The Swan Thieves

by Elizabeth Kostova

[empressbrooke]

The Swan Thieves, Elizabeth Kostova's sophomore effort after [b:The Historian|10692|The Historian|Elizabeth Kostova|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51D6T04WTFL._SL75_.jpg|3061272], is altogether a very satisfying experience from beginning to end. It's nearly 600 pages long, and luckily it uses the pages well. It doesn't lag or become dull in places; instead, it moves forward at a slow but steady pace and reveals secrets bit by bit. Kostova lays out the pieces quite clearly so that even a half-attentive reader will figure out the secrets before they're explicitly confirmed. Some reviews have suggested this is a flaw, but I'm not convinced that the author was trying to make any of the revelations shocking. Just from the way she chose to reveal bits here and there, I think that the reader is supposed to make these connections along with the main character. After all, the main character says more than once that he suspected certain truths long before he finds his proof, and so should the reader.

I was genuinely interested in all the characters and their stories, and just like in The Historian, Kostova used her powerful descriptive ability to bring things to life - rather than the Eastern European cities that popped out of The Historian's pages, The Swan Thieves is full of descriptions of paintings and sketches that don't need any visual illustration for me to picture them in my mind.

The author could have fleshed out the ending encounter between the main character and his patient a bit more; endings seem to be Kostova's weakness, but this book's ending was far and away much better than the strange letdown of The Historian's closure.

Definitely recommended, and I already look forward to the author's next book.