Reviews with content warning for Suicide attempt - The Historian

A young lady discovers an antique book and a stockpile of yellowing letters written ominously to 'My dear and unfortunate successor' late one night while browsing her father's library. Her revelation transports her to a world she never imagined existed - a labyrinth where the mysteries of her father's past and her mother's tragic fate are linked to an evil concealed in the depths of history.

During those few calm moments, she unintentionally embarks on a mission that she will find is her birthright: a search for the truth about Vlad the Impaler, the medieval king whose barbaric reign inspired the Dracula legend. Deciphering cryptic clues and buried passages, deciphering codes woven into the fabric of ancient monastery traditions, and escaping deadly foes, one lady gets closer to the truth about her own history and a confrontation with the very meaning of evil.

This book is different from the usual assortment of novels I read, and the very notion that it is different terrified me into picking it up. Going into this, all I hoped for was that it would be rich with history, since as someone who loves history and researches, I enjoy seeing those in books— and it did not disappoint.

The Historian has such lovely prose that if I were reading it as an owned copy, I would have underlined a lot of it. The manner the narrative was conveyed was also really interesting—though some portions felt a little protracted. This novel could have been a hundred pages shorter—and the fact that the finale wasn't really satisfying—killed my mood as I enjoyed the book for the first three quarters.

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readwithbells's review against another edition

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slow-paced

5.0

Wowowowow. The Historian, in its very academic search for Dracula, is a combination of a Robert Langdon book and Anne Rice’s The Witching Hour. It is told primarily through letters and other documents, is incredibly descriptive-almost Romantic (as in 1790s era Romantic)-and is an absolute epic of a book.

I cannot recommend this widely. It is very slow and probably boring to those who don’t enjoy the academic process of research. I read this at a time where it was really hard to engage with the text and had to put it down for a few weeks until I was ready to sit with this story, but holy shit if you like long-winded, academic-y, travelogue stories about vampires you will LOVE THIS. The ending is so satisfying after so much build-up and I kept wishing a tv show existed so I could experience this story again in all its colourful glory.

Absolutely fantastic. A true mastery of a book.

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kryskross's review against another edition

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informative mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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internationalreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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ruthmoog's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

Took me a while to get into but I thought it was great a couple of chapters in.
I really enjoyed discovering the history of Vlad and the legend of Dracula, the locations of the research making stories click together. The story also links

the legend of St George with Dracula -the dragon- which was a lovely touch although afaik the timelines are many years apart

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The story is told through a collection of letters and research, and set in several libraries. Is this dark academia?
By the very end, the depth of the title became apparent. Very satisfying 👏

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