A little difficult to read given the way it was written, but I loved the history in the story. I also wasn't able to predict the ending, which is rare for me.

An eloquent, slow moving plot which makes you consider what humanity truly is, The Shadow Land was a book I truly enjoyed digging into (although not as much as Kostova's The Historian). The characters are empathetic and interesting, with deep backstories and interesting motivations. It's a book that made me think and has stuck with me long after I finished it.

I have not finished reading The Shadow Land, because I wanted to go back and re-read her fist book, Historian, which I thought was an exciting and different story on Dracula. It starts out pretty good with the character being driven to the wrong place at the wrong time and her getting involved in an elderly couple with a romantic side kick, but that is as far as I have gotten. I guess I thought this would be a continuing story from the Historian, but happily, it's not and that's a good thing. Her writing is so smooth and I have enjoyed her books. Hopefully I will update as soon as I finish.

This lovely Kostova book tells multiple stories across past and present and involves a mystery as did her previous The Historian, albeit with a mystery not as scary as Dracula's tomb. It's like a tour of Bulgaria with a story, though the history of gulags is a sad one. Scenic writing, and really expresses the flavors of Bulgaria.

FIRST SENTENCE: "Sofia, the year 2008."

THE STORY: Alexandra, mourning the loss of her brother, has traveled to Bulgaria to teach English and to see the country he always planned to visit. She arrives at the wrong hotel and ends up helping an older couple and their son into a cab. As they pull away she realizes she still holds one of their bags, which contains human ashes. Flagging another cab, she begins a search for the family. Eventually the story focuses on the extraordinary life of Stoyan Lazarov, whose ashes she now protects.

WHAT I THOUGHT: About halfway through I vowed to mark this DNF, something I am loath to do. The writing is beautiful but the tale was taking on aspects of a shaggy dog story. I decided to give it one more try and it was definitely worth the effort. The story intensified combining past and current events. As with THE HISTORIAN, I turned to the Internet to further research the things I was learning.

In this story Kostova returns to the Eastern European terrain of THE HISTORIAN writing about the topography of present-day Bulgaria. She is a wonderful story teller and paints a picture of Bulgaria, both good and bad, that makes one want to immediately buy a ticket and travel there.

BOTTOM LINE: This is a long book. If you are prepared to settle back and enjoy the scenery, it will eventually draw you in. For those who love historical fiction, suspense, and mystery. RECOMMENDED.

Hardcover: 496 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition (stated), First Printing edition (April 11, 2017)
ISBN-10: 0345527860
ISBN-13: 978-0345527868

DISCLAIMER: I received a free e-copy of Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova from NetGalley/Ballantine Books for my honest review.

Elizabeth Kostova's engrossing debut novel is the culmination of ten years of research and a lifetime of imagining--since Kostova's girlhood, when her father entertained her with tales of Dracula, she has envisioned the story that would become The Historian. With her academic spirit and extraordinary talent, she's spun an intricate tale of sprawling mystery and suspense. Kostova graduated from Yale and holds an MFA from the University of Michigan, where she won the Hopwood Award for the Novel-in-Progress. (from Amazon)

I greatly enjoyed this book. As always, Ms. Kostova's descriptions of her settings leave me wanting to travel, even if I may run into dastardly former Communists.

"The Shadow Land" tells the tale of Alexandra, a young but not necessarily naive American who's suffered hardships - her brother got lost on a hiking trip and never returned. It's this dark past that gives her life and voice within the frame of the story.

It's this cataclysmic event that initiates her trip to Bulgaria. Right from the first page, I identified with her experiences as a foreigner. Her arriving in the city and taking a taxi with wide-eyed innocence and awe at her surroundings so closely mirrors my own experiences abroad. Even her run-in with the police force is just so on-point. It's clear Kostova is intimately familiar with this landscape and weaves a fanciful tale that's both heartfelt and authentic.

The story is delicately woven with flashbacks to Stoyan's own suffering, which is both poignant and inspirational. His fortitude in the face of death and despair really gives the reader a sense of his true nature and why it's so vital that Alexandra return his ashes.

I don't want to spoil too much of the story, but I will say it holds a magical allure without stepping outside the boundaries of realism. The journey Alexandra goes on to return the ashes is like the trials and tribulations of an epic hero, though in a much more modern sense. In her journey, she learns about Stoyan, she learns about Bulgaria, but most importantly, she learns about herself.

I'll admit, I first picked this one up for the beautiful cover, but I'm glad I did! The story it beautiful inside and out!

When I saw an ARC of Elizabeth Kostova’s new novel available for request on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance to read it because her earlier novel THE HISTORIAN is one of my top… twenty-five favorite books of all time. I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to read it, and I apologize to Ms. Kostova and the publisher for this late review.

As with THE HISTORIAN, THE SHADOW LAND has skips from past to present and back again. This isn’t the easiest thing to follow until you get used to it, because you have to get used to it or you risk missing an important, powerful story.

I won’t compare this novel to the other Kostova book I read any more than that. This one stands alone and it was simply that one that made me want to read this one.

The lead character, Alexandra, comes off as awfully naive, almost to the point of being cliched in her innocent-American-caught-up-in-European-intrigue storyline. The lead man in the story is more original and interesting, though it’s vaguely irritating that he proclaims to be so proud of his Bulgarian heritage but insists that he be called Bobby instead of Aspurah.

One thing it is easy to love about this novel is that, once again, Kostova manages to weave intricate, not well-known Eastern European history into a fascinating story without having the story end up too heavy with historical facts and figures or too light and uneducated. I’ve never learned so much about Bulgaria as I did reading this book and I thank the author for that. That being said, I went into the story expecting folklore (sorry, one more reference to THE HISTORIAN) but I was pleasantly surprised it went into the Communist history of Bulgaria, and of Europe as a whole, instead. This is, as an added bonus, the first book I’ve ever read set in Bulgaria!

Here’s the thing about THE SHADOW LAND, in conclusion –

I would read the story of the Past, of Stoyan Lazarov and his wife and family as they struggled to survive communism. And I would read the story of American Alexandra and Bulgarian Bobby, of their fight to right wrongs and find healing and love. But I am not 100% convinced that the two stories meld together as well as they should. It’s almost… too much coincidence, luck, and circumstance that Alexandra ends up caring what happened to Stoyan. Basically, I want two books instead of one. Which is always a good thing!

The conclusion of the story (as opposed to my conclusion above, it seems) is a little disjointed because of the separate stories. The Bad Guy is the same in both timelines, in both stories, and that’s a good thing. But Alexandra ends up sort of tossed into what is obviously supposed to be a meaningful relationship with a very minor character, making their love lose some of it’s oomph, and Bobby hardly gets an ending at all.

I cared about these people and I want them to have more, darn it!

Overall, though, it’s a good book and it gets four stars from me for Bulgarian history.

I received a copy of THE SHADOW LAND through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest and original review. All thoughts are my own, my review is posted on my blog, on Goodreads, and on NetGalley.

The writing is good (Kostova is always good), but I didn't connect with the story and ended up daunted by its size too much to continue reading it.

the author writes very well and she does well with her genre of historical fiction. It's an interesting idea of a book and it keeps the readers interest.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free digital ARC of this book. This book is true to its title description. The reader won't be disappointed when reading this book.

I loved this novel just as much as "The Historian". Kostova continues to be one of the greatest storytellers currently writing.

This novel was satisfying just like its predecessor the Historian. Seeped heavily in historical facts and beautiful landscapes the reader will fall into the setting. Highly enjoyable but at times too wordy.

Several years ago, when I was in a vampire phase, a co-worker introduced me to Elizabeth Kostova and let me borrow The Historian. It was a huge book, very intimidating, and I was warned it was much different than the YA and cozy mysteries I was used to. Kostova's style is definitely out of my realm and comfort zone of what I normally read, but I absolutely love her writing. I fell in love with The Historian so much I bought my own copy, just to have. So when I saw another book by her, I immediately scooped it up. Again, just by reading the summary, I doubt I would have grabbed this one, but I'm so glad I had been introduced to her in the past and decided to go on a limb. I absolutely loved this book. Loved traveling back and forth in time to learn a story of the past to weave it into a mystery of the present. Kostova takes me to places I will likely never be able to travel to. She tells stories that keep you gripped to the pages and continually wanting more.

I rather enjoyed Kostova's 'The Historian,' but the main reason that I picked up this book is that I recently, and unexpectedly, traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria - and loved it. I was eager to revisit the city with a book set there. Unfortunately, the book didn't live up to my hopes. The perspective on Bulgaria is definitely that of a tourist's brief visit: "I went to that monastery on my trip, so I'm going to make my characters go there too!"

Alexandra is a young American woman who's landed a teaching gig in Bulgaria, and has decided to arrive a bit early to take in the sights and get adjusted to life in Sofia. Unfortunately, as soon as she arrives at her hotel, a luggage mishap means that she ends up with someone else's bag - a bag that turns out to hold a funerary urn. Appalled by her error, she appeals to her taxi driver for help in attempting to return the remains of the deceased, Stoyan Lazarov, to his family - a task which turns out to be much harder than either of them initially anticipated, as the current whereabouts of the family, and their history, is rather shrouded in mystery.

And this was my main problem with the book. Kostova makes a huge deal of the 'mystery' throughout the plot. The Lazarovs - and even the taxi driver - are apparently hiding secrets. It's played up to such an extent that it almost requires some kind of dark and supernatural revelation, as she gave us in The Historian. But there's nothing of the sort here. (I feel this is sort of an anti-spoiler, as I feel like I may have enjoyed the book more if I had ruled out expecting a dramatic revelation.) We do find out a bit of the past of the Lazarov family and it's some fairly quotidian stuff involving Bulgaria's past political turmoil.

My other issue is that the characters' decisions appear to be driven by the necessity of the plot, rather than any sensible logic process. OK, fine, young women have been known to go to crazy lengths after seeing an attractive man, but why would the taxi driver would take days out of his life for her strange errand? I remained unconvinced by the justifications.

Many thanks to Ballantine and NetGalley for the opportunity to read.

First let me thank Netgalley, and Ballantine Books for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Honestly, I had a bit of a hard time slogging through this book. I'm giving it three stars (out of 5) because I think it contained good historical information about Bulgaria, and the writing was good. But for me, the plot was a bit far-fetched, and the story was pretty dreary. I didn't buy it that on Alexandra Boyd's first day in a foreign (REALLY foreign) country -- she would start driving far and wide across the country on an improbable quest with a taxi driver that she knew nothing about.

The storyline switches back and forth between present-day Bulgaria which is trying to revive after the fog of a dictatorial government has supposedly been lifted; and Bulgaria in the mid-twentieth century. On Alexandra's first day in Bulgaria she accidentally ends up with the ashes of a Bulgarian musician. What follows is her quest to return the ashes to the family who lost them, and the story of the man, Stoyan Lazarov, whose urn she is carrying.

Lazarov was a promising violinist as Nazi Germany rose to power in Europe. After WWII ended and Bulgaria became a closed communist country, Lazarov was sent to a 'work camp' (ie. forced labor camp) for an undisclosed offenses against the state. Lazarov's time in the brutal camp was buoyed by imaginging the birth and nurturing of a phantom son.

The story bounces between the Alexandra's present day quest across Bulgaria trailed by menancing government officials and a rising political figure who appears to be up to no good; and Lazarov's horrific experiences in the labor camp, and how the aftermath of those experiences shaped him and his family. There is a tiny bit of magical realism in the book, and as I said before the writing is good. I just had to keep exhorting myself to continue to read the book because it all seemed so sad and generally gray. It's not the way you want to read a book.

It takes some time and effort to tackle one of Elizabeth Kostova's lengthy tomes and this was well worth it.

Unfortunately, I DNFed this book in the first 15%. It just didn't grab my attention.

We're a long, LONG way from the beauty and brilliance of The Historian here. I'm declining to comment further due to the tremendous respect I have for Kostova based on her first novel.