Vampire tale lacks substance

Authors have been persistent in their attempts to modernize the story of Dracula and his bloodthirsty minions for centuries, and Elizabeth Kostova has taken a stab -- with a silver stake, of course -- at the heart of the vampire story in her novel, "The Historian." Although Kostova has made a valiant effort, she may be beating an undead horse.\nLord Byron wrote of vampires in the early 17th century in his poem "The Giaour." Bram Stoker's famous "Dracula" formed the modern mental picture of the undead in the late 19th century. Anne Rice wrote her "Vampire Chronicles" in the 1970s, and they were made into the major motion pictures "Interview with the Vampire" in 1994 and "Queen of the Damned" in 2002. There is even a vampire-based television series with which we are all familiar: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer,"which first aired in 1997.\nIs it possible that society has been so over-exposed to vampire lore that we no longer find it frightening? I think so, and I think that because of this, readers will find Kostova's novel ludicrous. She attempts to add credibility by telling the "true" story of Vlad the Impaler, the historical figure upon whom Dracula is based. This is a wise move, as reality can be even more terrifying than fiction, but her facts were somewhat flimsy, and she mingles them with a downright silly plot.\nIn the novel, a young girl discovers some letters belonging to her father and begins to delve into his past. She learns that when he was in graduate school, his most beloved professor disappeared one night after having a conversation about Vlad the Impaler. Her father began to frantically comb the world, searching for his mentor with the help of his daughter, who is descended from Vlad himself. The plot is not as confusing as it sounds, but the novel is told through a series of flashbacks, letters and memoirs and the perspective changes often, forcing the reader to pay close attention so as not to get lost.\nEventually, the favorite professor is found, after a not-so-shocking revelation that Vlad still walks the earth. It turns out he was taken to be the maniacal count's librarian. That's right. Librarian. The reader learns that after centuries of terrorizing the countryside, Vlad just wants to settle down and categorize his extensive book collection. So he kidnaps the professor and sparks a 642-page journey across time and most of Eastern Europe for his hapless readers.\nThough Kostova does use some interesting tidbits of truth to back her narrative and makes good use of multiple sources to keep readers from total boredom, the book lacks substance. Without a strong plot or even strong characters to hold my attention, I found myself often dozing. I would like to see Kostova give historical fiction another shot because she seems to have a lot of imagination -- but she should definitely let sleeping vampires lie.