A review by will_cherico
Dracula by Bram Stoker

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

This quintessential vampire story is one that stays incredibly exciting from start to finish. From Jonathan Harker's lonely imprisonment at Castle Dracula to the horrifying final voyage of the Demeter to the exhilarating vampire hunt through the Carpathian mountains, there doesn't feel like a single moment of downtime across this book's 420 pages. Over a century later, it's still super scary, too. Stoker casually mixes in truly terrifying imagery dripping with a super creepy gothic atmosphere and tops it with incredibly odd characters (Renfield and Van Helsing come to mind) and paints a version of Britain where it feels like the world is ending, and the witching hour is always in effect. Stoker plays up the idea of the vampire as the perverse to incredible effect, presenting Dracula as every fear England had at the time and Van Helsing as his noble opposite. While a lot of what the good guys stand for is incredibly dated, the way that Stoker plays with duality (insanity/sanity, men/women, dead/undead) in almost every sentence is so masterful and impressive. It's a shame that Mina is often relegated to the sidelines for no reason other than her sex, because she's one of my favorite women in horror fiction and her relationship with Jonathan is a really sweet one. Every other character is buzzing with character, and the rare and sudden moments of intensely funny comedy that are present in the book make them all feel even more real. 127 years later, this book holds up like crazy.