Reviews with content warning for Blood - Dracula

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Dracula, by Bram Stoker

173 reviews

r_bridie_e's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I’m left really conflicted on this book. It’s great from a horror perspective, and I was completely captured for the first third of the book. Unfortunately, there is very clear xenophobia from the start of the book, and I found the Victorian Values of women (which involves extreme passivity to the point of complete uselessness) to be an oppressive and constant presence throughout the book. Stroker does an amazing job at creating horror and suspense; however, the book has aged poorly due to gross subtexts. On a completely unrelated note, I was pleasantly suprised to find out that Count Dracula is a sex icon! Suddenly, vampires being sexualized in media makes so much more sense now.

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bujo_bellel's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I personally dislike this book a lot. This was really slow-paced and the plot became rather draggy. Although there were moments where it got interesting, it died down a really quickly. I was already in a reading slump and this book made it worse. It could be because it's a classic or the content of the book but I was genuinely uninterested. I liked reading about Jonathan Harker in Dracula's Castle but the I ddint really care about the mission at the end.

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ixchilly's review against another edition

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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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mdugas's review against another edition

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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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