Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
really enjoyable! thick and dense, with lots about bulgaria and the dark histories of eastern bloc countries, and how that shadows the country to this day. lots of plot but also gorgeous writing.
Solid 3.5 stars. I almost stopped reading it in the beginning as I found it very repetitive and annoying. But once Kostova got to the main story...I found that I needed to see how it ended
I'm not sure where to begin with this book. The Shadow Land is truly one of the most astonishingly awful books I have ever read. The plot is unbelievable at best, the characters are somehow simultaneously overwrought and utterly hollow. I am willing to suspend my disbelief for the sake of a well-developed story, but Kostova has failed to create anything compelling here. Above all is the atrocious writing throughout the work. It appears Kostova's editor was out sick the day this work came across the desk. How any editor could let an over-written pile of drivel such as this be released is beyond me.
I really enjoyed this. Yes, some of it was improbable but no more so than The Historian, one of my all time favorites. And like The Historian, it makes me want to travel to the places she described. I was entertained and I learned something and those are the two most important criteria for judging historical fiction.
I really loved this book! The story was beautiful and suspenseful. And Kostova's writing is so gorgeous!
I don't necessarily think this is a 4 star story. But I gave it 4 stars because I loved the descriptions of Bulgaria. And I loved the stories that the old people told. And once it was more about Stoyan and what happened to him.
What I didn't like so much: Alexandra. I get why she did the things she did, but I was so annoyed by her. All of the other characters were much more endearing than she was.
What I didn't like so much: Alexandra. I get why she did the things she did, but I was so annoyed by her. All of the other characters were much more endearing than she was.
This book sat on my shelves half-read for years because it is a slog. It did not become less sloggy but I am stubborn so I finally got there in the end. I did like it overall but it was about 150-200 pages longer than it should have been so instead of really appreciating the read I'm just relieved I'm done with it.
I received a review copy from Net Galley. This is not "The Historian," but it does have some of the tension and suspense of Kostova's best-known novel. It starts very slowly, and you must be willing to believe a 20something is naive enough to go to Bulgaria and rely on a taxi driver to take her on a bizarre mission. Alexandra sometimes behaves more as if she is 13 than 26. But the story is compelling. She picks up the wrong luggage in front of a hotel and spends the novel trying to reunite the urn she finds full of human ashes with the people who sped off from the hotel, an old man and woman and a middle aged, handsome, sad man. Bobby (Asparuh) the taxi driver, harbors serious secrets, and knows more than he tells. Tension builds as they prowl the country seeking the family of the dead man and are followed and threatened, along with the people they contact, along the way.
Story of a woman who travels to Bulgaria and accidentally grabs someone else's bag and the journey to get it back to the original owners.
3.5. Serious pacing issues, too much fluff in terms of characters and locations, and the main character has 0 personality. Books 1 and 3 within the book were great, but the whole thing could have been 100-200 pages shorter.