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theglossreview's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
sunrays118's review
4.0
Solid four star read for a beautifully written novel filled with mystery and intrigue. The book takes several turns and introduces many wonderful characters. I found myself at times gaping with concern or willing up with joy.
There are a few things that could have been improved upon:
1. It is long. Probably about 100 pages too long.
2. Related, book one is by far the strongest. It was clearly worked more and it’s far more concise and better paced. Book two and three lag heavily in parts and much of what is written long, long, long narratives being told by various characters should have been alluded to. It would have made the work stronger.
3. A personal pet peeve but the author does not put commas between adjectives in a list I found it obnoxious.
4. As always, I found the characters a bit too black and white. Everyone was either entirely wonderful or evil. Guess which the main characters were.
5. Lastly, I honestly have read as many books about WW2 as I can in one lifetime. This book would have been better with a slightly reframed timeline.
There are a few things that could have been improved upon:
1. It is long. Probably about 100 pages too long.
2. Related, book one is by far the strongest. It was clearly worked more and it’s far more concise and better paced. Book two and three lag heavily in parts and much of what is written long, long, long narratives being told by various characters should have been alluded to. It would have made the work stronger.
3. A personal pet peeve but the author does not put commas between adjectives in a list I found it obnoxious.
4. As always, I found the characters a bit too black and white. Everyone was either entirely wonderful or evil. Guess which the main characters were.
5. Lastly, I honestly have read as many books about WW2 as I can in one lifetime. This book would have been better with a slightly reframed timeline.
hectaizani's review
5.0
When Alexandra Boyd was a young girl her brother disappeared. His body was never found, and her family never got closure. The experience and the aftermath have shaped Alexandra’s life. To help assuage her guilt, she decides to become an English teacher in Sofia, Bulgaria. Why Bulgaria? When she and her brother played the atlas game, it was his very favorite country. Maybe by going there, she will feel a deeper connection to his lost spirit.
Travel is tiring, and Alexandra is not at her best when she arrives. Her driver is not any help, she asks for her hostel, he takes her to a hotel. While she is trying to figure out what to do, she has a casual encounter with an elderly couple. Later she figures out that she has accidently added one of their cases to her luggage. Inside is a magnificent carved box containing a funerary urn, engraved with the name Stoyan Lazarov. Somehow, Alexandra must find the elderly couple and rectify her mistake.
Most people would have left it with the police or in the care of the hotel. Alexandra, however, still harbors a deep-seated pain over her last encounter with her brother, and the way she walked away from him. Even though Stoyan is just a pile of ashes, she cannot leave him behind; she must be the one to reunite him with his family. They must have the closure that she never did.
This simple act leads to a grand tour around Bulgaria. As she follows up each clue to the whereabouts of Stoyan’s missing family, she gets deeper and deeper into the mystery of his life. The action shifts back and forth from Alexandra’s present into Stoyan’s past. With each shift, we learn more about the horror and tragedy of Communist Bulgaria and Alexandra gets closer and closer to absolution.
This book is nothing like Kostova’s debut novel The Historian. There are no vampires and no mysticism. While this may disappoint some readers, The Shadow Land stands firmly on its own. It is a story of loss, repentance and the importance of family. The pace is slow, there are no big reveals, but the pieces come together seamlessly. Stoyan’s story is a powerful reminder of the challenges of living in an occupied country during wartime. This book is challenging, intellectual and engrossing. The characters are genuine, multi-layered and for the most part eminently likable. I recommend it to readers who enjoy a novel with a slower pace and greater depth.
I received a free advance copy of this book through Net Galley in return for an honest review. With that being said, all opinions contained are mine, I loved this book because it’s a great book, not because it was free. If you follow my feed you know I’m not afraid to tell it like it is.
Travel is tiring, and Alexandra is not at her best when she arrives. Her driver is not any help, she asks for her hostel, he takes her to a hotel. While she is trying to figure out what to do, she has a casual encounter with an elderly couple. Later she figures out that she has accidently added one of their cases to her luggage. Inside is a magnificent carved box containing a funerary urn, engraved with the name Stoyan Lazarov. Somehow, Alexandra must find the elderly couple and rectify her mistake.
Most people would have left it with the police or in the care of the hotel. Alexandra, however, still harbors a deep-seated pain over her last encounter with her brother, and the way she walked away from him. Even though Stoyan is just a pile of ashes, she cannot leave him behind; she must be the one to reunite him with his family. They must have the closure that she never did.
This simple act leads to a grand tour around Bulgaria. As she follows up each clue to the whereabouts of Stoyan’s missing family, she gets deeper and deeper into the mystery of his life. The action shifts back and forth from Alexandra’s present into Stoyan’s past. With each shift, we learn more about the horror and tragedy of Communist Bulgaria and Alexandra gets closer and closer to absolution.
This book is nothing like Kostova’s debut novel The Historian. There are no vampires and no mysticism. While this may disappoint some readers, The Shadow Land stands firmly on its own. It is a story of loss, repentance and the importance of family. The pace is slow, there are no big reveals, but the pieces come together seamlessly. Stoyan’s story is a powerful reminder of the challenges of living in an occupied country during wartime. This book is challenging, intellectual and engrossing. The characters are genuine, multi-layered and for the most part eminently likable. I recommend it to readers who enjoy a novel with a slower pace and greater depth.
I received a free advance copy of this book through Net Galley in return for an honest review. With that being said, all opinions contained are mine, I loved this book because it’s a great book, not because it was free. If you follow my feed you know I’m not afraid to tell it like it is.
mbeuley's review
3.0
A long and winding tale that just wasn't nearly as interesting as "The Historian..."
maggiekinton's review
2.25
Happy to have learned so much about Bulgaria! Honestly a very interesting story but such drudgery and mid-tier writing before I could get to anything good!
akatdare's review
3.0
3.6/5. I enjoyed the story overall although it did drag at points. The protagonist, Alexandra, seemed to be kind of…meh. I don’t know how else to describe her, she didn’t seem to do much in the book outside of be cute/naïve/innocent and thus win people over. The other characters were much more interesting. It wasn’t, ultimately, as immersive or haunting as The Historian was. I had to suspend a lot of belief to get into the story; Alexandra essentially throws caution to the wind repeatedly throughout the novel in a strange country where she’s traveling by herself. Again, just extreme naïveté.
mialeyden's review against another edition
3.0
The writing was fantastic as always but a couple of plot details pissed me off to the point of dropping my score to 3 stars.
libraryladys's review
4.0
It took me awhile to get into this book, and I don’t know why. The writing is dense, but the plot is compelling. I learned so much about forced labor camps and communism in Bulgaria.
gwalt118's review
3.0
There are about 100 unnecessary pages in this novel, and they're all in the middle. I typically love description in novels, but there is a lot of extra fluff in here that turned out not to be that important. I wish we would have gotten Stoyan's story sooner and learned more about Vera and Nevin. The last 100 pages had me riveted. I loved the ending, but it also felt very rushed. Overall, it was a good book, but I would recommend Kostova's The Historian before this one.