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A review by lindseysparks
Anno Dracula by Kim Newman
3.0
Ryan spotted this in a used bookstore and showed it to me because of the blurb by Neil Gaiman. This was a fun read that asks what would have happened if Van Helsing's group didn't defeat Dracula and he was able to take over England like he planned. Dracula marries Queen Victoria and now vampires can live in the open. But not everyone is happy with this.
The book includes numerous characters from other works such as Mycroft Holmes, Lestrade, Jekyll/Hyde, Dr. Moreau, and the rest of the Van Helsing gang. Reading this right after reading The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was a bit odd because many of the same characters appear in both. It made it all feel a bit more real.
The plot centers around the Jack the Ripper murders and had a bizarre fun twist - what if the murderer was killing vampires? It messes with your mind when you start rooting for him but then remember he was real and these are real women and then you feel awful.
This is the first in a series and I'll read the others at some point. The edition I have is a reprint (with a much better cover) and has a bunch of stuff at the end about alternate endings, a screen play and supplemental stories that were quite fun and clarified a few things I felt like were a little muddled in the actual novel. Because the story switches perspectives quite a bit there were a few times I got a little confused or wondered if something was was what we the reader were supposed to think of just what that character was thinking. Some of the character's motives got a bit muddled and the end was a little jumbled for me but I did enjoy it and recommend to fans of Dracula. I'm not sure how enjoyable it would be if you haven't read that first.
The book includes numerous characters from other works such as Mycroft Holmes, Lestrade, Jekyll/Hyde, Dr. Moreau, and the rest of the Van Helsing gang. Reading this right after reading The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was a bit odd because many of the same characters appear in both. It made it all feel a bit more real.
The plot centers around the Jack the Ripper murders and had a bizarre fun twist - what if the murderer was killing vampires? It messes with your mind when you start rooting for him but then remember he was real and these are real women and then you feel awful.
This is the first in a series and I'll read the others at some point. The edition I have is a reprint (with a much better cover) and has a bunch of stuff at the end about alternate endings, a screen play and supplemental stories that were quite fun and clarified a few things I felt like were a little muddled in the actual novel. Because the story switches perspectives quite a bit there were a few times I got a little confused or wondered if something was was what we the reader were supposed to think of just what that character was thinking. Some of the character's motives got a bit muddled and the end was a little jumbled for me but I did enjoy it and recommend to fans of Dracula. I'm not sure how enjoyable it would be if you haven't read that first.