DFA Guide to Dublin!
Current Diatribe
Index
Full Index | Irish Crime
Recent Reviews!
The Deal Master by Gerard F. Bianco
Saboteurs: The Nazi Raid on America by Michael Dobbs
When you do your shopping via the links below, Amazon makes a donation to this site without affecting your purchase price.
Support Critical Mick!
Fellow DFA's! I need your support, too!
NFG Magazine- Highly Recommended
Books Ireland- Also Highly Recommended
Other Review Sites!
The Midwest Book Review
Podcasts Worth A Listen!
Escape Pod
The Writing Show
Mick's Fave Bookstores
Read Ireland
Mystery Ink
15 Dawson Street
Dublin 2
Critical MickReviews Free of Rules.Reviews by the Clown that All Other Critics Want to Strangle with a Black Turtleneck |
|||
The Historian
|
|||
|
1. Any close resemblance to overly-well-known sci-fi sensation D__ B____. 2. The opinion that The Historian with its depth, character, theme and intellectual merit is a more satisfyingly L_______ read than Angels & Demons. 3. The Historian contains actual H_____. Research and writing took Elizabeth Kostova more than n___ years. 4. A nod that Elizabeth Kostova's own f_____ related creepy stories at her bedside as she grew. 5. Amazement that C____ D_____ is actually made interesting once again in Gothic style. 6. Forget Victorian heiresses! Drac has a fetish for L_________. They really stamp his card! 7. That The Historian, with its sweeping rail journeys through Cold War Eastern Europe, is half T___________. 8. The ungodly M______ of D________ that Elizabeth Kostova earned for her advance. |
The review itself:
It's a historical fact. Critical Mick has a soft spot for vampires.
Scholars date this passion back to 1996 when the immortal Joss Weedon miraculously breathed life back into a genre entirely stale. Magical and now legendary, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a well-inspired re-invention of Elvis sized proportions.
Elizabeth Kostova- best known for super-hyped reasons that will remain unmentioned- follows Weedon's lead and takes the Dracula story from a different angle. The mythos are fused with strong character and unexpected material- here, Drac's equally musty world of academia, rather than the teenage angst, fast comic dialogue and a talented Buffy stunt double. The novel's question: why do mysterious academic tracts indicate that Vlad the Impaler is still alive?
A multicultural father-daughter-teacher-mentor-monk progression with love interests, The Historian is told as stories within parallel stories. Whether set in 2008, the early 70's, 1954, 1930 or far farther back, The Historian focuses on strong, restrained figures delving to uncover what has lain hidden. In 704 constantly-informative pages, there is nothing frivolous or humorous. Well done for mood!
(Readers who rejoice in Earth's absurdities and explosions will be relieved to hear that the novel does contain interesting croissant history, one exclamation of "shit!," and an overprotected teen finding her adventurous way out of an ugly white brassiere.)
The Historian is an enjoyable, stimulating book that moves at a steady clip despite its length. Though its flaws prevent it from being taken at face value, The Historian does not insult the intelligence. My only regret was that it is never disclosed if a certain key character- who will remain nameless- has a particular tattoo.
Critical Mick says: : Ignore the hype and read it for its own merits. The Historian is an interesting journey that takes the reader to places from which the vampire myth looks fresh. Recommended!
Hey Elizabeth Kostova! Thanks for not actually decribing medieval Dutch merchants! They sound Bo-ring!!!!
Yo! This review and all content on the DFA Guide site are copyright 2006 Mick Halpin. All links to other sites and documents are copyright to whatever source wrote something cool enough for Mick to give it a referral. Try to claim them as your own work and bad karma will catch up with you, baby. Believe it.
Irate, huh? Managed to piss off another one? Direct your hatemail to mick @ mickhalpin dot com.
This Page Was Last Updated On 12 August, 2006.
Hire Him! | Or His Various Diatribes |
Or Some Things You Should Know About Dublin |