The Historian
I did it.
I have reached the very last page of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. After a long and laborious period of three months or even longer than that. Isn't that simply astounding?
The Historian is a really intriguing book and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys suspense thrillers and are interesting in travelling, especially to lots of European churches and monasteries. Kostova keeps you reading deep into the night with her descriptions of the terrible and bone-chilling evils commited by Vlad the Impaler shows how history has shown that "the nature of man is evil, and sublimely so". Or words to that effect. She combines historical facts of the real Vlad Tepes and the fantastical creature of Dracula, who is really Vlad Tepes and supposedly became one of the undead after he was slain by the Turks and some of his monks brought his head to be reunited with his body (he was decapitated by some Turkish sultan I think.)
From reading this book, I learnt a bit of the history of the real historical figure of Dracula who inspired the creation of the vampire in Bram Stoker's novel and I learnt a bit of European geography too. My only complaint is that sometimes the story gets a bit draggy at parts like the middle and it's a bit confusing as there are three different stories for the three generations, the main narrator who is for some reason nameless, her father, Paul, her mother, Helen and Paul's adviser, Bartholomeo Rossi.
What I like: The romance between Paul and Helen, which develops slowly and gradually over the time they spent together instead of overnight, and the character of Dracula himself. He seems very regal and elegant, though he was pure evil while he was still a living prince.
What I don't like: The lack of character of Paul's daughter, the draggy scenes.