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breadandmushrooms's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
twitchyredpen's review against another edition
1.0
Well, it wasn't bad enough to DNF. But it certainly wasn't any good.
The outline and pacing are that of any cookie-cutter "protagonist finds a secret that powerful people want/want hidden; works covertly with powerful people on opposing side; optionally realizes something about self" book.
First half of book, establishing characters, expertise, and locations while the protagonist ignores obvious red flags/direct warnings from experts. Then the protag finds the secret and realizes what trouble he's in, leading him to secretly accept/seek out assistance from other powerful people while trying to save his own skin and seeing other people get killed. Ends with a creative "solution" that, on closer inspection by the reader, leaves problems for others and/or only kicks the protagonist's can down the road. I'm mentally benchmarking this book against my memories of Grisham's The Firm.
Based on author commentary tucked into my copy, I assume this book was written and published quickly to hop on the vampire money train. The book lacks the polish of having been picked over by beta readers, dev editors, or the insomniac/shower-pondering author. Protagonist has interesting skills but no interesting personality traits. There are sections of detailed observations that add nothing to the plot or to the experience. Accents are handled by having the characters' words written "normally" but with some words -- sohm verdz --pulled out and repeated as a pronunciation commentary, with every new accented character.
The fact-checking/fact-developing, yikes. I don't know my Transylvanian history; there's another review here on Goodreads going off about those errors. But early on, HIV is described as working by attacking a person's genes and editing out the immune system, and haha wow no. Several pages devoted to the internal anatomy of vampires when, frankly, it should have been handwaved. They're weakest shortly after full moon, okay, done. They're vampires; they are not improved by trying to apply science. And not trying to apply science to how they digest blood would have prevented that awful HIV explainer.
In problems that are not the author's fault: Line editing could have been better -- I was not reading for errors and I still found them -- and *proofing* could have been better, which is not a complaint I often have. Weird line-break hyphenations like rein-force were not corrected.
(This book was sent to my employer for review, along with inserted publicity materials. However, my employer does not do book reviews, so the book lay forgotten in a cupboard for years.)
The outline and pacing are that of any cookie-cutter "protagonist finds a secret that powerful people want/want hidden; works covertly with powerful people on opposing side; optionally realizes something about self" book.
First half of book, establishing characters, expertise, and locations while the protagonist ignores obvious red flags/direct warnings from experts. Then the protag finds the secret and realizes what trouble he's in, leading him to secretly accept/seek out assistance from other powerful people while trying to save his own skin and seeing other people get killed. Ends with a creative "solution" that, on closer inspection by the reader, leaves problems for others and/or only kicks the protagonist's can down the road. I'm mentally benchmarking this book against my memories of Grisham's The Firm.
Based on author commentary tucked into my copy, I assume this book was written and published quickly to hop on the vampire money train. The book lacks the polish of having been picked over by beta readers, dev editors, or the insomniac/shower-pondering author. Protagonist has interesting skills but no interesting personality traits. There are sections of detailed observations that add nothing to the plot or to the experience. Accents are handled by having the characters' words written "normally" but with some words -- sohm verdz --pulled out and repeated as a pronunciation commentary, with every new accented character.
The fact-checking/fact-developing, yikes. I don't know my Transylvanian history; there's another review here on Goodreads going off about those errors. But early on, HIV is described as working by attacking a person's genes and editing out the immune system, and haha wow no. Several pages devoted to the internal anatomy of vampires when, frankly, it should have been handwaved. They're weakest shortly after full moon, okay, done. They're vampires; they are not improved by trying to apply science. And not trying to apply science to how they digest blood would have prevented that awful HIV explainer.
In problems that are not the author's fault: Line editing could have been better -- I was not reading for errors and I still found them -- and *proofing* could have been better, which is not a complaint I often have. Weird line-break hyphenations like rein-force were not corrected.
(This book was sent to my employer for review, along with inserted publicity materials. However, my employer does not do book reviews, so the book lay forgotten in a cupboard for years.)
books_plan_create's review against another edition
4.0
Wow. This book blew my mind just a wee bit. And it makes me wonder....
If you enjoy what-ifs and the like, do give this one a read.
If you enjoy what-ifs and the like, do give this one a read.
openmypages's review against another edition
4.0
When a rare book dealer is asked to source and authenticate the original Dracula manuscript by Bram Stoker, he ends up mired in a centuries old Transylvanian family feud. Once an orphan in Romania, he is forced to return to his homeland to meet his client - the son of Vlad the Impaler. He quickly realizes that he has become a pawn in a larger game and that his future is no longer his own to guide… and perhaps he was always destined for this path.
This book perfectly matches the tone and pace of Bram’s original story. So if you’re looking for something fast paced and outwardly gruesome, this is not for you. Instead it’s the perfect balance of gothic atmosphere with creepy mystery at its center. It does get viscerally gruesome towards the end but you’ve really gotta wait for it. The ending was a bit of a surprise but I liked it.
This book perfectly matches the tone and pace of Bram’s original story. So if you’re looking for something fast paced and outwardly gruesome, this is not for you. Instead it’s the perfect balance of gothic atmosphere with creepy mystery at its center. It does get viscerally gruesome towards the end but you’ve really gotta wait for it. The ending was a bit of a surprise but I liked it.
stacialithub's review against another edition
4.0
It has been a long time since I've cranked through a book in a single day. If you're a Dracula fan, this is a worthy addition to the genre -- a mash-up of Dracula, The Historian, a dash of John Grisham & Dan Brown, & a splash of People of the Book, all while creating a new plot based on the history & lore of Vlad Tepes & Dracula. It's an easy, yet thoroughly engaging read. I'd probably give the writing 3 stars, but I'm giving it 4 stars overall because it's fun entertainment when you're in the mood for a vampire yarn....
camelot565's review against another edition
4.0
Great premise for a first book. If you like Dracula, you'll like this book.
jonid's review against another edition
4.0
A first novel and a really good effort. A mix of Romanian history and Bram Stoker and Dracula. Starting with orphaned brothers in Chicago, one a priest and one a rare manuscript expert is offered a deal he can't refuse what would you do with -- and for -- four million dollars? Vlad Dracul is set up a little like a Mafia Don and our hero realizes that there are time that even someone who is a meek, sheltered, nerdy coward can be put in a position where he must be brave. There is some gory violence, and though some of the guesses made by the expert seem too random to be correct (and yet they are!) it works for the story and i found myself delighted at the author's inventiveness.
Note: The end of the story does seem to set the reader up for a second - but I am hoping that this is not a 'book a year' kind of author. He's off to a great start - but the pressure to pump out another in the series can diminish the plot.
Note: The end of the story does seem to set the reader up for a second - but I am hoping that this is not a 'book a year' kind of author. He's off to a great start - but the pressure to pump out another in the series can diminish the plot.
gotoboston's review against another edition
1.0
This was really, really bad. The writing is stilted and awkward. The plot is sort of painful. You could sort of tell exactly what the author's profession was in this writing. Reading the bio and seeing he was a CPA, well, I sort of went ah, yes, that makes sense. This book feels like a CPA wrote it. It's just got that very flat feeling, that seems almost like the author was doing a + b = c.
gawronma's review
3.0
I am not that much into books about vampires. It was good in places but I thought the ending was rushed. I found the the story was all over the place. I wasn't sure if Prouty wanted the book to be a story about a battle between humans and vampires or a love story or the solving of the murder of the protagonist ' s mother and father.