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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think this gave me a better understanding of domestic violence than anything else
Very castlevania vibes as well
The writing was beautiful and lyrical but the characters except Maxine lacked real substance. I wish she would’ve not been so wishy washy and had a backbone . I don’t think I’ll read the sequel
Very castlevania vibes as well
The writing was beautiful and lyrical but the characters except Maxine lacked real substance. I wish she would’ve not been so wishy washy and had a backbone . I don’t think I’ll read the sequel
I'd class this as cozy seductive romance. Not super spicy but well written and a good story. Looking forward to reading the next book.
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The pacing was a little slow for my liking and the I wasn’t a fan of the ending. I’m not sure about the romance between the two main characters. I really liked the romance between them up till they meet in person. It was just.. meh when they finally met. Actually think all of my favorite moments where when they weren’t meeting each other in person.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3.5 stars. If I read this as a goth teen, this would have been my everything.
An empath named Maxine captures Dracula's heart right before he destroys her city and all those residing there. Pretty hard to root for a genocidal hero, but the writing was pretty good.
An empath named Maxine captures Dracula's heart right before he destroys her city and all those residing there. Pretty hard to root for a genocidal hero, but the writing was pretty good.
My heart is so overwhelmed, but I shouldn't be surprised since every book I have read by Kathryn Ann Kingsley (and I can say with a degree of smugness that I have read all her published works till date) has inspired this kind of an emotional reaction from me. Heart of Dracula is beautifully written - with rich, indulgent prose you expect from a late nineteenth century novel, which is when the events of this book are set - and the characters feel incredibly complex and vibrant, as if they want to reach out from inside the book. I can tell this is a labour of love, not just from reading the heartwarming foreword, but also from the gradual and deliberate nurturing of the story. It is also testament to Kingsley's evolution as a writer, with her only getting more skilful with time.
The most important thing in a romance (regardless of what other genre it's situated in) is making a reader feel invested in the romance itself. Vlad and Maxine as a couple are just so cosmically beautiful together. As powerless as Maxine feels most times, albeit justifiably so, in the face of a creature of myth and legend as Dracula, I don't think there are any other re-tellings of Dracula that have a Dracula and his beloved who are this well-matched as rounded individual characters in their own right. Their specific circumstances further justifies their parity. One who has been neither alive nor dead for far too long a period of time, and the other who has lived and died (even though vicariously) far too much in far too short a time. And the tragedies of their individual lives, while in no way comparable, adds intensity to the pathos of their romance and deepens their belonging. I think this was explored especially well during the internal monologue Vlad has about Maxine which leads up to the simple but poignant articulation, "She was a warm hearth, and he was so cold."
The protagonist and the first person narrator for the most part was Maxine and we enter the world of nineteenth century Boston beset with mystery and magic through her eyes. She is an admirable and endearing mix of quiet courage, fierce intelligence and rational forthrightness, on the one hand, and being fatalistic, arrogant in her moral high ground and lacking in emotional self-awareness on the other. The irony of an empath who is out of touch with her own emotions is not lost and something that the character is forced to confront, just as she comes to acknowledge the ultimate dubiousness of her beliefs about her morality and even question her fatalism. Despite this, Maxine is still very much the moral centre of the story and her constant agonizing over her desires and what they imply for who she is, is ultimately important for the narrative to retain its necessary ambivalence about loving the "wrong man". Speaking of, Vlad himself turned out to be just as much of a compelling character as Maxine. I can't love him the way Maxine does, but I did find myself falling in love with him in unexpected ways. The way he intellectually challenges Maxine, and his acknowledgement of and convictions about his own moral greyness earned him my respect. (Spoiler alert: Dracula is an eco-fascist!) Furthermore, his verbal smackdown of Alfonso van Helsing about violence against women was deeply satisfying to read.
The prolific but soft world-building and Maxine's place in it was an absolute joy to experience. I much prefer soft world-building to hard world-building as the former allows so much more room for the reader's imagination and for an element of wonder, and the response of wonder is in my opinion one of the best responses a work of fantasy can evoke. And the magic and mystery surrounding Dracula, his creations, and Maxine herself, her powers and her responses to the events around her does exactly that. Kingsley's strenght as a storyteller shines particularly in the way she uses pre-existing Dracula lore and canon and weaves it together with her own imaginative creations. One of my absolute favourite scenes, what I call in my head "the Jonathan Harker encounter", is an excellent example of this. Without spoiling what it involved, I would say that it was a masterfully crafted section that worked simultaneously as a plot-twist that I did not at all see coming, a clever nod to Bram Stoker's Dracula and the place of Kingsley's book in the Dracula universe, and a smooth plot device to further the narrative even as it gives the initial impression of digressing. And the future revelation of deceit involved in this "encounter" takes nothing away from it - if anything, it somehow manages to add further to how delightful the encounter was. This was so clever that it had me clapping in manic glee! I love it when writers do genuinely brilliant things with their already great stories, and this was definitely one of them.
Overall, I found Heart of Dracula an excellent read that I shall be re-reading several times in the future, as I eagerly await the sequel and finale Curse of Dracula.
The most important thing in a romance (regardless of what other genre it's situated in) is making a reader feel invested in the romance itself. Vlad and Maxine as a couple are just so cosmically beautiful together. As powerless as Maxine feels most times, albeit justifiably so, in the face of a creature of myth and legend as Dracula, I don't think there are any other re-tellings of Dracula that have a Dracula and his beloved who are this well-matched as rounded individual characters in their own right. Their specific circumstances further justifies their parity. One who has been neither alive nor dead for far too long a period of time, and the other who has lived and died (even though vicariously) far too much in far too short a time. And the tragedies of their individual lives, while in no way comparable, adds intensity to the pathos of their romance and deepens their belonging. I think this was explored especially well during the internal monologue Vlad has about Maxine which leads up to the simple but poignant articulation, "She was a warm hearth, and he was so cold."
The protagonist and the first person narrator for the most part was Maxine and we enter the world of nineteenth century Boston beset with mystery and magic through her eyes. She is an admirable and endearing mix of quiet courage, fierce intelligence and rational forthrightness, on the one hand, and being fatalistic, arrogant in her moral high ground and lacking in emotional self-awareness on the other. The irony of an empath who is out of touch with her own emotions is not lost and something that the character is forced to confront, just as she comes to acknowledge the ultimate dubiousness of her beliefs about her morality and even question her fatalism. Despite this, Maxine is still very much the moral centre of the story and her constant agonizing over her desires and what they imply for who she is, is ultimately important for the narrative to retain its necessary ambivalence about loving the "wrong man". Speaking of, Vlad himself turned out to be just as much of a compelling character as Maxine. I can't love him the way Maxine does, but I did find myself falling in love with him in unexpected ways. The way he intellectually challenges Maxine, and his acknowledgement of and convictions about his own moral greyness earned him my respect. (Spoiler alert: Dracula is an eco-fascist!) Furthermore, his verbal smackdown of Alfonso van Helsing about violence against women was deeply satisfying to read.
The prolific but soft world-building and Maxine's place in it was an absolute joy to experience. I much prefer soft world-building to hard world-building as the former allows so much more room for the reader's imagination and for an element of wonder, and the response of wonder is in my opinion one of the best responses a work of fantasy can evoke. And the magic and mystery surrounding Dracula, his creations, and Maxine herself, her powers and her responses to the events around her does exactly that. Kingsley's strenght as a storyteller shines particularly in the way she uses pre-existing Dracula lore and canon and weaves it together with her own imaginative creations. One of my absolute favourite scenes, what I call in my head "the Jonathan Harker encounter", is an excellent example of this. Without spoiling what it involved, I would say that it was a masterfully crafted section that worked simultaneously as a plot-twist that I did not at all see coming, a clever nod to Bram Stoker's Dracula and the place of Kingsley's book in the Dracula universe, and a smooth plot device to further the narrative even as it gives the initial impression of digressing. And the future revelation of deceit involved in this "encounter" takes nothing away from it - if anything, it somehow manages to add further to how delightful the encounter was. This was so clever that it had me clapping in manic glee! I love it when writers do genuinely brilliant things with their already great stories, and this was definitely one of them.
Overall, I found Heart of Dracula an excellent read that I shall be re-reading several times in the future, as I eagerly await the sequel and finale Curse of Dracula.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced