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There are currently 23 member reviews
for House of Bathory
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Renee P. (Sanford, FL)
Connect the blood drops
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The pacing of it, the slow, yet steady, buildup to the final scene was beautifully done. While I have read quite a few vampire stories, the amounts of information this book brought out about Elizabeth Bathory was absolutely intriguing, and, mind boggling to contemplate. How anyone, in any age, could have so consistently murdered and tortured over 600 women is something that is really, really hard for me to wrap my mind around. About the only criticism I could have for this book is that, for me, the final chapter was a bit weak., I think, given the amounts of detail in the rest of the book, it might have been nice to provide a bit more in the way of sharing how the two sisters and the psychologist involved managed to overcome the things that happened to them instead of just plopping down the happy ever after scenario.
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Lora G. (Niceville, FL)
House of Bathory
While I don't normally like vampire novels, I did enjoy this book. Lafferty did a great job blending fiction with the facts. She also did a great job developing her characters and making them believable. That said I found myself skimming through the modern portion and thought the author could have done just as good of a job with less pages.
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Monica W. (Port Jefferson, NY)
House of Bathory
I'm a long time fan of vampires and the supernatural, so I thought this book would end up being an interesting read. Elizabeth Bathory was believed to have been a source of the Dracula story and it has been said that she bathed in the blood of virgins to protect her youth and beauty. The story alternates between the 17th century of Bathory's rule and the modern day. My biggest problem with this book is that I think the author is trying to cram way too many plot threads and ideas into one narrative. I could basically follow them and while they are interesting there is so much going on. The book combines historical fiction, contemporary Jungian analysis, a goth teen, a Jungian therapist with some unusual family connections, the rekindling of a love affair, a crazed villain with a serious fetish, and teen friendship/possible romance. It is really just too much for one novel. No one likes a underdeveloped plot, but this needs to be tightened and some of the unnecessary threads removed. I can't say it is a terrible book (if it was I would never have finished it), but it needs some editing. And as to an audience- I really have no idea who this book would work for. It seems like it is trying to be everything for everyone, and that never works.
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Marjorie H. (Woodstock, GA)
EEEK!
A very predictable read. And certainly 'in' with the vampire/walking dead trend.
I think Ms Lafferty is an accomplished writer, but employs the 'Dan Brown' effect of ending every chapter with a cliffhanger. 'A far off scream carried in on a gust of wind, and then was swallowed in the silence of the castle.' I guess one word comes to mind - 'corny' - a real effort to be dramatic when the subject matter did have some meat in it. Perhaps I'm not the demographic for a book like this. I can't imagine recommending it to anyone.
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Amy H. (Benbrook, TX)
Interesting but predictable
This was a fairly interesting read, since the novel was based on historical characters and events. Historical fiction/nonfiction is my favorite genre so I was excited to get this book started. Overall an interesting read, which seems to pick up steam and energy toward the end. My pet peeve: short chapters make the book "choppy", which upsets the flow of the novel and makes character development more difficult. I enjoyed the time period (1610). This book could have been much shorter than 500 pages.
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Sandra H. (St. Cloud, MN)
A Confusing Gothic Novel
Moving from 2010 to 1610 and back in 123 short chapters with the two intertwining stories and two-dimensional flat characters, "House of Bathory" became a nightmare read for me.
Obviously the author did a great deal of research into the life of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who is remembered as the Blood Countess and gave us a fairly well-developed description of Slovakia during her lifetime but too much of that knowledge gets lost in the jumble of mixing two time periods, two stories and two sets of characters. The contemporary story is much the bigger loser. The characters are one-dimensional and the story stretches credulity.
The author had much to build on in order to create a rich, multilayered story, but unfortunately it never came together.
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Aleksandra E. (Alpharetta, GA)
Good but never reached full potential
While I found the historical aspects to this novel extremely fascinating, I could not relate to the modern day story tie-in. The events and subsequent dialog were often juvenile or seemed contrived. Eastern Europe in the 1500s would, in and of itself, make for a rich and mesmerizing tale. The modern twist was just not as riveting and sometimes bordered on the silly. The intrigue within this story rested solely on the historical Bathory legend and I must admit if the book had focused exclusively on building and exploring this period alone, it may have been wonderful.
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