Reviews

Countess Dracula by Tony Thorne, Tony Thorne

grapie_deltaco's review

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3.0

A very interesting exploration of historical events as they morph into misconceptions and how it all shifts over time due to art affecting public perception of the historical figure.

It has a tendency to feel all over the place and distracted. So many concepts bleeding into each other without a smooth transition and a million tangents surrounding a million media/pop culture references from across numerous centuries.

I think it was definitely a choice to briefly compare cosmetic surgeries and how we, as a society, consume content surrounding the industry to the Countess Báthory watching over her accomplices as they beat, tortured, mutilated, and violently murdered little girls. I think it was a very interesting (and not ideal) choice indeed.

I do, however, appreciate the wide range of historical context/background as well as all of the rumors and speculations surrounding the countess. I also enjoyed the exploration of magic and witchcraft of the time as well as Báthory’s relationship to it.

CW: death, murder, violence, torture, recurring (but brief) mentions of sexual assault and rape, mention of assault and child rape (brief), brief mention of suicide, dated language referencing Romani people, homophobia, racism, mentions of slavery
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