Take a photo of a barcode or cover
robinboardman 's review for:
Dracula
by Bram Stoker
Looking for a classic adventure? Dracula offers more. The original Victorian horror goes further than it's modern Halloween knock offs with suspense, sex and a bold female protagonist.
Published in 1897, this novel outshone most of its adventure stories contemporaries with its vivid and detailed description of a new monster on the British Isle, the Vampire.
The first 50 pages are gripping. You are transported into Transylvania by reading Johnathan Harker's diary of a young estate lawyer becoming trapped in the castle of his mysterious client, Count Dracula. Needless to say, the pale, thin, heavily moustached count is after more than just a new mansion in England.
Back in England two months later, a young bride falls prey to a bloodsapping illness that puzzles her suitors. A jolly, charming and open minded professor, Van Helsing, arrives from Amsterdam and quickly determines a dark, mystical origin to the mystery. A Vampire is afoot. The book then takes you on a bold quest to discover the vampire's weaknesses, find Jonathan Harker and onto a final, lengthy hunt to slay the beast!
Delivered by a variety of narrators, each from their diaries or letters, Stoker brings the Victorian world of the occult to life. My favourite of which is certainly Mina Murray, the fiancee of Johnathan Harker, who breaks the tradition of the male quest story with her intellectual know-how (or "man's brain"(!) ), often outshining her male counterparts. This was a minor step forward for 1897 and shows the male anxiety of the time around the role of women in society. Most other female characters are more minor and play the more expected role of sexy vampires. If you don't know the word voluptuous already, you certainly will after these vampires come to town!
On words, this book has the usual pompous Victorian vibe so its vocabulary is often dated and lengthy. The last 75 pages have too much repetition and few plot developments which lets the suspense slip. Personally, this was remedied by the continued sexual undertones throughout the book which offers suspense as honourable gentlemen struggle against their urges and hilarity, like the use of the word semen for dripping candle wax as two men enter the dark crypt of a young woman.
Count Dracula is an intriguing and sinister character who plays with the minds of his enemies and the reader. He is based on a medieval Romanian king called Vlad Dracula, or "Vlad The Impaler". Vlad wasn't your average King. He and his forces impaled (forcing a spike through the anus and leaving people to die on it) 100,000s of poor people and Turks, often eating outside to watch those left to suffer. He also supposedly drank the blood of a fallen Turk once to demonstrate to his generals how tough (or flippin' crazy) he was. So all in all, a top bloke for a Vampire story and good reminder about what happens when rulers go full psychopath.
Overall, Dracula is occasionally gripping, often enjoyable adventure story that challenges the rational Enlightenment Victorian and even the modern reader to question whether, from the existence of the occult to the role of women, all may not be quite as it seems.
Published in 1897, this novel outshone most of its adventure stories contemporaries with its vivid and detailed description of a new monster on the British Isle, the Vampire.
The first 50 pages are gripping. You are transported into Transylvania by reading Johnathan Harker's diary of a young estate lawyer becoming trapped in the castle of his mysterious client, Count Dracula. Needless to say, the pale, thin, heavily moustached count is after more than just a new mansion in England.
Back in England two months later, a young bride falls prey to a bloodsapping illness that puzzles her suitors. A jolly, charming and open minded professor, Van Helsing, arrives from Amsterdam and quickly determines a dark, mystical origin to the mystery. A Vampire is afoot. The book then takes you on a bold quest to discover the vampire's weaknesses, find Jonathan Harker and onto a final, lengthy hunt to slay the beast!
Delivered by a variety of narrators, each from their diaries or letters, Stoker brings the Victorian world of the occult to life. My favourite of which is certainly Mina Murray, the fiancee of Johnathan Harker, who breaks the tradition of the male quest story with her intellectual know-how (or "man's brain"(!) ), often outshining her male counterparts. This was a minor step forward for 1897 and shows the male anxiety of the time around the role of women in society. Most other female characters are more minor and play the more expected role of sexy vampires. If you don't know the word voluptuous already, you certainly will after these vampires come to town!
On words, this book has the usual pompous Victorian vibe so its vocabulary is often dated and lengthy. The last 75 pages have too much repetition and few plot developments which lets the suspense slip. Personally, this was remedied by the continued sexual undertones throughout the book which offers suspense as honourable gentlemen struggle against their urges and hilarity, like the use of the word semen for dripping candle wax as two men enter the dark crypt of a young woman.
Count Dracula is an intriguing and sinister character who plays with the minds of his enemies and the reader. He is based on a medieval Romanian king called Vlad Dracula, or "Vlad The Impaler". Vlad wasn't your average King. He and his forces impaled (forcing a spike through the anus and leaving people to die on it) 100,000s of poor people and Turks, often eating outside to watch those left to suffer. He also supposedly drank the blood of a fallen Turk once to demonstrate to his generals how tough (or flippin' crazy) he was. So all in all, a top bloke for a Vampire story and good reminder about what happens when rulers go full psychopath.
Overall, Dracula is occasionally gripping, often enjoyable adventure story that challenges the rational Enlightenment Victorian and even the modern reader to question whether, from the existence of the occult to the role of women, all may not be quite as it seems.