I am actually giving this one 3.4 stars out of 5. My writing group and I decided to do a monthly book read this year and I was first to pick so I picked this one.

I read this book a long time ago and it was great. When I read it this time, I found it to be slower and less action packed than I remember from my previous read. I liked the characters, and the story itself was good, but the problem with it was the length. Over 600 pages, most of which were long, drawn out descriptions of places and honestly, not enough dialogue to keep my attention at times. I am not saying this was a bad book, because it was not. What I am trying to say is that it could have been better.

As a lover of historical fiction, and to an extent, Dracula’s legend this was a disappointment on a few levels. I had no issue with the writer’s style, just that the story did not need to be dragged out for so long. I get frustrated when there is a great story to tell, and yet they take it to an extreme with page counts. I would recommend this book, but I preface that recommendation by saying if you do not like HUGE books, it may not be for you.