What readers think of The Historian, plus links to write your own review.

Having just read the last page of The Historian (I wanted to finish what I started, despite the agony), I felt like, in a sense, I was being gaslit. I mean, do the avid readers out there actually esteem this book as something worthwhile and recommendable? I had read SO many glowing reviews before I started reading it and was really anticipating a juicy, historically dense thriller. All I kept thinking as I got further into the story was this: how on earth did this book even get published?! I could not believe HOW MANY PAGES of absolutely zero consequence could be written. At least 600 of the 900 pages could have easily been omitted. It’s my own fault - I should have returned the book to the library when I started questioning the editing (or complete lack thereof). I was happy to find other readers with a similar experience of this story - guess I’m not that crazy after all.

Of the countless books and novels I have read, both fiction and non-fiction, I felt this was exceptionally well written. It was both an adventure in history and well told tale. For someone who loves history, geography, fiction and non-fiction - it is a worthy read.

Of the hundreds of books I have read this is easily the most poorly written. The ideas are derivative like so many of the books which float in the wake of Dan Brown. There's evidence of a lot of research but the attitude seems to be 'I've worked hard getting all this together and I'm going to cram it all in if it kills me!'
Add a dash of Dracula and you end up with an utter waste of time.

I have never stopped reading a book before, but in this case it was justified. I tried reading it over a period of 2 weeks, but found it way too difficult to follow. Didn't know if it was the father or daughter speaking. Too much italics which makes it difficult for an older reader to even see. (Hint to writers, if you are going to use italics, make the font of the italics larger, so it can be seen by senior citizens.) Putting the book down without finishing it goes against the grain, but in this case I let out a huge sigh of relief knowing I did not have to finish it.

Loved it, loved it so much I read it every summer over a few days. Only other books I do that with are "Rebecca" and " Pride and Predjudice" good company. Loved the time period changes, voice changes and lovely description of a little known, to me, part of the world. Awesome first novel for the author.

The book was recommended to me by a friend and I absolutely loved it, I thought the length and detail were fantastic. Ms. Kostova really made the story believable and well written. There was fantasy within the story line that touched so closely to fact that you found yourself falling into the trap of forgetting this was a fictional novel! Fabulous!

This excellent book has been spoiled for me by too many errors. For example, page 189 Dr. Turgut is described as having a silver mustache & a mane of silver hair yet on page 209 when the couple meet him the next morning he now has 'curly dark hair slicked back'. The other errors I had perceived previously I did not make a note of. Will keep reading anyway. But come on people this spoils a good read...

The excruciating detail of where the files, manuscripts and documents came from and in what period they were written was too, too much! One cannot know enough to know if there really was a Sultan Mahmet the Fourth or if Kostova just invented it and who cares anyway. Let's get on with the story.
At least 500 pages of this sort of obscure obfuscation could have been eliminated and still kept the flavor of the search.
And what about the young teenage girl? Do we ever know her name?
So why spend a 1000 pages developing and then abruptly tie all the loose ends up in 10 pages?!
Most unsatisfactory. And a movie based on this book, egads!
If kostova's subsequent efforts are like this one, I will not be a reader.