sarai0410's Reviews (404)

I haven't read a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book since I was a kid and this return to the genre did not disappoint. As I move through more and more paths and endings the story evolves into incredible nonsense. The Nurse side quest and Midsummer Night's Dream sequences were amazing. Overall just a fun and quirky reading experience.

Absolutely a new favorite. A beautifully painful story. You can feel Louis' battle with his nature and his beliefs in good and evil, and like most things, is not black and white despite being adamant that it is so through his existence. 

Claudia was an amazing character and I appreciate the discomfort and "ick" feeling that comes with her character as she ages mentally but not physically in the way her sensuality is described. We are not meant to agree or feel "ok" with this factor of her characterization and it was beautifully done.

The only thing I was missing was more information on the "savage" vampires. Why are they like this? Where did they come from? The mystery of it is intriguing.

I picked this up by chance at the used bookstore with honestly barely skimming the back cover for the synopsis. I don't know if I've ever been this lucky in finding such a stunning read. History is a great love of mine and it's where my heart always wanted to take me in academia and while I haven't had the opportunity to explore that world, this scratched that itch as nothing else has. Truly, the writing was extraordinary and Kostova had me hooked from the beginning. I loved the time jumps and going back into other characters' footsteps to find more and more information to uncover the mystery. Add in the fact that we're talking about Vlad Dracula, perfection. I'm already looking forward to re-reading this in the future.

Thank you StoryGraph for allowing 0 stars because boy oh boy does this book deserve it. DNF at 110 pages. I could have stopped at page 10 but I was convinced it had to get better considering how highly this book is praised. Wrong. Just...no.