Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Dracula, by Bram Stoker

51 reviews

ixchilly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

Amazing! Admittedly, it did take me years after buying the book to actually read more than halfway and then months to commit to fully reading, but that is no fault to this classic novel. I didn't expect to enjoy it so much as I often struggle with long reads, but the narratives, imagery, and plot really pulled through. The book would've been much better if I had no prior knowledge of vampire lore, and some of the characters can be a bit stagnant, but Stoker uses his devices to deliver a chilling villain, enjoyable characters, and curious talking points to supply readers with various lenses in which to analyze and interpret this particular work. This book has definitely earned it's spot on my bookshelf and has helped reignite my interest in reading, classic novels, and horror.

However, it is important to be mindful that the work was originally published in 1897. That being said , this work does contain "weak" women, some misogynistic ideals, and ideas of the time. The characters are, for the most part, enjoyable, and there's a splash of romance that does, of course, read in the devotedly sexist fashion of the 1800s, but, hey, they do give a woman a gun, so that's nice. The book is long and can be wordy, as most older books can be, but overall, a wonderful, chilling, classic work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Injury/injury detail, Animal death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Racial slurs and Suicidal thoughts

mdugas's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

The storytelling through different perspectives is quite good. I enjoyed the detailed explanations of the places and how the setting was established as well. I would have liked to hear some of the perspective of the Vampire himself, but it was only the perspectives of the affected humans.

Spoiler

The ending was rather anticlimactic, but it wasn’t badly written, I was just expecting it to be a little more exciting.

Spoiler

Overall it was well worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Gore, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Child death and Violence

Minor: Alcohol

armand's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

thedandybrambler's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Violence, Confinement, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Mental illness, Vomit, Animal death, and Medical content

chammonds327's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Blood, Toxic friendship, and Physical abuse

marigoldgem's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

Surprisingly strong female characters and definitely one of my favorite classics now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Grief, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Medical content, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Confinement, and Kidnapping

fjordpingvin's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Classism, Injury/injury detail, Sexism, Mental illness, Animal death, Blood, Animal cruelty, and Xenophobia

Minor: Antisemitism, Gore, Suicide, Grief, Murder, and Terminal illness

emmaward55's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

average person eats 3 flies a year" factoid actualy just statistical error. average person eats 0 flies per year. Flies Renfield, who lives in an asylum & eats over 10,000 each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted

Okay now that that's out of my system, I have to confess, I read this book is a rather unorthodox fashion, as part of the Dracula Daily emails, whereby the letters in the book are emailed out to readers on the corresponding dates. It's a fun idea for an epistolary novel and I found that it suited the format well. However, did I manage to keep up with those emails? Heck no! In fact, I only managed to finish it now, a month after the book has ended, because I started copying the emails into a text-to-speech bot and listening to months at a time. 

The above being said, I really enjoyed my first experience with Dracula! I especially loved the characters of Mina and Van Helsing, and Jonathan "wifeguy" Harker gets a mention too. Although the book some times suffered for it's period typical Christianity and sexism, it was refreshing how Stoker broke free of that at times and allowed Mina to be more than just the wife in jeopardy. Like every man in this book, I too would give my life for Mina Harker at the drop of a hat.

In term of the ending, it did feel somewhat anti-climatic. I understand that an outright fight between Dracula and the party would have ended in Dracula's survival, but I was expecting more than just a quick brawl with a group of unnamed (and unimportant) men and them stabbing the Count as he slept.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gore, Mental illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Confinement, Racial slurs, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Terminal illness

Minor: Alcohol and Cursing

lizzye33's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Grief, Genocide, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Confinement

jneverland's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Murder, Sexual assault, Violence, Body horror, Death, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Rape, Self harm, Blood, Eating disorder, Gore, Torture, Confinement, Medical content, and Suicidal thoughts