The Historian

By: Elizabeth Kostova

Narrated by: Justine Eyre, Paul Michael

Length: 26 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Late one night, exploring her father's library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters. The letters are all addressed to "My dear and unfortunate successor", and they plunge her into a world she never dreamed of: a labyrinth where the secrets of her father's past and her mother's mysterious fate connect to an inconceivable evil hidden in the depths of history.

The letters provide links to one of the darkest powers that humanity has ever known, and to a centuries-long quest to find the source of that darkness and wipe it out. It is a quest for the truth about Vlad the Impaler, the medieval ruler whose barbarous reign formed the basis of the legend of Dracula. Generations of historians have risked their reputations, their sanity, and even their lives to learn the truth about Vlad the Impaler and Dracula. Now one young woman must decide whether to take up this quest herself, to follow her father in a hunt that nearly brought him to ruin years ago, when he was a vibrant young scholar and her mother was still alive.

What does the legend of Vlad the Impaler have to do with the modern world? Is it possible that the Dracula of myth truly existed, and that he has lived on, century after century, pursuing his own unknowable ends? The answers to these questions cross time and borders, as first the father and then the daughter search for clues, from dusty Ivy League libraries to Istanbul, Budapest, and the depths of Eastern Europe. In city after city, in monasteries and archives, in letters and in secret conversations, the horrible truth emerges about Vlad the Impaler's dark reign, and about a time-defying pact that may have kept his awful work alive down through the ages.

©2005 Elizabeth Kostova. All Rights Reserved. (P)2005 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

• 2006 Book Sense Book of the Year, Adult Fiction

"A bloodthirsty delight....Both literary and scary, this one is guaranteed to keep one reading into the wee hours." (Booklist)
"Along with all the fascinating historical information, there's also a mounting casualty count, and the big showdown amps up the drama by pulling at the heartstrings at the same time it revels in the gruesome. Exotic locales, tantalizing history, a family legacy and a love of the bloodthirsty: it's hard to imagine that readers won't be bitten, too." (Publishers Weekly)
"The Historian is artfully constructed and atmospheric." (Washington Post Book World)

Kept me interested...

The multiple timelines and many characters sometimes had me confused if I wasn't paying extremely close attention. It was the first book that I've listened to with multiple narrators and I thought I would hate it, but it was done very well. I wished for a little more to the ending but all in all... good story!

Historian

A wonderful book. This book uses all the senses. You can feel the train rolling through European countrysides and feel the smallness of the homes in the rural areas of Romania. The author captures the smell and feel of places - their grandness, their small size and the characters are all well developed individuals. Travel through countries with the characters looking for the Dracula who made history not hollywood. What you find will be well worth your time.

Interesting

I loved the first half of the book. I enjoyed how the author told the story through flash backs. It got a bit tedious in the second half but after investing that much time into it, I had to finish it. It was an okay read.

Would be better to read than to listen

This mystery novel takes the listener through two generations, using letters as "flashbacks," as the historians in question are drawn into the chase of Dracula. The occult is neglected; we must take it on faith that vampirism is possible, and that lends a frisson of suspicion to historical documents of unexplained plagues. We must also take it on faith that one certain historian can find Dracula, despite the failed attempts of many and flimsy explanations for people's behavior. Worse, the ending was that of a predictable Hollywood movie.

This book has its protagonists traveling all over Europe, reading documents and lyrics, and looking at maps. The large visual component of the plot is lost during a listen - it's hard to rewind to check on certain clues, and part of the joy of mystery books is being able to follow along with the sleuths and piece together information on your own. That is much more difficult when listening, and especially difficult with such convoluted gumshoeing as in this book. In short, I feel that reading this book would have done it better justice. It was hard to stay interested when I couldn't remember the lyrics of some important song or phrasing of some letter and couldn't flip back to check on them during the hours and hours and hours of listening.

Loved it

Completely different from what I was expecting. kinda of like a toned down DaVinci Code only with the Dracula myth. It helps if you're pretty familiar with Dracula. Also, i LOVED the narrators! I loved that there was a female and a Male!! Brilliant

Travel all over Europe in your mind!

If you could sum up The Historian in three words, what would they be?

informative, adventurous, historical

Who was your favorite character and why?

The father was my favorite

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

The father

Any additional comments?

The book will take you all over Europe on an adventure! Just the right amount of suspense, and romance. I really felt like I was in Istanbul, Hungary and Romania. This book sparked a new intrigue in me for this part of the world!! I also found the main male character's voice very soothing.

Interesting history, flat Vlad.

The historical and archeological information was very interesting but the Dracula story itself was rather trite.

Not enough vamp in the vampire

I found the book to be too many words, and not enough action. I think the author tried to tell rather than show, not leaving enough up to the reader.

if you like this kind of book...

if you like a book that is detailed, subtle, and 'nuanced', then you will love this book. I congratulate the author. but... if you like stories that move a little quicker or have more intensity, then you may want to consider something else. For what the book IS, it is superb... but it is not the book I thought it might be.

Greatest Book on Dracula since Brahm Stoker!!!

This is an Amazingly entertaining, coming of age tale, filled with historical reference cleverly built around a story engulfed in the romance and thrills of Dracula!