DETAILS: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Copyright 2005. Fantasy.SUMMERY: A 16-year-old girl, accompanying her father on diplomatic missions around Cold War Europe, pieces together her family's history of searching for medieval vampires.
PROS: I enjoyed this book a lot. It's length is a bit daunting, but it is expertly told. Ms. Kostova weaves a story within a story within a story with a great deal of care and precision, and the story is paced very nicely and often gripping.
CONS: There was a section of the book (the first half of the third part) that lost my attention a bit and I had to keep myself from skimming. Also, with the myriad of characters that wind their way into the story, perhaps an old-fashioned character list would have been helpful.
BOTTOM LINE: I debated a great deal whether to give this book four stars or five. It is very good, and I would (and have) recommended it to many people. However, I try to reserve my five-star reviews for books I will read many times, and this book, for me, is probably a one-time read. So, four out of five stars.
