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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
Loved the characters and story. Another great novel from Kostova!!!
So frustrating! I loved the story, the descriptions of Bulgaria. The writing was just terrible in ways the editors should have caught. I think the author can do much better in future books but this one showed first time flaws. She had a lot of sentences like: for some strange reason a cat was in the road cleaning itself. That's a paraphrase but the cat had nothing to do with anything and no reason that it should be strange which was a word used aLOT without any further description, when there was opportunity to explain what was strange or interesting she didn't do anything with it. She could have really added to the story with sensory descriptions of events and sensations that were just strange without any description or explanation as to why it was strange, why it was interesting, why it was in the book. Great potential but this was a disappointment.
slow-paced
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A powerful, yet lyrical, dare I say masterpiece. The Shadow Land will be in the running as my favorite book of 2017. The characters kept continuing to evolve throughout the intriguing mystery. I knew nothing of Bulgaria or many former communist countries, and this book stared the atrocities right in the face. And the last 30 pages were gripping. I loved the whole story.
This is a richly textured book, with wonderful detail given to the setting, which builds a wonderful sense of place.
I will admit that it was a bit slow to get going, and for the first few chapters, I actually found the main character very annoying - she was immature and self centered. When the plot picked up, she became much less annoying. And Bobby, her taxi driver, provided a good counterpoint to her -- honestly, I would have been happy with reading more about him.
I will admit that it was a bit slow to get going, and for the first few chapters, I actually found the main character very annoying - she was immature and self centered. When the plot picked up, she became much less annoying. And Bobby, her taxi driver, provided a good counterpoint to her -- honestly, I would have been happy with reading more about him.
This book was strange, in that both very little and quite a lot happened. It would be slow and lovely, just describing places, but you felt like so much was happening; and then it would be slow and sad when it went into the past, but again things were going on that weren't action, really, but more mental. The whole story was a slow unfolding discovery in a beautiful place, with some terrible places interspersed.
Magic realism towards the end and a much happier ending than I expected.