Reviews tagging 'Death'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

248 reviews

stitchwilliam's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

I feel like the novel shouldn’t really be called Dracula. "Mina" is a more suitable title if it had to be named after a character… 

Story was slow a lot of the time, but it was relatively suspenseful and mysterious for a classic (note: the novel is more mystery than it is horror). Implemented the idea of “not much happening” in order to create that suspense, which worked well when the novel first started, but not too well at the end (I don’t really enjoy reading multiple POV on people just traveling). 

Overall messages were concerning—E.g. xenophobia and stereotyping (this, unfortunately, probably reflected the thinking of some communities at that time…). 

The characters were kind of dry, except for Mina and Renfield. There isn’t a lot of character development overall. 

I also feel like the author also left out necessary details at times. I still don’t understand why some of the characters did certain things? E.g.

Why was Dracula so possessive of Jonathan at the beginning? How did Renfield meet Dracula? Why is Van Helsing so into vampires?

In Short - Outdated messages and plot drags a lot, but interesting to consider the story that popularized the vampire myths. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Xenophobia, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Violence, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Gore, and Misogyny

Minor: Animal death

renorsomethin's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

for a book about vampires this is pretty boring and drags on quite a lot as well as being full of repetitive misogynistic rants and xenophobia (just read anne rice or something instead)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Body horror, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Medical content, and Xenophobia

Minor: Animal death

decepticons's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Emotional abuse, War, Blood, Gore, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Mental illness, Medical content, and Stalking

Minor: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, and Classism

Vampirism used to excuse racism

“My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them?” says enough about the book really

caro_mac's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

Reading for the first time, I was shocked at how contemporary this book feels! In my opinion, it stands up to its reputation as a true classic.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Blood, and Xenophobia

Minor: Racial slurs

crows_in_a_trenchcoat's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

modern_cryptid's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

I only read this for a class. It was so much better than I thought it would be. Good story, great suspense all throughout, but it's definitely a classic. Its long, it quite often drags, also some uncomfortable story elements due to the time period, it's social expectations and views of what it appropriate regarding language. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny and Medical content

Minor: Racial slurs and Xenophobia

readrumm's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I listened to an audiobook on YouTube narrated by Tony Walker, which was amazing. His delivery for the story and the characters' voices, is top-notch, finominal. I usually can't get into audiobooks because It's hard to understand who is talking when the narrator reads everything in the same tone. But Tony Walker had such an amazing voice that I could tell who spoke from different tones and accents.  But for the book itself, I was close to giving it 4.5 - 5 stars because of the overall feeling I had listening to it and the pacing of the story. 

Spoiler here click at your own risk:

However, I was a bit disappointed in the ending when the last fight was somewhat anti-climactic from all the previous encounters they had with the Count, for it to end the way it did. Yet, the ending with Harker writing everything that has happened since then was a nice sweet satisfying ending, to such a dark classic.</spolier>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child death, Death, and Death of parent

major character death

ameliethemoomin's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

good god i love this book

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Murder, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Death, Blood, Xenophobia, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Medical content

Minor: Antisemitism, Animal cruelty, Ableism, Animal death, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

misuki's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Sexism, Blood, Misogyny, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexism and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol, War, Antisemitism, and Sexual harassment

kjm19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Violence, Gore, and Misogyny