jneverland's review against another edition
- 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
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
meganpbennett's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
All of the characters keep a journal of some form, and it's all dated. In the standard printing of the novel, all of Johnathon's several months at Castle Dracula would have been first, then followed up by Mina and Lucy's correspondence. In this case, it's in real time, so you only see what happens on any given day. There are long gaps between Harker's entries, as he starts to realize what is really going on and how he is trapped in the castle. Lucy's death scene, a chapter or so in the book, is stretched over the almost a month Dracula fed on her until she became a vampire, making it all the more emotional when they have kill her. Or when the group heads to Castle Dracula, and it takes the same number of days for us as it did for them. Very interesting way of reading a novel, and one that several other people are putting together.
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, Injury/injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexism, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Stalking, Murder, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racism, Death, Gaslighting, Rape, Religious bigotry, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Racial slurs
satanita's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Graphic: Blood and Death
Moderate: Rape
Death:Spoiler
So when Lucy dies, her deterioration is very slow and painful. She slowly loses herself to the vampirism, finally succumbing to it. It could be sensitive for those who find such scenes hard to read. There are instances in which they transfuse blood, may I say without the proper knowledge of blood types, bet Lucy is AB.Spoiler
There is also a scene in which the Count forces Mina to drink from his blood in order to create a bond with her. This strongly alludes to rape, as she is unwilling to accept it and is forced to do so. For the rest of the story, she feels as if she is unworthy and unclean. So this could be sensitive for some. Watch out for these if you don't feel comfortable with such things.1quillb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
So, with full and complete offence meant to Abraham “Bram” Stoker: this book sucked. Horribly.
Spoiler
I’m not entirely sure what happened in it, to be honest. Jonathan goes to Dracula’s castle and gets trapped there. A man called Renfield eats spiders but really wants to eat a cat. Mina sits in a churchyard with her girlfriend Lucy. Lucy gets proposed to three times by men she’d literally spoken to one time… it was just random plot point after random plot point, none of which made sense in any sort of context.And the entire second-half of the book was devoted to… you guess it, absolutely nothing! They decide that vampires are indeed real (though it takes them some time to come to that conclusion even after they see one), and then they go to Dracula’s castle. Why? I don’t know. Dracula wasn’t even there.
Then, for about the last ten pages of the novel, they have a metaphorical snowball fight and start stabbing random Romanians. Obviously the Romanians lost, because they were exhausted from spending the last dozen hours carrying Dracula’s coffin up the mountainside because the Count was too lazy to walk. But luckily “he” dies!
Who is “he”, you may ask? Apparently, it’s Dracula, because later on the characters rejoice in the fact that they killed the vampire, but Bram literally didn’t even write that it was Dracula who died. Nor did he specify if it was Jonathan or Morris who was stabbed by a Romanian. Only in the epilogue is it made clear (a dead man can’t have children, I don’t think).
Overall, this was terrible. I’ve not read anything else by Stoker, so I don’t know if this hideous novel was just a one-off or if it’s actually how he writes, but it sucked regardless. Highly don’t recommend.
Graphic: Blood, Injury/injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Stalking, Xenophobia, and Kidnapping
Minor: Rape, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, and Self harm