Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Dracul by J.D. Barker, Dacre Stoker

5 reviews

erishti's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense

2.75

When I finished this book my first thought was "Finally!". The authors note was really well written and I loved the idea of the book but in reality it bored me most of the time. Throughout the book there are intense moments where you can't put it down, but it feels like the authors were trying to do that with the whole book. Towards the end of the book I was so tired of feeling this weird tense and chokingly dark atmosphere that it made the ACTUAL tense scenes of the book less impactful. I would've loved to have a moment to breathe but it felt like a vampire had bitten into my neck and was just dangling there the whole time. This is coming from someone who's never read Dracula.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Gore, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Torture and Stalking

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism and Animal death

midnightrose_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

neni's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The dark and gothic mystery vibes were on point, and the narrative and writing styles were quite similar to Bram Stoker's Dracula which helped put me in that headspace, which I believe was the point. The only thing I have to point out is that the story was way longer than necessary, pretty much the first half of the book could have been condensed in about 100 pages, I sometimes found myself struggling to get through it because there were chapters were nothing was happening. The second half, where things started happening and the mysteries started to get solved, was entertaining and gripping, and the ending surprised me in a good way. I think it was well executed overall, just a tad bit too long

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

lydiavsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

Erm wow, I love this. With books this big I almost always find myself getting bored or impatient or just wanting it to fast forward at some point but completely did not get that with this one, I even read the authors notes which I like never do.

I had no idea about the backstory behind Dracula or the Stoker family, now I'm sucked in. I actually haven't read Dracula yet but this book made me order it and I'm excited to get to it. I love the idea of this book being the missing 101 pages of Dracula. 

The premise is obviously just amazing but also the way it's done: top tier. I was so fully emersed in the plot, the atmosphere, and just felt so attached to the characters and so hyped to think they were real people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicide, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Torture, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis