Elizabeth Kostova in this novel takes the reader to Bulgaria where protagonist Alexander Boyd travels to learn more about  Eastern European cultures. Mourning still for her brother, lost when on a family hike, her luggage is mistakenly mixed, and she ends up with a urn of cremated remains. Alexander feels a strong need to get the remains back to their rightful owner. So begins this thrilling journey into a communist country of history not always understood and  communist government methods.--Le Coeur de l'Artiste

Although The Shadow Land has no supernatural elements, I found that it echoed many of the elements that made The Historian such an addictive and compelling novel. Vampires aside, The Shadow Land returns to Bulgaria and delves deep into a dark era of its modern history.  Through Alexandra's fresh eyes, the reader experiences Bulgaria's haunted beauty. Like The Historian, our protagonist suddenly finds herself in the midst of a quest - to return an urn she had accidentally come to possess.  However, this innocent good deed soon sets in motion a series of increasingly sinister events.  

She is helped in her quest by a taxi driver who has secrets of his own.  Together, they discover what happened to a famous Bulgarian musician whose ashes are in the urn. Through their attempts to return his ashes, Alexandra and Bobby travel all over Bulgaria, meeting people, each of whom gives insight about the bigger picture. 

The reader might ask - where is this all leading up to?  The terrible past and sinister present converge to a shocking ending.  However, a character which had been off-stage for 90% of the narrative re-enters for a surprisingly romantic last chapter.

The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova may not be as clear of a departure from her first novel--The Historian--as some may believe.

No.  There is no longed-for return of Dracula or any of his minions.  However, there are many sorts of monsters, some that cast larger shadows than Dracula could ever manage.

In The Shadow Land, Kostova weaves a fictional account of a horror that might remind one of the holocaust.  However, this horror is one that few westerners have heard of.  It happened in Bulgaria during its "communist experience" which took place during between 1944 and 1989.

The tale begins with a stunning prologue that compares the novel to a train--not a speedy bullet train, but one that exudes noxious fumes as it clatters along meandering rails carrying unexpected cargo.

The tale begins in modern times when readers meet the protagonist, Alexandra, a young woman who travels to Bulgaria to teach English.  Upon arriving in Sophia, she inadvertently becomes entangled in a convoluted mystery when she comes in contact with a Bulgarian family and ends up in possession of their most sacred treasure.

Later, she teams up with an interesting and surprising cohort, a young taxi driver with secrets of his own.  Together, they go on an extended voyage across Bulgaria in search of answers.

Kostova reveals her love for Bulgaria by clearly painting the beauty of the country and the kindness of its people.  She takes readers along for the ride, offering them the ability to join the travelers on their voyage of discovery.  However, she makes it plain that there is another Bulgaria, one that hides in the shadows of the past.

From time to time, the action flashes back to the past and tells the tale of Stoyan Lazarov, a gentle artist and his loving family.  By doing so, Kostova enhances the reader's ability to relate to what happened in that sad shadow land and forces them to assimilate the horror.

Unfortunately, readers who want a fast-paced, flash-bang tale will be very disappointed.  Kostova luxuriates in her complex descriptions and the extended back-story of Lazarov and his family, perhaps spurred by her personal ties to Bulgaria.

It could be said that The Shadow Land is an act of love on Kostova's part, an attempt to bring light to dark secrets.

Readers who enjoy luxuriating in complex, extended tales will love The Shadow Land.  On the other hand, readers with a lack of patience or who want a quick read may jump off the train and choose not to complete the voyage of discovery.

rougeskireads

This is supposed to be a mystery. While it starts out as one, it turns into a story of Bulgaria and the culture there. While there is noting wrong with that, it isn't what I was expecting. The writing is beautiful and the descriptions extraordinary. If you're looking for a good mystery, though - look elsewhere.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for providing me with an advance copy of this book. 

I found The Shadow Land to be a very good novel in many ways, yet I did have a few gripes with it, which I'd like to get out of the way so I can get to complimenting it. 

The first gripe being with the way in which Elizabeth Kostova, the author, writes. She is a talented writer, for sure, but I struggled with her usage of overly-complicated words that felt gratuitous, as if she was trying hard to prove to me of her intelligence, of which I was already aware. I wouldn't even call it 'flowery' language, as it didn't aid with beautiful descriptions. Just these big words plonked in the middle of otherwise basic sentences, and it felt very forced. I kept having to press down on a word in the reader app to have the word defined, which quickly became tedious. 

Secondly, her descriptions, which are a tag-along to her use of complicated words. Kostova described everything from people to places in great detail, which, for a reader, is usually wonderful, yet I could rarely paint a mental picture of what she was describing. I had a hard time seeing what she was showing me, and I felt it lessened the quality of the story on a whole. She frequently used the words "weirdly" and "strangely" as adjectives, but that gives me more of a general vibe, rather than providing me with visual descriptions that I can go to in my mind. 

For example, she described a painting toward the middle of the book as "benignly painted in oils," and I have no idea what that means. Maybe because I have zero background in art, and that's on me, but I don't believe I should have to as a reader just so I can have a mental picture of a painting on a wall. Another example was in describing one of the main protagonists, as she writes, "His face was already not quite young." I'm not sure what that means. Is he young? Not quite? Already not quite? It exasperated me a little bit, as might be evident. 

Gripes out of the way, I did indeed enjoy this novel. I learned much about Bulgaria and its culture, which I took great pleasure in. Understanding foreign traditions and ways of life different to what I know is something I treasure, and I definitely got that from The Shadow Land. Yet another country destroyed by wars and by political factionalism, where nobody was safe—even the most innocent of countrymen and women. 

I wasn't expecting a slow-burning quasi murder mystery, with complex, endearing characters. The author takes us to mountainous villages and post-Communist Bulgarian cities, each as important as the protagonist, Alexandra, the young American who travels to Bulgaria to teach English, and the accompanying cast. Present and past are intertwined masterfully, and I appreciate that I was engrossed by both sides of history, not one more than the other. Of course, they come together in the end, and I found it to be really well done.

I love reading, but I do not love reading this book. I have to stop at 48% because I'd rather do like seriously anything else. I recognized the author of The Historian (which, admittedly, I also did not like) when I saw this pre-release up for grabs on NetGalley. I thought I would give the author another try since a lot of people actually did like The Historian. This book had everything I hated about it though from the slow moving plot, painfully boring main characters, and pointlessly long descriptions of trivial matters. At 48% I still felt disconnected from the characters with little interest in their conflicts. The mystery aspect was maybe starting to pick up with the vandalism and mysterious notes, but still not interesting enough to keep reading. 

If you like overly flowery language, a plain Jane vanilla leading lady, and a tepid mystery then maybe you'll like this book. Definitely not my cup of tea.

It took me forever to finish this book, but most of that time was spent reading about the first 50% of it. The first half dragged on, and I was about halfway through before I had any idea what the real story was going to be about. The second half of the book was much better, but I feel like the climax was oddly rushed.

I also wasn't terribly fond of Alexandra. I found it strange that she developed this odd obsession with Neven after having only met him for a few fleeting seconds. It was also odd to me that at times she seemed to have a romantic interest in Bobby, despite him being gay...but then they found Neven and it was almost as if Bobby didn't exist.

The author does make Bulgaria sound like a beautiful country, despite its terrible history. I did enjoy the descriptions of the landscapes and the history.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I think this book would have been a lot better if it was a lot shorter. For me, it was just WAY too long. I was 1/3 of the way into it and was still thinking why am I still reading this? It seemed like the girl and the taxi driver would drive for hours, get to their destination and either no one would be there or Neven would not be there. A relative would be there and they would have an address and then they would get back in the taxi and drive for hours again. The violinist led a very sad life and I was not aware that they had camps that long after the war, so I did learn that. However, the lead up, for me, was just too long.

And then the ending was like three pages long and it was done. 

Thanks to Random House/Ballantine for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

When Alexandra Boyd arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria, she was anxious to get to her hostel and rest. She had made the long trip to Bulgaria to teach English at a local school and also to grieve the loss of her dead brother who was fascinated by the country. However she stopped at a fancy hotel where she saw an elderly couple and a younger man struggling to leave the hotel with all their baggage and a wheelchair. Alexandra decided to help them get to their cab.

 After they left, she discovered that one of the group's bags had gotten mixed up with her bags. Further inspection revealed that the bag contained an elaborate urn with the ashes of a musician, Stoyan Lazarov.. So Alexandra sought the help of a cab driver and embarked on a trip across Bulgaria to find the family of the deceased musician. In the process, she also discovers the hidden history of Bulgaria when it was under Communist rule between 1944 and 1989. She found out what life was like in the Communist work camps that dotted the country and existed to punish those Bulgarians who were seen as troublemakers.

This is a long book with detailed descriptions of the horrors of the work camps and the dismal life in an Eastern Bloc country during the Communist regime and afterward. The author made many visits to Bulgaria after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. She has many friends and family in Bulgaria and used them as resources for her book.

I am a huge fan of historical novels with a good modern mystery intertwined. Kostova has done this in her previous books with great success. The Shadow Land is a solid novel with a weak ending.
The Shadow Land begins as a perfect immolation: lush description of faraway places, intriguing characters, and a sense of danger all lurk with in the pages. We follow Alexandra who has come to Bulgaria to teach English and accidently comes into possession of someone's ashes. Her desire to return them to their proper owner put herself and her new friends  as she he has no idea who ashes she has in her Stop correcting possession.
Sadly, the emotional build up of Alexandra and the dead man's story comes to a cliché ending. The ending did not give true emotional closure for either the legacy of the dead man and the resolution of the resolution of Alexandra's situation was so swift that it seemed rush.
The Shadow Land is a solid novel with a weak ending.

I was hoping to love this, I was eager to devour this book just like I did Kostavio's book The Historian. I must say I was quite disappointed. I felt that the story dragged for far too long. Too many inadequate details made for a very long read. 
I do appreciate all the research the author did to give the reader a very vivid view of the country. I felt like I was back in this country the imagery of the landscape was rich.

I feel that Elizabeth Kostova's books are not to be missed, and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read this one. This book is rich with history and portrays Bulgaria as a splendid setting for both the current and historical storylines. 

In this story, a young woman, Alexandra, inadvertently takes a bag that belongs to an elderly couple. She is very dismayed to discover that it contains a box with the ashes of their loved one. As she tries to find them to return the box, she experiences a journey that takes her not only into Bulgarian communities, but also into the lavish history and political unrest of the area. This is a mission that will change Alexandra forever. 

Alexandra's journey, both physically and emotionally, was one I thoroughly enjoyed, and I loved the historical information that was given about Bulgaria. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest review.

I've been struggling with how to rate The Shadow Land.  While reading it, the story felt like a solid 3 stars, but since finishing it, my mind keeps going back to various aspects of the story.  In particular, the historical flashbacks to Stoyan Lazarov's life, the fascinating descriptions of how he visualized the violin music he practiced, the haunting details of his time in the Bulgarian work camp, and the interwoven tales of the lives he touched, all add up to a memorable and compelling story.

The main narrator in the modern storyline, Alexandra, is perhaps the weakest part the book and the reason why I didn't enjoy it as much while reading compared to in hindsight. Her many flashbacks to the disappearance of her brother when she was a child seem unnecessary and bog down the first half of the book. She remains largely a passive observer of events unfolding around her and relies on the various people she meets along the way to solve the problem that she created and move the plot forward.  The ending of her story (without giving away any details) seems undeserved and unrealistic given the sacrifices everyone else made for her. 

Putting aside Alexandra, the rest of the cast of characters are much more three dimensional and interesting.  That, plus the unique historical and geographic setting and very descriptive language make this a must read for historical fiction fans looking for a book to get lost in. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing an ARC for review!

The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova

This is storytelling at its best. I loved Elizabeth Kostova's "The Historian" and I also loved her second book Swan Thieves. I really loved this one as well, except I found this one to tug on my emotions and parts of it was hard to read because it concerns the Russian Gulag. Kostova says in her author's notes that she met and married somebody from Bulgaria. While standing at the site of an old forced labor camp abandoned it gave her the idea for the heart of her story. I had read about the Russian Gulag before and found it to be very much like the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. A person could get arrested and sent to these camps without a trial or sentencing.

These forced Labor Camps were unknown to many, for the people who were aware of them they were afraid. Between the years of 1944 through 1989, when the Berlin wall was torn down tens of thousands of people were sent to these camps. The prisoner's were given little to eat and were cramped in overcrowded conditions. You had to keep working or you could be shot. The only difference between the Gulag and Nazi Germany was that there were not any crematoriums. Prisoner's were humiliated and beaten and shot. Many died from starvation or lack of medical treatment. They might not have shoes in the freezing cold temperatures. I had to stop and think because conditions were so similar to the Holocaust. The author says that in 1962 there were an estimated 100 camps that were active. So this book is hard to read because this is part of the story.

I really loved the writing and I loved all of the character's. It kept me fully engaged throughout the whole novel. Elizabeth Kostova's three books are all Brilliant and completely different from each other. Alexandra and her brother Jack grew up in the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains. They were inseparable as children as they lived out in a rural area. They used to take a huge atlas from the bookshelves and had a game that they played together earning them points. Jack's favorite Country was Bulgaria. Alexandra's favorite Country was Yugoslavia.

When Jack and Alexandra got into their teen's they moved to the city and Jack used to be rebellious. One weekend Jack and Alexandra go for a hike up into the Mountain's with their parents. Jack did not want to go on the hike. Alexandra got tired of his grumbling and said something like "Why don't you get lost." Something like that. Jack says to Alexandra "Okay." He really did get lost or something happened because he was unable to be found. Alexandra feels enormous guilt and doesn't want to tell her parent's their last conversation because she doesn't want to make her parent's feel worse than they already do.

Perhaps Alexandra picks Bulgaria to go and teach English when she is twenty-six years old, because it was Jack's favorite Country. She is a very caring person and the taxi she takes from the airport confuses where she is staying. Instead of going to a hostel she ends up getting dropped off at The Hotel Forest. Alexandra sees three people come out of the doors at The Hotel Forest. A white haired old man named Milen Radev is sitting in a wheel chair. Pushing the wheelchair is Neven an older man than herself, and Vera who is old and is gripping her son Neven. Because there is not a ramp for the wheel chair these three catch Alexandra's attention. The tall man named Neven helps his mother, Vera and Milen Radev down the stairs. Alexandra offers to help them because she is a kind person. She scoops up some of their bags and hands them to the three as they get into a taxi. Neven happens to mention that they are going to the Velin monastery.

When Alexandra gets into her own cab she discovers that she has one of their bags. She tells the taxi driver named Bobby that she opened the bag and opened an ornate urn and found human ashes. So she asks Bobby if he will bring he will drive her back to The Forest Hotel, because she thinks that at this point, the three have discovered they are missing the ashes. Bobby goes into the Forest Hotel and asks about the three travelers and he is told they were not guest's they met with a journalist. Then Alexandra thinks that the police can handle it and Bobby says that the police are not always helpful. They do go to the police and that is when the trouble starts to follow them.

This is a fantastic book that I highly recommend to both genders. It kept me captivated from page one to the very end. I read it in two sittings because I was looking forward to the story. It is a little depressing when the book shifts to the communist labor camps. I had a hard time reading it myself and was uncomfortable with the inhumane treatment. I guess you could look at it like it is part of history and the character's are completely fictional. It doesn't relate to any one person that she is writing about. I think the book is to pay tribute to all of the people that were sent there. Elizabeth Kostova wrote an excellent book with much beauty as well. Overall It is a favorite for me for 2017.

Thank you to Net Galley, Elizabeth Kostova and Ballantine Books for providing me with my digital copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Shadow Land was the first book I've read by this author and was furnished by Net Galley.  While it is an OK story line too much time was spent on Stoyan Lazarov's time spent in the interment camps.  Too much slight variation on the same theme.  Also, how many dead end rabbit holes do we go down in search of the family to return the urn Alexandra 'mistakenly' picked up at the hotel, along with her baggage??  I was to the point of one more dead end path and I'm deleting the galley.  At least 80 pgs. could have been removed and the plot would have survived.  Almost 500 pgs. and a lot of repetition.

This book is like a very fine whiskey- meant to be taken in sips, not all at once! I am a very fast reader, but even so, it took me 5 days of reading to finish this book, not because it is huge ( it is only 496 pages), but because there is SO much to take in, discover and learn. While fiction, the book does an excellent job of sharing the many facets if Bulgaria as a country ruled by the Turks, then by a King, and then taken over by Communism, and fighting to find it's way back to a time of light and lack of fear. Kostova's writing is hypnotic- you get LOST in the descriptions, savoring the small moments, so that time seems to fly, and you realize you will not be finishing the book quickly. But by taking the reading slowly, you get to experience it ALL- the history, the characters, the secrets, the country, and you come away with a book that stays with you long after it has ended. This is one to read on the veranda with coffee long into the morning, as the Spring air reminds you of our own history!

I received an Advance Reading Copy of this book from Netgalley.com in return for an honest review. I requested this book because I thoroughly enjoyed a previous novel (The Historian) written by this author--Elizabeth Kostova. Kostova writes with a brilliant artistry. Her words are poetic and well thought out. She paints vivid scenes with her descriptive phrases. This book, however, was slow going. I made it all the way to Chapter 24 and nothing (so far as I could tell) happened. She easily could have cut this book in half and the story would not have suffered. It was painful to read about the two main characters and how they drove from place to place looking for an elusive family in order to return an urn filled with cremated remains. As they drove from place to place and city to city, the fact that they were always a step or two behind got old. I have never been to Bulgaria and the book did nothing to entice me to travel there. Next time out, maybe Kostova will concentrate more on the story instead of the unimportant details that slowed down the progress.

From having read Kosovo's book, "The Historian," I had great expectations for "The Shadow Land."  The main character, Alexandra, teaches English in Bulgaria.  She becomes involved in a hunt for the owner of a wooden box which she discovers contains ashes.  Bulgaria is a country dear to Kosovo's heart and she makes a great deal of references to the beauty and past history of the country.  The book goes on for a great length and I wonder if it would have kept my interest if I had more of an understanding of where Kosovo was coming from which I finally realized at the end of the book in the Author's Note.  A tedious read.

Alexandra Boyd arrives in Bulgaria to teach and while helping an elderly couple into a taxi, she later realizes she has one of their bags. Determined to return the bag to its rightful owner she sets out on a journey of unexpected mystery, danger, history, and healing.

THIS is my kind of book! Okay, it isn't fantasy or sci-fi but the elements I love in those stories are here. Adventure, new horizons, philosophies, some things to learn and think about. Those are all present in this book. I am sad that it has ended and think I may have to read it again sometime with Audible version. The text-to-speech was great but with this taking place in Bulgaria, I needed someone to pronounce words better than the British female robot. Which usually works quite well for me, but there were some names that when I was reading with my eyes too, I could see they were not pronounced anywhere NEAR right.

The main character is well developed, the secondaries not as deeply but the story wasn't about them so that was okay by me. With the person so developed and the world so real I felt I was watching a movie. In fact, this would make a marvelous movie, there is just so much depth here!

The time of the book moves back and forth from about WWII and now. The political themes presented seem very poignant, and apropos warnings to our current system and how delicate it is. 

But my favorite part of the book, though the saddest, was how music played a part in the day to day survival of the musician. I don't want to expound on this as it would be a spoiler. Needless to say, it gave me the unavoidable courage to face the cold of my studio and play the piano for as long as my fingers could move, and then left me with a fire to get back in there as soon and as often as I can as Spring brings warmer weather.

Oh, how I wish there were a book two. I don't know how it could be done as none of the situations or people remain in the right places for that. But I did want to see what happens now that the main character has made friends with the musician's son. What could they give each other? Will they become more than friends? And what about the taxi driver? Is there happiness in his future? What a cool guy he was! Like I said, I am left wanting more and that may have to happen by re-reading with audio.

By the way, I was given this version for review by NetGalley dot com. Please, if you get the chance to read this, do. I hope you love it as I did.