Author Gush: The Historian by Anna Kostova

Bram Stoker Eat Your Heart Out

I’m not usually one for “modern retellings” or “reinterpretations” of classical works, dear reader. I consider Pride and Prejudice and Zombies a crime against literature and that’s coming from someone who would gladly pull a Gilderoy Lockheart on himself if it meant not ever remembering that tripe ( yes, yes, send your hate mail to the usual spot).

The Historian, however, is built different.

A mysterious book and a disappeared mentor. Blossoming love and a looming shadow that kills anyone who gets too close to the truth. The poignant longing of a daughter wishing to learn about the mother she never knew and the father she thought she did.

The Historian is a delightful sojourn across “old world” Europe that constantly (yet subtly) highlights the (poignant) and inevitable passage of time between ancient history and our own, establishing a delicate balance of vitality and decay across both the setting and characters.  

And all while fucking Dracula is out to choke a bitch.

I find the beginning of The Historian peculiar in that it is simultaneously engaging and a slow burn- you definitely sit there for awhile “setting the stage” but not in a way that is boring or detrimental. When compared to the rest of the book and utterly bonkers things get (and how quickly!) it’s nuts to think I ever tired of the constant flashbacks and flashforwards established early on.

The deeper the protagonists look into the mystery of Dracula the more they find those who around them disappeared, killed, or with a peculiar wound on their neck.

Oh, let’s not beat around the bush, dear reader: this ones a right proper balance of mystery, horror, adventure, and romance that mixes contemporary settings with their more ancient counterparts to create a more academic version of Indiana Jones where you aren’t so much trying to find an artifact as destroy it before it can kill everyone you love.

And the paperback just feels fucking sexy, man.

Like it genuinely feels like I’m holding an eldritch tome of yore.

The entire thing is an experience. What can I say?

You should pick this one up and give it a try, that’s what!

After all, Halloween *is* just around the corner so why not get started on spooky season a little early?