If you don't like long books, don't read this one. But if you're a patient reader and like a plot that unwinds slowly and grippingly, this may be for you. Perhaps I particularly enjoyed it because in Romania I have walked through the Dracula castle several times at the close of day just as darkness descended and the stairway and upper rooms took on a particular gloom; a definitely creepy experience...(also, one day saw a workman outside fixing a pathway; he had just dug up a small part part of a skeleton and casually tossed aside several finger bones). ~The Historian is presented to appear believable; the author admits to mixing fact and fantasy in her brew. I wouldn't have missed this book, shivers and all.