Bram Stoker, Bram Stoker: Draculas Guest Illustrated (2021, Independently Published)
English language
Published Nov. 27, 2021 by Independently Published.
It tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so he may find new blood and spread undead curse, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.
I'd forgotten just how much fun Dracula is, and how wonderfully creepy it is in places, despite the rather forced epistolary style and the somewhat anti-climactic ending.
listened to it for Halloween :)
The most entertaining book written in the 19th Century. I haven't read all of them but they would struggle to top this.
It's elegant, moody and beautifully written, the epistolary style suits it perfectly, and somehow whenever things get bloody they also get a little titillating. I can only imagine how salacious this book must've been in 1897.
A Masterpiece.
I had to read it for a university class, and didn't. now I finally picked it back up (because reading is only fun if you don't have to) and it wasn't as bad as I feared.
There were some lengths, as when Van Helsing and the others basically watched Lucy die and did nothing and when they kept going back and forth without getting anywhere, eventually. Overall it was quite interesting to see all the common vampire myths cumulate in this story.
I really liked the switch in point of view and the slightly different styles of narration that resulted. And I liked Mina being a bit more than random-interchangeable-female-character, actually having some actions to drive the story except for being the damsel in distress.
I'd wondered if this book would only be interesting as some kind of artifact of history. It's better than that but not by much. I suppose a fundamental problem is that what is frightening to be one generation may not be frightening to the next. Also the book drags as it goes on.
This was... this was okay.
It's difficult to judge classics fairly, as one's likely to be so steeped in their derivative works that to criticize a 'progenitor' feels tantamount to slandering a lineage. That said, I found myself largely unmoved by the tale, and a bit dismayed by the glut of all-too-familiar powers ascribed to Dracula -- "moonbeams" indeed.
My single favorite part was hearing Christopher Lee (who narrated this copy of the book) say of Lucy Westenra: "...If looks could kill...!"
Classic Victorian gothic, especially the first half is a masterclass in atmospheric buildup.
Amusing and very Victorian story on how a committee of gentlemen (and one lady) fought off an attempt by a very bored Transylvanian vampire to take over London.
this is one of my favorites books of all time. I even loved the movie
This book consists of a series of journal entries, telegrams, memoranda and news articles, written by different people at different times. It's up to the reader to piece together all the events of the book based on all these scraps of information.
The first couple of chapters were riveting, and I really thought the concept worked very well. I was even a little scared, and if I didn't know so much about vampires, and if the genre hadn't been re-interpreted so many ways since this book was published, I think I would've found it even more scary!
The last few chapters, similarly, were action packed and fast paced, and I couldn't put the book down as it sped towards it's grisly conclusion.
The rest of it? A bit disappointing. It's long-winded and difficult to read, and I found myself "zoning out" on more than a handful of occasions, and consequently …
This book consists of a series of journal entries, telegrams, memoranda and news articles, written by different people at different times. It's up to the reader to piece together all the events of the book based on all these scraps of information.
The first couple of chapters were riveting, and I really thought the concept worked very well. I was even a little scared, and if I didn't know so much about vampires, and if the genre hadn't been re-interpreted so many ways since this book was published, I think I would've found it even more scary!
The last few chapters, similarly, were action packed and fast paced, and I couldn't put the book down as it sped towards it's grisly conclusion.
The rest of it? A bit disappointing. It's long-winded and difficult to read, and I found myself "zoning out" on more than a handful of occasions, and consequently losing the plot.
For example, Professor Van Helsing is famous in the world of vampire lore, because of his role in Dracula, and I was therefore really looking forward to reading his character in this book. Don't get me wrong, he is an interesting, well-defined character with a lot of depth. But he can go on a bit, and he often has pages and pages of rambling monologue, which means that his real gems of wisdom sometimes get lost in all the ramblings.
All in all, I would say that the book's reputation as a hallmark of the genre is well-deserved, and it's a pretty decent read. It's not particularly well written, though. Oh, and those chapters are long! It took me on average two reading sessions each to read each of them!
I was given a complimentary copy for review.
Four Corners Dark contains 4 short stories and most definitely saves the best for last. If able to rate them separately I would have given 5 stars to the last story "The Spinning Wheel" Which reminded me of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This way Comes complete with mysterious carnival. It was my favorite.
The first 2 stories Engine Eighteen and Return to Nowhere were just ok. I felt that the endings could have been better resolved. The third story The Raven Mocker, was the longest of the 3 and although it was better than the first 2 stories It seemed a little stiff and some of the dialogue seemed unnatural. A bit of editing could have made this story flow along better. All in all not a bad book.
While it has its lengths, I find it overall to be an exiting book of subtle horror. It somehow reads like a new and non-stereotypical version of the vampire myth that it once created itself.
What I like most about this book, is that it seems to play with a certain psychological fear. The fear that the ones you love not only die, but that they turn into something really horrible after death.
Well, actually not as bad as I remember from 10 years ago. It's certainly very verbose and the truly interesting events are few and far between. But it does a good job at establishing the mysterious atmosphere.
I read this when I was about 13. It scared me silly. I couldn't sleep for days. That a book can have that effect - with no visual component or ominous music - says a lot for its author. Vampires were terrifying back in the days before they all became cops or detectives with sensitive souls. I haven't had the courage to read it again.
After a lifetime of hearing the name Dracula, especially at Halloween, it finally occurred to me to read the original, by Bram Stoker. (This was in part because I'd received a Nook last Christmas, and this is one of the many titles that are public domain.)
Anyway, I was impressed that such horror was dreamed up in the late 1800's. The story is told by way of journal entries and letters in a style that now seems quaint, and some of the tone, especially that of Belgian professor Van Helsing, is flowery, wordy, and overly dramatic. His journal has a thick accent, as well, which makes for slower reading.
The story comes together quite well, and the imagery is successfully creepy. This tale is also a very religious one, which isn't surprising, given that everyone knows how a vampire abhors a crucifix. Still, it is more overtly Christian than I …
After a lifetime of hearing the name Dracula, especially at Halloween, it finally occurred to me to read the original, by Bram Stoker. (This was in part because I'd received a Nook last Christmas, and this is one of the many titles that are public domain.)
Anyway, I was impressed that such horror was dreamed up in the late 1800's. The story is told by way of journal entries and letters in a style that now seems quaint, and some of the tone, especially that of Belgian professor Van Helsing, is flowery, wordy, and overly dramatic. His journal has a thick accent, as well, which makes for slower reading.
The story comes together quite well, and the imagery is successfully creepy. This tale is also a very religious one, which isn't surprising, given that everyone knows how a vampire abhors a crucifix. Still, it is more overtly Christian than I had expected.
It is an intriguing experience, reading a novel for the first time after already having so many presumptions about its subject. It could have been a disappointing experience, but it was not; this novel lived up to my scary expectations.
