A review by king_skelepimp
Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula by Bram Stoker, Valdimar Ásmundsson

3.0

Somehow, this escaped my notice for the past few years, but I pounced right on it when I saw it on sale a few days ago. Assumed for about a century to be nothing more than the Icelandic translation of Dracula, it was recently found to be quite different, introducing new characters and plot elements, resulting in a significantly different novel. I enjoyed reading it, but much of that pleasure came from the sheer novelty of the thing. I didn't like the book as much as I wanted to. Part one, featuring Harker's stay in Dracula's castle, is much longer than in the Stoker novel. It begins to feel rather padded, and Harker himself seems *incredibly* stupid at times. Part two, set in London after Dracula's arrival, is so short that it really feels more like a brief synopsis than an actual story. It makes for an extremely lopsided novel, and it feels as if there is virtually no payoff for the extended Transylvania section. (These are the sort of things that lend more credence to the theory that this translation was based on one of Stoker's early outlines for the novel.) On the plus side, we do get to spend far more time with Dracula himself, and he comes off as a rather more interesting character than in the Stoker novel. Interestingly, many of the changes (Dracula ingratiating himself into London society, and the elimination of a certain sequence near the story's end, for example) seem to anticipate some of the many stage and film versions that would follow. The curiosity of this book's existence, and analysis of the differences between it and the far better known version, makes it far more interesting than the actual story itself is able to. It's not bad, and I do recommend it for anyone interested, but check your expectations before reading.