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22 of 25 found the following review helpful:
 Finally, an entertaining resource about Elizabeth Bathory! Aug 07, 2008
By Isabelle Montgomery
I was thrilled to see another book about the Blood Countess. Out of all the books that are available about her, I think this is the most historically-accurate and entertaining.
The book begins early in Elizabeth's life at Castle Ecsed. Elizabeth is a product of generations of endogamy within her politically powerful family. She sees and experiences more than a child of her age should ever have to know.
The story moves on to her teen years, where she encounters her first love -- resulting in pregnancy, in spite of her betrothal to Baron Ferencz Nadasdy. She is sent away to her strict future mother-in-law's home. After she gives birth, Elizabeth is married to Ferencz.
Elizabeth's servants keep her well-entertained with the torture of girls, sex and occult rituals during Ferencz's long stretches of time away. The wars with the Ottoman Turks are never-ending and bloody, and Ferencz is occupied for many years, with few breaks. Elizabeth and Ferencz have five children, two of which are stillborn. As if the deaths of her children are not enough, more relatives die, leaving Elizabeth with the pain of their loss.
When Ferencz's dies, Elizabeth moves to Castle Cachtice. She is an astute businesswoman, and she runs her estates well. To bring in revenue, and also a stream of noble blood, she opens a school of manners for noble girls, which becomes successful and is lauded by much of the Hungarian aristocracy. Debts owed to Elizabeth by King Matthias go unpaid. When Elizabeth complains to the king about repayment, she finds herself arrested and persecuted, with the help of some of her own relatives.
The book ends with a clever twist, a plausible one that historians may have never considered. Well researched, and richly told.
12 of 14 found the following review helpful:
 Kept my interest, intriguing story Dec 06, 2008
By GothFlowerz
I thought this book was well researched and thoughtfully told. Everything I've read about Bathory to date has been a let down, including Valentine Penrose's book, The Bloody Countess (which is all over the place and difficult to absorb since it's a translation), and Andrei Codrescu's book, The Blood Countess (weird contemporary story wound around a poorly told historical theme). Memoir of a Countess stays on track with Bathory's life, and gives us an intriguing point of view of history, and also invites the reader to consider all of the bad press Bathory has received over the centuries. I give this book 4 stars, and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about Elizabeth Bathory.
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Ouch. Oct 25, 2009
By M. Jacobsen
"I am not young enough to know everything."
I picked this one out because I've been interested in the Countess of Bathory for some time and it's difficult to find too many books about this woman. Misinformation abounds everywhere and this book has seized on every unlikely rumor in a seeming effort just to shock the reader.
Really, this is a low-grade pornography/BDSM book which is being marketed as historical fiction. Not that I have any problem with explicitly sexual/violent books, I just prefer that they advertise the fact first.
Given that there is little actually known about the Countess other than legend, the author can be forgiven for writing whatever off-the-wall rumor about the woman they came across. It's fiction, after all. It's just that 90% of the book was spent trying to make the next violent/sexual scene more shocking (and nauseating) than the last.
Other obvious historical errors were involved....for example, influenza was not even remotely identified as such until the early 1700s, yet it is diagnosed in this book some 200 years before. Little things like that, which wouldn't be a big deal were not the novel lacking in other ways.
Dialogue is written in a painfully modern vernacular, which doesn't help things either. I'm pretty sure the Countess's husband never observed that she seemed "stressed." Grrrrr.
All in all, I'd skip this one if I were you, although I wish I had a good Bathory historical fiction novel to direct you to instead. I'm still looking for that myself. If you find you can't resist, this may be a library checkout instead?
4 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 A waste of money... Nov 13, 2010
By Sarah K. Long
To say I was disappointed by this book is an understatement. I have long been fascinated by the life of Elizabeth Bathory and, as such, expected much from a book written about her life `in her own words'. I was surprised to find that a book written about such an interesting woman could be so dull.
Firstly, it is poorly written. Bathory was an educated and intelligent woman living in the heart of the renaissance era, and so I imagined a book written about her (and `in her own words') would be poetic, romantic and a beautiful joy to read. However, the writing style reminds me of a fourth grade book report (aside from the pornographic content, which is abundant). I found myself so frustrated and bored with it I could only read 1 or 2 chapters at a time. What should have taken me a few days to read took me weeks.
Secondly, although the story outlines that of Bathory's life, it is disjointed and tedious. The chapters drag on, speaking of her upkeep of the castle, what she eats and wears etc. It is, as I said, frustrating and tedious to read and for such a short book, way too much time was spent on such unimportant subjects (probably to flesh out the story). As for Bathory's personality, most of the book is spent jumping between Bathory whining about how much she misses her husband (who, from what I've read, she was actually greatly estranged from), and Bathory's extremely violent and sexual side which shows itself through graphic scenes of torture which just seem designed to shock the audience rather then add to the story and build on Bathory's character.
This leads into the biggest problem I have with the story, and that is the liberties the writer has taken with Bathory's story and persona. I do realise that this is, in essence, a fictional book, and I also realise that the story of Bathory is greatly unknown and a thing of legend. However, compared to other books out there with proficient detail and fact behind the fiction, this book does not stand up. It seems to me like the writer has simply wiki'd Elizabeth Bathory and the 16th century and mashed the information together, filling in the gaps with their own ideas and imagination (and scores of gratuitous torture scenes). Personally, I think if you are going to spend the time writing another persons life story (and advertise it as a historical exploration), you owe it to that person to make it as accurate as possible. Anything less is an insult to that person and to the audience you are writing for... but that's just my opinion.
So, in summation, I will say that if you are looking for an entertaining and historically accurate read, this is not the book for you. I found it to be neither.
If you are looking for a worthwhile book on the life of Elizabeth Bathory I would recommend reading `Infamous Lady: The True Story of Countess Erzsébet Báthory' by Kimberly Craft. It contains actual letters & documents of Bathory's, and transcripts of her trial, yet it is accessible and entertaining to read.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
The blood baths of Bathory! Jan 26, 2011
By BookGirl
Blood baths of Bathory:
I first heard of this historical figure on the biography channel but it was a good idea for someone to write a book about her to capitalize off of the popularity of vampires. There has been a resurgence of vampire literature recently. I could hardly conceive of such a vile and gory sequence of events. It is unfathomable for one to think of a woman who murders other women and baths in their blood, but the obsession with youth and the desire to live forever is the most probable reason why Bathory reigned her tyranny of blood over the land. Though, I don't think it was fair for someone to become famous for murdering so many people because there are saintly people who are barely a footnote in history who never harmed another living soul.
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