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rachelunabridged's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Minor: Misogyny
charleyyyyy's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
3.0
❤️🖤🩶❤️🖤🩶
🥀I love reading classic vampire story's. I find it interesting to see where the many characteristics of modern vampires have been pulled from. This one was, for that reason, very interesting to me.
I liked the description of the vampyre having "Dead grey eye(s)". And that the vampyre seemed unable to percieve the objects around him. He has the classic Vampiric charm, meaning everyone wants to invite him into their houses. The vampire/vampyre lore in this book wasn't extensive, but it was interesting.
Lord Ruthven isn't as well known as Count Dracula or Carmilla, but he is definitely deserving of his place among them, especially seeing as he came first.
✨️The plot was lacking. It was very predictable, but that's to be expected. I think it would have benefited from being a bit longer, so the plot points could have been better developed and explored.
🫀I feel like all classic vampire/vampyre story's are inherently romantic and homoerotic, which I love.
🙄Of course, this book was incredibly misogynistic, that's to be expected given the time period it was written in.
⚰️I would recommend this short story if you want to read about one of the original vamps.
❤️🖤🩶❤️🖤🩶
🥀I love reading classic vampire story's. I find it interesting to see where the many characteristics of modern vampires have been pulled from. This one was, for that reason, very interesting to me.
I liked the description of the vampyre having "Dead grey eye(s)". And that the vampyre seemed unable to percieve the objects around him. He has the classic Vampiric charm, meaning everyone wants to invite him into their houses. The vampire/vampyre lore in this book wasn't extensive, but it was interesting.
Lord Ruthven isn't as well known as Count Dracula or Carmilla, but he is definitely deserving of his place among them, especially seeing as he came first.
✨️The plot was lacking. It was very predictable, but that's to be expected. I think it would have benefited from being a bit longer, so the plot points could have been better developed and explored.
🫀I feel like all classic vampire/vampyre story's are inherently romantic and homoerotic, which I love.
🙄Of course, this book was incredibly misogynistic, that's to be expected given the time period it was written in.
⚰️I would recommend this short story if you want to read about one of the original vamps.
❤️🖤🩶❤️🖤🩶
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Blood, and Murder
remib's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
corvus_legit's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I decided to read this short story due to it's place in literary history as the first western vampire story
But honestly
do not read this if you want to enjoy your time
The author is far more invested in mocking his patients history of affairs and all around lack of morals rather then trying to write anything good
The only time you'll ever see the story progress is exclusively so the author can poorly insert another example of of how the vampire is evil
The narrator himself is only there to watch the the vampire be morally corrupt and have young women poorly shoved infrount of him to be killed off for shock value
This book should have stayed as a fun writing game between friends and never have left that house
But honestly
do not read this if you want to enjoy your time
The author is far more invested in mocking his patients history of affairs and all around lack of morals rather then trying to write anything good
The only time you'll ever see the story progress is exclusively so the author can poorly insert another example of of how the vampire is evil
The narrator himself is only there to watch the the vampire be morally corrupt and have young women poorly shoved infrount of him to be killed off for shock value
This book should have stayed as a fun writing game between friends and never have left that house
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence
Moderate: Cannibalism and Murder
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
mal_eficent's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is certainly one of those classics that's more interesting for the story around its publication and the groundwork it lay for vampire stories as a whole than its literary merit.
Coming from the same trip to the Villa Diodati between Byron, Mary and Percy Shelley, and Claire Clairmont that inspired Frankenstein (and originally attributed to Byron), the story went on to inspire plays and operas in its heyday, feature in Dumas' The Count of Monte Christo, and be cited as an inspiration for Stoker's Dracula. It's now considered vampire 'canon' and its type of vampire has gone on to be the standard we're now trying to break away from. I'm not sure how, though, as Polidori is not the best writer.
The gothic horror elements were all enjoyable, and the actual plot was interesting, but the writing was clunky at best, and some of the phrasing was just difficult to understand. Despite being incredibly short I had to reread sections to figure out what the sentence actually meant more than once.
I honestly wouldn't recommend this as casual reading unless you're trying to make your way through vampires classics just to see what they're like.
Coming from the same trip to the Villa Diodati between Byron, Mary and Percy Shelley, and Claire Clairmont that inspired Frankenstein (and originally attributed to Byron), the story went on to inspire plays and operas in its heyday, feature in Dumas' The Count of Monte Christo, and be cited as an inspiration for Stoker's Dracula. It's now considered vampire 'canon' and its type of vampire has gone on to be the standard we're now trying to break away from. I'm not sure how, though, as Polidori is not the best writer.
The gothic horror elements were all enjoyable, and the actual plot was interesting, but the writing was clunky at best, and some of the phrasing was just difficult to understand. Despite being incredibly short I had to reread sections to figure out what the sentence actually meant more than once.
I honestly wouldn't recommend this as casual reading unless you're trying to make your way through vampires classics just to see what they're like.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder