Friday 31 May 2013

Dandelions in the Garden (Countess Bathory # 1) by Charlie Courtland - Book Review

Title: Dandelions in the Garden (Countess Bathory # 1)
Author: Charlie Courtland
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 426
Format: Paperback
Genre: Historical
Source: Xmas Gift

Buy This Book from Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide

Journey into the underworld of the Blood Countess. "Dandelions In The Garden," is a historical fiction novel based on one of the most infamous female mass murderers in history, the 16th century Hungarian countess, Elizabeth Bathory. The Blood Countess was a descendant of Vlad Tepes and is undeniably connected with the vampire legends of Transylvan. (Goodreads Synopsis)


I've long had an interest in Elizabeth Bathory and so this book seemed a good pick for me. On the whole the book held my attention and I enjoyed the story and characters, particularly Amara's relationship with Lorant. However, the book really needs major editing work. There are issues with typos, jumps between tenses etc. and if a skilled editor had been let loose to clean those things up, I'd have been giving this book four stars instead of three. I understand editing work has been done on it in 2011, so perhaps the copy I received from Book Depository for Christmas was still an older edition....

That said, I probably will still try to read book two in the future as I'd like to see the story through to the end.

In conclusion, Dandelions in the Garden is an interesting read that is only let down by the lack of editing prior to publication: a worthwhile read for fans of historical fiction.


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