Dracula: The Un-Dead Review
October 6, 2009 in Reviews
Someone is stalking the brave band of heroes who defeated the vampire Dracula. Does the legendary monster thought to be destroyed yet remain the un-dead?
Dracula: The Un-Deadis set twenty-five years after the close of Bram Stoker’s classic tale. Dark forces are closing in on London. Quincey-son of Jonathan Harker and Mina Murray-and his companions, many of them original characters, must join together to do everything in their power to stop them.
The only sequel endorsed by the Stoker family, Dracula: The Un-Dead is written by one of Stoker’s direct descendants and an award-winning Dracula historian who had access to Bram Stoker’s handwritten notes, which included characters and plot threads excised from the original printing. The result is an authentic thriller with all the hallmarks of a great historical novel.
When I was asked to review this book, I quickly ran out to pick up a copy of Bram’s original Dracula. I got about 20 pages in and couldn’t really continue. The old English just doesn’t stick for me, I can read it but it refuses to stick and make sense. I was relieved to learn that Dracula: The Un-Dead was written in a modern tone, so not only can Dracula fans read it, I could as well.
In Dracula: The Un-Dead, those of us who haven’t read the original Dracula are quickly brought up to speed, from the original characters to what happend after they’d killed Dracula. From drug addiction, broken marriages and a whole heep of personal issues, we gather none of the characters have forgotten Dracula and their parts in his demise.
Characters from the early nineteenth century make appearances from Jack the Ripper, The Wright Brothers to Elizabeth Bathory, even appearances by Bram himself. European myths also take place during the exhumation of Lucy’s body, families desecrated bodies of relatives they thought were “vampires” who would return to seek vengeance on them.
The book starts a bit slow and then the pace just flies, you can’t turn the pages fast enough! It is extremly visual, you can see yourself standing there watching the events take place. You have no idea whats going to happen next, the plot twists and turns aren’t so clear that you’d easily figure out what will happen next. I loved that.
I had one issue with the book and that is the sheer number of characters introduced. At time’s I had to go backwards to remember who was who. Though, reading the end-notes I was shocked to see who these characters were named for and that I didn’t even clue in! Dracula: The Un-Dead doesn’t only take from Bram’s version, but alot of versions of Dracula through time, Stoker to FF Coppola. The mythology also stayed, vampires cannot go out in the sun (no they do not sparkle, they burst into flames). I liked the suggestion that vampires do not shape shift, they make your mind believe what they want you to see.
Though the book is not truly true to the original, that is explained in the Author’s notes at the end of the book. Some will take issue with the changes, but it is understood in the Author’s notes that not everything could stay true and some changes did have to take place. I really don’t think they change the overall effect of the book, it was still compelling and you still feel for Dracula and those who’ve been involved.
Holt & Stoker did a wonderful job of bringing back what vampires used to be, scary. Bram would be proud.
4/5 Dracula’s
You can buy Dracula: The Un-Dead on October 13, 2009 at:
