Author: Dacre Stoker & J.D. Barker
Series: -
Genres: Gothic, Vampires
Publisher: Putnam
Release: October 2nd, 2018
Source: ebook
Pages: 512
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BLURB:
The prequel to Dracula, inspired by notes and texts left behind by the author of the classic novel, Dracul is a riveting novel of gothic suspense that reveals not only Dracula's true origins but Bram Stoker's -- and the tale of the enigmatic woman who connects them.
It is 1868, and a twenty-one-year-old Bram Stoker waits in a desolate tower to face an indescribable evil. Armed only with crucifixes, holy water, and a rifle, he prays to survive a single night, the longest of his life. Desperate to record what he has witnessed, Bram scribbles down the events that led him here...
A sickly child, Bram spent his early days bedridden in his parents' Dublin home, tended to by his caretaker, a young woman named Ellen Crone. When a string of strange deaths occur in a nearby town, Bram and his sister Matilda detect a pattern of bizarre behavior by Ellen -- a mystery that deepens chillingly until Ellen vanishes suddenly from their lives. Years later, Matilda returns from studying in Paris to tell Bram the news that she has seen Ellen -- and that the nightmare they've thought long ended is only beginning.
EXPECTATIONS: I was aware that this is a prequel to Dracula, so in a sense I kind of expected it to be about Dracula before Harker came to his castle. Though I have made peace that Stokers will never write historical fiction, and maybe that's for the best.
THE WORLD: North side of Ireland. Bram Stoker is born to a family of well off people, with their beliefs and superstitions. He's one of seven children, not the youngest, but definitely most ill. Up until age seven he was bed ridden, alive and clinging to it thanks to his sister, full of wonderful stories, and his nanny, woman who seemed to never age, and always be there when he was the most sick, just to disappear for days after. One faithful night he was indeed as good as dead when she saved him, and his world changed forever. For the bedridden boy at last got up, feeling as strong as any other child. Yet everyone denied nanny's involvement and claimed it was no more than a fever dream Bram had. All but his sister, with whom he started his investigation. Back then it yielded no results, other than a passion and doubt in both their hearts. Doubt so strong that once events started repeating themselves elsewhere a few decades later, they both knew they must find the nanny, for she will surely have the answers: why are there madmen raving about blood being life? how come dead people were spotted alive and well?
CHARACTERS: Bram Stoker and his sister Matilda Stoker are the main characters here. Bram is very much affected by vampires, having been fed Ellen Crone's blood during all childhood, and Matilda is simply very keen to learn the truth. Ellen Crone herself wasn't always called by that name. She is an equal to this old creature called Dracul, who is not who one might think he is, even if he indeed is the same man from Bram Stoker's "Dracula".
ROMANCE: Dracul loves this woman who is portrayed as his equal, but how's that I'm absolutely not sure. The whole romance is one-sided, and there's a lot of "you'll learn to love me".
GOOD: Author's words were the most interesting here. What he said at the end of the book, the little true dry-facts biography of Stoker.
BAD: It read a lot like Kostova's "Historian" due to the whole need to travel across the world in chase of a vampire.
OVERALL: This is a book for classic lovers who'd like a new piece. This might also be a book for very firm fans of Dracula and Stoker's works. It isn't bad. But it's a bit dry, and there's a lot of really annoying points in it.
What do you think about DRACUL?
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