erindigsegypt's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
tlfuller13's review
4.0
I truly enjoyed reading this novel. It was a fun treasure hunt, so to speak, mixed with suspense, history and adventure. I loved learning the old world superstitions, and being taken into a much different world than where I live in now. I would recommend reading this novel at night to anyone, it gives it a sense of atmosphere, so you'll feel apart of the story as Joseph has his nightly dealings.
the character of Joseph isn't my favorite, I felt he was one dimensional at times, but then complex at others. I felt for his character in many of his sticky situations but the way he handled some of them, imprisonment for example, was just acceptance with a hint of worry. I didn't feel his fear, but mostly confidence and courage. I respect that in a character, but when the nemesis says he smells fear, I didn't get that sense until much later.
One thing that annoyed me about the nemesis was how intimidating he was. towards the end he states how Joseph is not the first human to by time, which I can understand why our bad guy would be frustrated. however, he has been looking for something for a very long time, and he keeps getting timid and frustrating results because they are all scared of him and don't want to die. a good nemesis is charming, so you want to please him, how has he not thought to bait him with charm and promises of a safe end to the deal, not imprisonment, fear and death. I get why he is represented so evil and cruel, but even Bram Stocker 's Dracula was charming...
the character of Joseph isn't my favorite, I felt he was one dimensional at times, but then complex at others. I felt for his character in many of his sticky situations but the way he handled some of them, imprisonment for example, was just acceptance with a hint of worry. I didn't feel his fear, but mostly confidence and courage. I respect that in a character, but when the nemesis says he smells fear, I didn't get that sense until much later.
One thing that annoyed me about the nemesis was how intimidating he was. towards the end he states how Joseph is not the first human to by time, which I can understand why our bad guy would be frustrated. however, he has been looking for something for a very long time, and he keeps getting timid and frustrating results because they are all scared of him and don't want to die. a good nemesis is charming, so you want to please him, how has he not thought to bait him with charm and promises of a safe end to the deal, not imprisonment, fear and death. I get why he is represented so evil and cruel, but even Bram Stocker 's Dracula was charming...
squirrellygoat's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed the plot. It was an interesting take on the Dracula lore. The writing was not great, but in the end I enjoyed the story, so I’ll give it 3 stars.
real_life_reading's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting enough to keep me listening, but the ending wasn't great. I feel like the title suggested more use of the manuscript than I got, although it was fascinating to see how the author incorporated Stoker's work into a modern version of the Dracula story.
cherrybomb43's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed the story, and loved the plot twists. What I disliked and found distracting, was the vampire lore that they based the novel on. For example it basically made them out be big mosquitos with flocks of birds and bats following, and glowing red eyes. While every book has the right to make its own rules, I found it distracting since vampires have been such a popular theme lately and most other authors agree.
This was a very fast read, set in modern times. I recommend it.
This was a very fast read, set in modern times. I recommend it.
devorit's review
4.0
Just the right amount of suspense, danger, and creepy. I liked the intertwining of history, fiction, and fantasy and the way the character quietly grows and develops.
piercepd's review
1.0
This was such a shame.
It's a great concept & it starts off well. The actual prose is intrusively American & one finds oneself filling in missing words or referring to Google to fill in the descriptions; similies which may be immediately familiar to an American audience are mostly mystifying to everyone else & the tone of language when referring to anything European (where the bulk of the book takes place) is very keen to underline that this is an irrelevant cultural backwater.
Then we come to the book itself. Instead of getting more & more involved, one actually seems to care less about the characters as things progress. Very few are fleshed out at all, apparent key figures just vanish & one isn't even named! The twists & turns are clumsy & abrupt & by the end you're almost hate-reading just to get to the end.
As I say, a real shame. I expected to love this & the further I read I felt the rating stars dropping away. Even when I started typing this I wanted to give it two stars but just couldn't bring myself so to do.
It's a great concept & it starts off well. The actual prose is intrusively American & one finds oneself filling in missing words or referring to Google to fill in the descriptions; similies which may be immediately familiar to an American audience are mostly mystifying to everyone else & the tone of language when referring to anything European (where the bulk of the book takes place) is very keen to underline that this is an irrelevant cultural backwater.
Then we come to the book itself. Instead of getting more & more involved, one actually seems to care less about the characters as things progress. Very few are fleshed out at all, apparent key figures just vanish & one isn't even named! The twists & turns are clumsy & abrupt & by the end you're almost hate-reading just to get to the end.
As I say, a real shame. I expected to love this & the further I read I felt the rating stars dropping away. Even when I started typing this I wanted to give it two stars but just couldn't bring myself so to do.
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
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.)