Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

72 reviews

mothstrand's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Ableism and Antisemitism

riverofhorton's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The world-building was incredible, and all but one of the main group were fully fleshed out characters. The only things that let it down were poo Quincey, the language of Van Helsing being a slog to get through, and the repetition of a lot of the bits of lore. Four times we're told that Dracula can't cross running water, three times that killing Dracula will stop the transformation of any vampires that are somewhere between human and vampire, three times we're told that communion wafers act as a talisman against the vampires, plus a few others that I could mention. I wonder how long this book would be without these instances of repetition. I particularly enjoyed reading the letters between Mina and Lucy, and their respective journal entries about the other: Mina is definitely gay for Lucy, and I can see no other explanation for the way she talks of and to Lucy. I would like to have seen some more expression of that love, but I get that wasn't really possible when this was published, sadly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

witchintherain's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Sexism, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, and War

agw622's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I genuinely enjoyed reading this. It is a very exciting tale. My only critiques are that it can be a bit wordy and the charecters prone to hysteria sometimes. This does make reading so parts a little tedious, but it does chug along. For a classic book the treatment of the female charecters were very well done. I do wish the ending paid off more.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement and Sexism

missmoth's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Animal death and Forced institutionalization

kjm19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

tayaingrid's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, and Medical content

Minor: Racism, Xenophobia, and War

zbrebis's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Very entertaining to read one of the first story about vampires. If you like when rich men are depicted as cruel, evil monsters, you'll love this gothic classic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Minor: Confinement, Death, and Cannibalism

doriandelioncourt's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail

mellifer's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I was surprised how much I loved this book. It’s probably one of my all time favorite reads, which I definitely did not expect. 

I don’t love it so much for the horror, although there is plenty of that. Dracula is a really great monster and there are plenty of spine chilling moments. But I think the reason I love it so much is the good characters, and the relationships between those characters. Without giving too much away, these characters and their bonds to each other bring light and hope to what could otherwise have been a very dark and depressing read. 

I finished this via the podcast “Re: Dracula”, an unabridged, full cast audio version of the book, with some parts slightly rearranged to be in chronological order. I highly recommend this. The voice acting is perfect, the soundscaping is excellent, and overall it really breathes life into this book. I will most definitely be re-reading and re-listening.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent