A long, beautiful walk for a small drink of water

This book had me absolutely captivated from the get go. The eerie atmosphere and wonderful details of the locations was perfection. The way the story is told through various memories and diary entries was fast paced enough that you weren’t feeling as though things were going on and on, but also slow and methodical to really get an understanding of each characters motives. The voice acting was also fabulous.
Unfortunately, I felt the ending was disappointing. It felt as though we were completely in the up and up and tensions were building and then..! It’s done. The explanations and reasonings for a big part of the plot were swept under the rug as though everything was fine and left me saying “thats it?”
If you’re on the fence about it, I will still say it’s amazing, but the ending kinda sucked.

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A History Book, With Vampires

Great if you're a history fan. It can go on at times, much of it reads like a history book as well. I had to take a few breaks but overall I loved it. Lots of depth, great character building and the performances were top notch.

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A richly detailed story

My hopes were not high, but I was curious. I half expected a boring derivative neo-gothic horror, with too much romanticising of vampires. This is NOT that.
This is a story which takes a certain inspiration, and even some of the narrative structure, from Stoker's seminal novel, but the similarities end there. I'm certain that Stoker would have loved to write something so richly detailed, with so many apparently disparate threads traced through history and masterfully disentangled to reveal a touching and beautiful, sometimes tragic tale.
In a way, I wish it had been more than one book, so that more attention could have been lavished on the beautiful settings and the stories contained within them.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this, and I really hope to have the chance to watch this story one day as a feature film or three, perhaps a mini - series (HBO - Starz, are you listening?)
As to the performance, it was good. Very, very good. It sounds as though the performers went to great lengths to develop the sound of each character they voiced, and to pronounce the difficult names and words of Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria.
Love this.

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I wanted to believe it was not fiction.

This novel engaged me from the very first words. It's one of those books where one wishes it were true, rather than a masterful blend of history and fiction. And masterful truly sums it up for me. As I read elsewhere online, this book is DaVinci Code meets Bram Stoker. I highly recommend it to Vampire fans who also love history.

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Excellent blend of fact and fiction

I loved the artful blend of fact and fiction as it elevated the narrative. At times, I wanted to Google some of the references to see if they were real or not!

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long but a good read and listen

it's very long but it's really one of those long " romantic' stories which by it's length submerses you. Some might see that as a lackluster plot or an unsatisfying ending but it never broke tone and remained true to it's own elemental feel and richness of writing.

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WOW, JUST....WOW

Justine Eyre and Paul Michael presented Elizabeth Kostova's book THE HISTORIAN
perfectly. Their calm narration of a family of
academic historians trying to solve a mystry both ancient and yet recent concerning family. Their quest just pulls the reader along, a faint trail of clues leads one all over
Europe to ancient monasteries or reverd bastions of learning, such as Oxford.
You can just smell the musty leather bound books. Feel the hard oak study carrols darkened with age. Like a maze this quest,
with many a dead end. A quest seeking answers and the remedy for a broken heart.
This is a very well told new take of a familar
scary piece of Europe's history....Oh make sure you a flashlight handy incase the lights go out..

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Amazingly visual!

I had read the book and now listening to the characters I've come away with a more complete understanding. It is a hauntingly beautiful story.

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Outstanding

Loved every word and twist of this story, characters, setting and plot. A new recommended fave.

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This will sit with me for a long time

Wonderfully intelligent, feels like real scholarship. Accents are intoxicating. I wish I could meet all the characters. Helen is my favourite.

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