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A review by mackle13
Johnny Alucard by Kim Newman
2.0
1.5
Well, fuck.
I was a bit reticent to start this book. The first Anno Dracula book remains one of my favorite vampire novels to date. I loved the blending of history and fiction, mingling Queen Victoria and Jack the Ripper with Dracula and Mina and Dr. Seward, etc.
I was a bit less thrilled with the next two books, but I did like the third better than the second.
So when I heard about this new release in the series - I can't really say "long awaited" 'cause I had no idea there were even plans to continue - I was excited. But when it came time to actually read it, I was worried. I really wanted to like it, but my history with Newman, aside from that first book, has never really been spectacular...
After two days of not reading, I finally bit the bullet.
And now there's a part of me which wishes I never had.
***
The book is written in parts, each part having a different character as the main point-of-view. Some of these follow Johnny directly, but many follow familiar faces from the other books (and the sort of off-shoot Diogenes books): Kate Reed, Geneviève Dieudonn , and Penelope Churchward. Each part covers a year or so span on time, with some years skipped in between, and, after the prologue, we cover from the 70s thru the 90s.
It was interesting to see the different pop cultures represented - both through their takes on Dracula (starting with a Coppola version which is based on stories of Apocalypse Now) and going through to a sort of Live Aid for vampires. And it was kind of fun to play spot the reference for awhile, as both historical and fictional figures are, again, interwoven into the story.
But the different parts were uneven. I liked the Warhol better than the Coppola part, for instance, but the Welles part started well, then dragged. Apparently, according to some stuff I've read, Newman wrote this story over a 10 year period, and several parts of it have already been released as short stories. And you can sort of tell, because it almost feels like its written by different people at times.
Ultimately, the biggest problem is I was just bored. The only attachment that I had to the three female leads is mostly due to my prior encounters with them. Johnny, himself, was an interesting mind to travel in, and Kitty/Holly was kinda cool - but when it got bogged down in references and details and historical trivia, I started losing interest.
For most of the book, though, I was gonna give it 2-stars, 'cause it was good in places and I liked the overall conceit, if not always the execution... but then that ending.
Oh my gods, that ending.
Or, rather, lack of ending.
I kept going, trudging along despite my boredom and the general tedium of it, expecting a real knock-down, drag-out, spectacular showdown - or something - but this book is so incomplete. At the end, it feels like set-up. 400-some pages of set-up with no punch.
I mean, it basically ends with a promise for a future battle. It's the first half of a story. Hell, maybe the first third of a story - depending on how much the next parts get strung out.
***
I still can't decide if I want to go 2-stars for the good parts, or 1-star because, ultimately, I didn't like it. I think, for now at least, I'll go 2, because there's still a part of me that thinks I might read the next book in the series - and hope it's gotten an editor. ('Cause if there wasn't just so much *stuff* - trivia and minutae and pointless detail - in this book, it still could've been pretty decent.)
I won't rush out an put a hold on it as soon as it comes out, though. I'll wait awhile and see what the reviews say - mostly because I'll want to know if it at least ends in the next book or not. That might be the deciding factor, ultimately, about whether I'll read it or not.
I guess we'll see...
Well, fuck.
I was a bit reticent to start this book. The first Anno Dracula book remains one of my favorite vampire novels to date. I loved the blending of history and fiction, mingling Queen Victoria and Jack the Ripper with Dracula and Mina and Dr. Seward, etc.
I was a bit less thrilled with the next two books, but I did like the third better than the second.
So when I heard about this new release in the series - I can't really say "long awaited" 'cause I had no idea there were even plans to continue - I was excited. But when it came time to actually read it, I was worried. I really wanted to like it, but my history with Newman, aside from that first book, has never really been spectacular...
After two days of not reading, I finally bit the bullet.
And now there's a part of me which wishes I never had.
***
The book is written in parts, each part having a different character as the main point-of-view. Some of these follow Johnny directly, but many follow familiar faces from the other books (and the sort of off-shoot Diogenes books): Kate Reed, Geneviève Dieudonn , and Penelope Churchward. Each part covers a year or so span on time, with some years skipped in between, and, after the prologue, we cover from the 70s thru the 90s.
It was interesting to see the different pop cultures represented - both through their takes on Dracula (starting with a Coppola version which is based on stories of Apocalypse Now) and going through to a sort of Live Aid for vampires. And it was kind of fun to play spot the reference for awhile, as both historical and fictional figures are, again, interwoven into the story.
But the different parts were uneven. I liked the Warhol better than the Coppola part, for instance, but the Welles part started well, then dragged. Apparently, according to some stuff I've read, Newman wrote this story over a 10 year period, and several parts of it have already been released as short stories. And you can sort of tell, because it almost feels like its written by different people at times.
Ultimately, the biggest problem is I was just bored. The only attachment that I had to the three female leads is mostly due to my prior encounters with them. Johnny, himself, was an interesting mind to travel in, and Kitty/Holly was kinda cool - but when it got bogged down in references and details and historical trivia, I started losing interest.
For most of the book, though, I was gonna give it 2-stars, 'cause it was good in places and I liked the overall conceit, if not always the execution... but then that ending.
Oh my gods, that ending.
Or, rather, lack of ending.
I kept going, trudging along despite my boredom and the general tedium of it, expecting a real knock-down, drag-out, spectacular showdown - or something - but this book is so incomplete. At the end, it feels like set-up. 400-some pages of set-up with no punch.
I mean, it basically ends with
Spoiler
Dracula coming back through Alucard, and***
I still can't decide if I want to go 2-stars for the good parts, or 1-star because, ultimately, I didn't like it. I think, for now at least, I'll go 2, because there's still a part of me that thinks I might read the next book in the series - and hope it's gotten an editor. ('Cause if there wasn't just so much *stuff* - trivia and minutae and pointless detail - in this book, it still could've been pretty decent.)
I won't rush out an put a hold on it as soon as it comes out, though. I'll wait awhile and see what the reviews say - mostly because I'll want to know if it at least ends in the next book or not. That might be the deciding factor, ultimately, about whether I'll read it or not.
I guess we'll see...