I loved the premise, the combination of the historical and mythological Dracula, explored by the characters through academics and research. Kostova layers the story, telling it in her present, about when she was younger, reading about her father's past, describing his mentor's adventures. Other letters, postcards, etc. are also used like this. It mostly works well, and manages to tell the story of several people at once, without losing focus of the "main" story.

Kostova's way of writng is not for me, though. I have a hard time visualising what I read, and she tends to go on about the looks and feels of places the characters are visiting. I'm not negative towards doing so, but it's not quite for me. Some plot-devices are a bit clumsy though, and she relies a bit too heavy on coincidences.