The Swan Thieves

So I finally finished reading The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova.  It took me well over a month, a feat unheard of in my lifetime.  And I should have known better.  I want my month back.

Do not get me wrong, Kostova is an amazing writer, I enjoy the way she puts words to a page immensely.  Hence the reason I kept at a book that lost me within the first few chapters.  This was her second novel though, and a huge disappointment.  Her first novel, The Historian, was perfection.  Truly a delight to read, G and I both tore through it, amazed by it and pleased at the end.

The Swan Thieves was not as such.  In the end it felt anti-climatic and I was as bored with the ending as I was in the beginning.  It was a lengthy book, with too many words saying oh so little.  Written beautifully, but it showed that while she had worked for a decade on The Historian, this was written hastily to please the publishers.  I saw the end coming, and worse, could have cared less.  It finally explains why this madmen tries to destroy a painting, but it still makes so little sense and is not awe inspiring.  

Basically it was a dud.  I should have tossed it on the donate pile as soon as I got bored early on, and definitely after a couple weeks.  If you choose to read this (the story line did sound interesting) then please do yourself a favor and borrow it from the library.  It is most definitely not worth the cost in the least.