had left an old volume on the table, alongside his own texts. Bound in soft faded leather, the book opened almost automatically to the center pages, where he saw a great woodcut of a "dragon with spread wings and a long looped tail, a beast unfurled and raging, claws outstretched." In the dragon's claws hung a banner with the word "Drakulya." Other than that wood cut, the rest of the pages were empty. When he attempted to discover the owner to return the volume, it kept reappearing with his things. Confiding in his advisor, he learned that Rossi, years before, had received an identical tome, in a similarly mystifying manner. The analytic Rossi also informed Paul that Dracula still lives, centuries after his birth. Thus, Paul became history's sleuth, with an extremely dangerous mission. His PI work eventually took-on life and death importance when Rossi disappeared, leaving a spatter of blood as the only clue. Paul was determined to find him.Over a period of months, Paul reveals to his daughter a series of unusual and horrifying events, all related to his search for his advisor, along with details of both his and Rossi's investigations into the book, and their subsequent search for the truth about Vlad the Impaler or Drakulya - and his hidden tomb.This is a complex, multi-generational, epic tale told during three major time periods: the 1930's, Dr. Rossi's story along with his historical findings concerning Dracula's tomb, history and vampirism; the 1950's, Paul's story, his research and conclusions on the same subject and the search for Rossi; and the 1970's, involving the daughter's detective work and her search for her father, who has also gone missing. Their investigations takes the characters to Oxford, Istanbul, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Greece and Switzerland. The author brings the varied landscapes to life, and paints spooky scenarios of ruins and old monasteries. Here the historical coexists alongside the supernatural. As all three stories unfold and intertwine, the plot and its resolution inspire a sense of tremendous dread in the reader, when the presence of evil incarnate appears and takes action.Like Bram Stoker who developed his story through journals, diaries, letters, and newspaper clippings, Ms. Kostova uses letters, memoir and archival material to further her narrative. The historical material makes the preternatural aspects of her tale appear even more credible and, for the most part, enriches the reading experience. Stoker's vampire is based on the 15th century Wallacian warrior, Prince Vlad Dracule and he visited Romania and Hungary to read and research original historic manuscripts and local lore. "The Historian" is based on the same 15th century personage, Vlad the Impaler, (Vlad Tepes), a cruel and sadistic nobleman who is credited with having founded the state of Wallachia, part of present-day Romania. He was also a military commander in Transylvania, where he owned land and a castle-like fortress. Tepes was one of a number of princes and vassals initiated by the Holy Roman Emperor into the Order of the Dragon, an institution, similar to other chivalric orders of the time. The Romanian prince was particularly dedicated to ridding his country of the Turks and putting a halt to the Ottoman invasion. Ms. Kostova spent ten years researching her novel, traveling widely in Eastern Europe, learning languages and gleaning stories and folklore.To the author's credit, she tells a whale of a tale, and puts a most original spin on an old, but always exciting story. Her narrative is almost totally plot driven, however, and because of this the characters' development is almost nil. I found Paul, his daughter, and Rossi to be rather flat, one-dimensional figures. Paul's wife and a Turkish expert on Dracula do bring some life, warmth and humanity into the novel. While almost all the extensive historical background is fascinating, towards the latter part of the 642 page novel, the academic research, especially the migratory patterns and travels of medieval monks, begins to read like a dry doctoral dissertation. I love good historical fiction, based on accurate facts - but historic evidence should not take over or interfere with the primary plot. It should enhance it. Long before the author moved on to another topic, I had reached my limit with monastic life, customs and politics.Ms. Kostova creates moments of extremely heightened suspense, which, unfortunately, she allows to lapse in order to either further the historical data, which is already plentiful, or to go off on a tangent. Rather than prolong the thrills and chills, this approach stultifies. In one instance, the young woman, the daughter, who is a principal narrator, drops out of the storyline for over 150 pages, right in the middle of a most exciting sequence - she's alone in a train compartment with Vlad himself - in order to continue documenting the travels of the monks, etc. These continual interruptions, which usually divert from intense action, are just plain annoying. Overall, the writing could have been much more taut."The Historian" is a combination of fiction, history, folklore and tremendous research all revolving around a quest of mythic proportion. I found it to be, for the most part, a compelling read. The conclusion is absolutely riveting.JANA

Absolutely LOVED this book! I was looking for a vampire book that didnt inundate the reader with eroticism or YA angst. This book delivered. The characters were richly conveyed, and the journey of each individual character was so dynamic and well thought out I enjoyed getting to know them. The detail and the history of locations and countries was beautifully done so that I took time to read over certain passages just to savor the experience over again. All in all, it was a delight to read and not a quick read, which I appreciate.