Reviews

Anno Dracula: 1895 - Seven Days in Mayhem by Paul McCaffrey, Kim Newman

latterature's review against another edition

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3.0

Good, short of great. It was nice to see the series return to its Victorian roots, but I found the vibrant and colorful art style completely at odds with Newman's gruesome material. Furthermore, writing for a graphic medium gives Newman less chance to sprinkle in little clues about which copyrighted characters he is including in his alternate history, which is always part of the fun with his novels. I would read another Anno Dracula graphic novel, but it would be out of respect for the series as a whole, and not this entry.

starryworlds's review against another edition

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4.0

This adds more story to the Anno Dracula book and it is as enjoyable as the first book in this series.
This comic series is basically about a council that wants to overthrow Count Dracula from the royal place and there is a traitor amongst them.
There is a return of the characters Kate Reed, Penelope Churchwood and Lord Ruthven.
I would recommend this comic series if you enjoyed the book.

caitlinalrogers's review against another edition

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4.0

Tis the season for spooky reading! I love the idea of Dracula changing the course of world history.

liisp_cvr2cvr's review against another edition

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5.0

Dracula is my most favourite vampire, ever. End of. He’s a legend for a reason and immortal in the literary world. He does not take centre stage in Anno Dracula, though. Not in a sense that you’ll see him baring his fangs on every page and panel… No… He already has Britain, the Royal Navy and the Special Branch of law enforcement. The struggle in this GN is in between the side who fights to keep this power and the side rebelling against it. Dracula is too big of a bigwig to grace us with his presence… it would be unheard of to see a country’s president fighting on the front lines. But add a threesome of women into the picture and he may just have an offer to make… 😉

The spotlight in this GN is on Kate Reed, aka Wednesday, member of the Council of The Seven Days. Also, Irish. And a hippy vampire. So… yeah, even though she is ultimately the one that comes with sass and probably saves the day, I didn’t really like her that much. Just shows.. if she would have been, say, Friday in the Council of The Seven Days, I bet you, I would have liked her a whole lot more. Kate is the ultimate goody-two-shoes. She’s a vampire but not once do you see her sinking her fangs into someone, not even the bad guys…

Same cannot be said for Penelope Churchward. Now, she is a female I can root for… as a socialite, she is used to taking what she likes and even if it gets messy she still comes out from the other side looking like a lady. Yeah, she’s totally a bit of a ‘mean girl‘ but hey, don’t hate the achiever!

Anyway… Kate and Penny don’t really mix well… they’re just too different and the ‘opposites attract’ doesn’t work in their favour here. That is until political conspiracies and traitorous acts push the women to put their differences aside. Somewhat…

Of course, Kate and Penny aren’t the only characters in this GN… there are so many others and they’re all cool… even the evil ones. And here, massive respect and admiration to Paul McCaffrey for those sublime illustrations that brought each and every character, each and every scene to its maximum potential. Artwork is one of the first things I look at when considering a graphic novel and I don’t often come across something that manages to capture me straight away (hence why I don’t read them that often) and yet, McCaffrey’s talent made me stop on some pages for a good while just to take it all in. The colours, the perfection, the effect that made everything come to life as if in 3D… In this graphic novel the artwork truly works seamlessly with the story for 100% enjoyment. There is a whole ton of action in this GN and the storyline coupled with the art, plus that little bit of ‘whodunnit‘ AND the occasional nicely served chuckle- well, I was fully engrossed!

But back to the characters for a sec, the Council of The Seven Days has, yep, you guessed it, seven members…. I won’t go into detail about them all, because I do believe you should be left with a certain degree of discovery. I do so like how they were all, rather stereotypically, imagined and they even matched their respective days of the week. Stereotypes are normally something to wave one’s fist at, but guys, it really worked here. My favourite of the lot was Peter the Painter aka Friday. I mean, come on, who doesn’t like Fridays? Rough around the edges, happy to jump into a brawl… and Russian. “Die pigs!”- have to love that temperament!

There was one little thing that made me roll my eyes, and that is the use of the ‘ancient’ joke around sparkling vampires. “We do not approve of vampires who sparkle.” – is it just me, or is that joke/quip getting seriously old? I mean, at this stage die-hard Twilight fans have gotten over it, why can’t everyone else just bury the 8236565 variations of the sparkly vampire phrase and move on? That aside, won’t be spillint a hair and down rating this little gem of a GN. A couple of hours well spent, if I do say so myself.

spestock's review against another edition

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3.0

I'm not really a big graphic novel fan, but I have really been enjoying the Anno Dracula series so far, and am a bit of a completist. Good art, good story, though I was kind of confused by the timeline.

its_a_ryan_thing's review

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

3.5

collegecate's review against another edition

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3.0

I love anno Dracula, and this is well drawn and fun. Also most of the important people, good and bad, are women.

jobridge's review against another edition

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

4.0

matteldritch92's review

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adventurous dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

regardingreading's review against another edition

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3.0

A fun addition to the series, but I wouldn't call it a 'must read'.