Writing Style - 2/5 
 Characters - 2 
 Storyline - 2 
 Resonance - 2 
 The Not-Too-Revealing-Synopsis: 
 This is a search for Dracula through historical documents involving multiple generations of characters and treks through late Cold War Eastern Europe. 
 The Critique and/or Review 
 The idea of a new perspective on Dracula, particularly an intelligently written story on the undead is absolutely witching. However this story is much less about Dracula than the historical Vlad Tepes, reads not intelligently but academically and has little fascination or charm. 
 Kostova's infusions into the vampire story: travelogue, research and romance never coalesce into an engaging whole but parcels that one reads and thinks "I see what she is trying to do here...." The thrill of the historian finding ancient treasures in library archives never translates into a vicarious experience and the drama comes from the more traditional overt threats-to-life sort. It is hard to imagine an arrangement of narratives in a less satisfying order. 
 It is not all bad though. The historical account of the origins of folklore on vampires is well told and paced. The brief portions regarding music and song reveal a true artistry. Most convicingly one comes to love the imagined smell, feel and look of old books that must lie rarely-thumbed across the continents, mysteries undiscovered contained therein. 
 If you want at least one source of Dracula information beyond what you know from videogames, movies and halloween costumes this cannot be the worst choice. I do hope however that there is something better out there, something with better characters, a better story and a truly new perspective.