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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I had a hard time finishing this novel. Individual chapters were good, I just didn't feel like it was going anywhere. I did enjoy learning more about Bulgaria.
Reviewed on Books Cats Tea
The Shadow Land is both a beautiful and tragic book. Set within the landscape of Bulgaria, the story follows Alexandra who travels to Bulgaria from America in order to teach English. Throughout the story, we get glimpses into Alexandra's childhood as she sets out with her cab driver to return a wooden box containing an urn and ashes to a family she helped load their belongings into a cab. Accidentally keeping the leather bag containing the ashes and trying to track down the family, Alexandra learns more about her new companion and cab driver, Bobby, and the life of the man who she is now carrying. Together, Alexandra and Bobby discover a deep and dark story about the history of both the man in the urn and the corrupt government of Bulgaria.
Kostova weaves deep characters set in beautifully descriptive (if not, sometimes tragic or rundown) settings across different timelines. It is an historical fiction novel that takes place in a country and settings that rarely is a popular choice. I did take issue with the way in which tenses were used. The main timeline in the novel is in the third person, but sometimes flashbacks and past stories were in either first or third person, which disturbed and confused the flow, especially with Alexandra's first flashback/memory. I thought that those could have been refined for less confusion. I also did not feel completely attached to Alexandra's backstory and, consequentially, her reasoning for starting this personal journey to return the urn. I went with it, however, and enjoyed the story despite the issues with tense and some occasional slowing of the story.
The Shadow Land is both a beautiful and tragic book. Set within the landscape of Bulgaria, the story follows Alexandra who travels to Bulgaria from America in order to teach English. Throughout the story, we get glimpses into Alexandra's childhood as she sets out with her cab driver to return a wooden box containing an urn and ashes to a family she helped load their belongings into a cab. Accidentally keeping the leather bag containing the ashes and trying to track down the family, Alexandra learns more about her new companion and cab driver, Bobby, and the life of the man who she is now carrying. Together, Alexandra and Bobby discover a deep and dark story about the history of both the man in the urn and the corrupt government of Bulgaria.
Kostova weaves deep characters set in beautifully descriptive (if not, sometimes tragic or rundown) settings across different timelines. It is an historical fiction novel that takes place in a country and settings that rarely is a popular choice. I did take issue with the way in which tenses were used. The main timeline in the novel is in the third person, but sometimes flashbacks and past stories were in either first or third person, which disturbed and confused the flow, especially with Alexandra's first flashback/memory. I thought that those could have been refined for less confusion. I also did not feel completely attached to Alexandra's backstory and, consequentially, her reasoning for starting this personal journey to return the urn. I went with it, however, and enjoyed the story despite the issues with tense and some occasional slowing of the story.
Time and time again I read these books where it feels like the author is just in love with their own words.
Now, I LOVED the Historian. Even though it was long and wordy, it still *went somewhere* right away. Around the fourteenth chapter mark of the Shadow Land, I started wondering if there was ever going to be a point to anything or if we were just going to meander around Bulgaria forever. That's FOURTEEN chapters where nothing much happens. (Editor?)
Most of what happens in those fourteen chapters, could have been condensed to about 3.
But mostly, I don't care how much I felt like my brother's death was my fault, there's just no way in heck I would be off gallivanting in a foreign country with a taxi cab driver who could have been a total psychopath, to return an urn I accidentally kept, the moment I get off of a plane! I would have found my room, bathed, eaten and then *dropped the urn off at the police and called it a day.*
So, I dunno, maybe I'm a horrible human being, but unless something dang close to magical happened when I accidentally, casually, switched my bag with somebody else, I would have handed this off to the authorities. I needed way more motivation for this action *up front.* But mostly, I was just bored. :-(
Now, I LOVED the Historian. Even though it was long and wordy, it still *went somewhere* right away. Around the fourteenth chapter mark of the Shadow Land, I started wondering if there was ever going to be a point to anything or if we were just going to meander around Bulgaria forever. That's FOURTEEN chapters where nothing much happens. (Editor?)
Most of what happens in those fourteen chapters, could have been condensed to about 3.
But mostly, I don't care how much I felt like my brother's death was my fault, there's just no way in heck I would be off gallivanting in a foreign country with a taxi cab driver who could have been a total psychopath, to return an urn I accidentally kept, the moment I get off of a plane! I would have found my room, bathed, eaten and then *dropped the urn off at the police and called it a day.*
So, I dunno, maybe I'm a horrible human being, but unless something dang close to magical happened when I accidentally, casually, switched my bag with somebody else, I would have handed this off to the authorities. I needed way more motivation for this action *up front.* But mostly, I was just bored. :-(
Really good book and richly written. I’m just thinking it could have moved a tad quicker. It took awhile to really get into the heart of the story about Stoyan Lazarov.
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I listened to Vivaldi’s 4 Seasons walking to and from school growing up and still avidly return to it. So I loved how much the composer featured into the story ♥️
This was a beautiful read, though it’s not quite the masterpiece The Historian is, in my view.
This was a beautiful read, though it’s not quite the masterpiece The Historian is, in my view.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated