Reviews - The Lady of the Shroud: (Aberdeen Classics Collection)

14 reviews for:

The Lady of the Shroud: (Aberdeen Classics Collection)

Bram Stoker

2.64 AVERAGE

secret_side_quest's review against another edition

2.0

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This is not spooky. There's a distinct dearth of vampires. It reads like fanfiction of 19th century European politics where the writer ships "being English" and "ruling everyone". The glorification of being English and the absolute fawning by unnamed foreigners over a stout, upright Englishman is unreadable to a modern audience. I enjoyed the books from "the coming of the lady" to "a ritual at midnight" but after that it was just Bram Stoker being like "what if my big brave English man was the best ruler ever and everyone loved him and made him the President, no wait, the King."

alba_marie's review against another edition

2.0

It had all the trappings of a book I should like - kind of steampunk, quite sensational, definitely Victorian, very adventure-y. Vampires, ships on the high seas, faraway lands, folklore, occult, battles, spies, adventure, romance, political intrigue, mysterious figures, baffling wills...

So why didn't I enjoy it? Why couldn’t I pay attention? Why did I keep catching my eyes glazing over while listening?

I honestly couldn't say. This one was a miss for me, despite wanting to enjoy it. Oh well...

mysteriousnorse's review against another edition

2.0

This isn't a horror novel, just so everyone knows. It's a mystery, adventure novel. It's also quite dry, which is fairly typical of non-Dracula Stoker. It's very pro-imperialist, not uncommon for the time, but I wasn't expecting so much nationbuilding. Honestly, pass on this one.

kimblebimble's review against another edition

2.25

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Loveable characters: No

It just kept going. It was a lot more geopolitical than I thought it was going to be—wouldn’t have picked it up if I knew beforehand. It kept switching quite abruptly between sections of really quite nice rose and slogs of politics, meetings, and battle strategy. I didn’t enjoy the direction the plot took.

fantasythat's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Enjoyed the return of the epistolary form after The Jewel of the Seven Stars, did not enjoy Ernest being the first character we encountered. This seems like a running theme with Stoker but it was a weird book. Random aeroplanes in the last hundred pages or so, didn't really feel like Aunt Janet and her visions were properly reconciled with events in the third quarter of the novel and people really need to chill about the Lady of the Shroud's eyes.

However it was a lot of fun to read and did make me laugh in a few places. Not quite giving it 4 stars because I got a bit lost with the military campaigns and aeroplanes and the federation stuff but it was very satisfying to see everything come together and to see some characters get their comeuppance. Would love to know how Rooke did get to the gangway so quickly when Aunt Janet was met by Rupert, but I suppose some mysteries will never be solved.

radbear76's review against another edition

1.0

When I read Dracula in the seventh grade it was long, ponderous and difficult to get through. In the intervening years I assumed I felt this way because I was young at the time. In reading the Lady of the Shroud I discovered that the reason I felt this way was because Bram Stoker has a tedious writing style that comes close to boring the reader to death. Aside from the writing style and pace the novel can't decide what it is. The story begins as a paranormal mystery, than suddenly transitions to an action adventure, and then meanders into a a sci-fi Utopian nation building scheme. It has hints of male chauvinism and "The White Man's Burden" of lifting up the savages for good measure. The change being that rather than people of color benefiting from the wise white guy's leadership, it is the people of a fictional Balkan nation. I'm going to attribute this to era in which it was written, but leaving the quaint discrimination aside it still isn't worth reading.