Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

137 reviews

armand's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

thedandybrambler's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Violence, Confinement, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Mental illness, Vomit, Animal death, and Medical content

sophtanda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Racism, Racial slurs, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Gun violence, and Misogyny

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

asourceoffiction's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I am often daunted by the idea of reading 18th and 19th century fiction. I've loved so many classics but they are often slow and wordy. I went into Dracula feeling much the same, but I was pleasantly surprised; it's tense, clever and much scarier than I expected.

I know about vampires, I've read and watched countless vampire stuff and I thought I knew the story of Dracula. But it turns out my assumptions (the creepy castle, the unwitting guest of a tall, pale and terrifying host) are literally all over in the first 100 pages, and there's so much more to follow. I love how the whole book is told through diary entries, letters and news articles; so when a character was idly wondering to themselves why a friend was looking a little pale with puncture wounds in her neck, I took great joy in screaming at the page, "It's a bloody vampire! For the love of god shut your window!"

I actually think I got more from this story in part because I hadn't previously seen any of the film adaptations, and in part because I did know a lot of the lore surrounding vampire stories. So there was surprise and tension but I could simultaneously take pleasure in being less ignorant than most of the characters.

Another assumption I'd made was that Van Helsing would be a dark, brooding and troubled character. But it turns out he's a cheerful delight, with a slightly dodgy grasp of the English language. He does tend to make some fairly grand speeches that slowed down my reading a bit, but I also completely fell in love with him and the ragtag group of men desperately trying to save the women they loved (who of course were often more astute than them).

It does all end rather abruptly, but mostly I was so pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed reading this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Child death

lara_bk's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Violence

Minor: Sexism

megb64's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

marigoldgem's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Surprisingly strong female characters and definitely one of my favorite classics now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Grief, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Medical content, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Confinement, and Kidnapping

forgetfulreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

It's considered a classic for a reason. The pace is slow in the beginning but once it gets going the story is everything you'd want in a book. The story is told through a collection of journal entries from different characters pov. I usually find stories like this confusing to read but this time it had me feeling more involved. It's like I was helping the characters piece the puzzle together to figure out what the hell the count was. I really enjoyed it and Bram Stroker created the blueprint for every other vampire story we have now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Xenophobia, Grief, and Body horror

Minor: Sexism

szel_zsofi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Animal death

Moderate: Sexism, Animal cruelty, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Misogyny

foxclcves's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Death, Xenophobia, Murder, Racism, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racial slurs, and Blood

Minor: Sexism, Stalking, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Body horror, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Child abuse, and Forced institutionalization