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hirvimaki's review against another edition
3.0
A interesting take on the classic vampire story. Enjoyable, although I felt it dragged a bit in the middle, mired down with too much fluff. If you grew up watching shows like 60 Minutes this is a fun look into the hour news programs.
badseedgirl's review against another edition
1.0
I did not really care much for Fangland: A Novel by John Marks. I listened to the audio version performed by the author John Marks, Ellen Archer, and Simon Vance. The audio book is performed as best as can be with such weak tea.
This is supposed to be a “reimagining” of the classic Dracula story. I don’t mind over much an author updating a novel if it brings something new, but this novel was just boring. The characters were so random and inconsistent it was absolutely impossible for me to care a whit about this story at all. To me this was a story about a man who hated his chosen profession and now that he is no longer doing the job wants the entire world to know how horrible it was. I was just not interested in the listening to that kind of passive-aggressive nonsense.
If you are really interested in the story of Dracula, just read [b:Dracula|17245|Dracula|Bram Stoker|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387151694s/17245.jpg|3165724].
1 of 5 stars
This is supposed to be a “reimagining” of the classic Dracula story. I don’t mind over much an author updating a novel if it brings something new, but this novel was just boring. The characters were so random and inconsistent it was absolutely impossible for me to care a whit about this story at all. To me this was a story about a man who hated his chosen profession and now that he is no longer doing the job wants the entire world to know how horrible it was. I was just not interested in the listening to that kind of passive-aggressive nonsense.
If you are really interested in the story of Dracula, just read [b:Dracula|17245|Dracula|Bram Stoker|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387151694s/17245.jpg|3165724].
1 of 5 stars
moonpie's review against another edition
4.0
What a strange little book Fangland is. I was initially intrigued because Audrey Niffenegger had a blurb on the back, but quickly got caught up in the actual story once I started reading it.
Don't get me wrong, it does get off to a slow start, and is confusing at points in the beginning. As the story winds on, though, it's easy enough to figure out that you're supposed to be a bit confused, as it adds to the atmosphere.
The first half of Fangland reminds me of Dracula, as far as suspense goes. I was actually a little frightened in that good horror way as I got closer to the second half of the book, while the story mostly remains in Transylvania.
When the focus switches back to the US and the offices of a 60 Minutes clone known as The Hour, the suspense lightens up a little and the story isn't as... believable, I guess, as it was in the first half. I'm not sure why. It might be the diffusion of focus, from one person (Evangeline, the reporter stuck in Transylvania) to a multitude (a greedy handful of people who work in the offices of The Hour). It's still an enjoyable read in the second half, just not as gripping and creepy.
One minor complaint: calling the offices of The Hour "Fangland" seems like a shoehorned-in explanation of the title. It doesn't feel organic at all, and I wish it was just mentioned in passing, once, instead of clumsily "explained" twice (that I counted).
All in all, a good read if you're a fan of vampire novels. If you're just a suspense fan, you'll probably still enjoy it, but I think it's made more enjoyable by the allusions to standard vampire lore sprinkled throughout the novel, especially in the first half.
Don't get me wrong, it does get off to a slow start, and is confusing at points in the beginning. As the story winds on, though, it's easy enough to figure out that you're supposed to be a bit confused, as it adds to the atmosphere.
The first half of Fangland reminds me of Dracula, as far as suspense goes. I was actually a little frightened in that good horror way as I got closer to the second half of the book, while the story mostly remains in Transylvania.
When the focus switches back to the US and the offices of a 60 Minutes clone known as The Hour, the suspense lightens up a little and the story isn't as... believable, I guess, as it was in the first half. I'm not sure why. It might be the diffusion of focus, from one person (Evangeline, the reporter stuck in Transylvania) to a multitude (a greedy handful of people who work in the offices of The Hour). It's still an enjoyable read in the second half, just not as gripping and creepy.
One minor complaint: calling the offices of The Hour "Fangland" seems like a shoehorned-in explanation of the title. It doesn't feel organic at all, and I wish it was just mentioned in passing, once, instead of clumsily "explained" twice (that I counted).
All in all, a good read if you're a fan of vampire novels. If you're just a suspense fan, you'll probably still enjoy it, but I think it's made more enjoyable by the allusions to standard vampire lore sprinkled throughout the novel, especially in the first half.
kirstena's review against another edition
4.0
For fans of the vampire genre, such as Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire and such, this is an intriguing, can't put it down, completely different twist on vampires. For writers, it's an interesting look at how to tell a tale from numerous points of view.
maegan_kk's review against another edition
2.0
Tierra de vampiros es una versión moderna de Drácula, de Bram Stoker, que a mi gusto, no funciona.
Debo decir que la primera parte del libro me gustó. Evangeline y el terror que siente al llegar al hogar de Ian Torgu, me pareció que estaba bien descrito, era creíble, y me puso la piel de gallina. Asimismo, las conversaciones que mantiene con Torgu son todo lo crípticas y espeluznantes que uno espera que sean.
Sin embargo, la razón por la que esta historia no funciona, es porque la obra de Bram Stoker es casi perfecta. Original, con diversos puntos de vista, terrorífica y llena de imaginación. Nadie puede discutir que supuso un antes y un después, y de hecho sus personajes ahora forman parte del folclore actual.
Así pues, la idea de contar parte por parte la historia de Drácula, cambiando lo suficiente para ambientarlo a la actualidad, pero no tanto para que cualquier lector sea capaz de reconocer la obra de Stoker, me parece un error. No me aporta lo suficiente como para sentir que no estoy leyendo una copia mediocre del original.
Debo decir que la primera parte del libro me gustó. Evangeline y el terror que siente al llegar al hogar de Ian Torgu, me pareció que estaba bien descrito, era creíble, y me puso la piel de gallina. Asimismo, las conversaciones que mantiene con Torgu son todo lo crípticas y espeluznantes que uno espera que sean.
Sin embargo, la razón por la que esta historia no funciona, es porque la obra de Bram Stoker es casi perfecta. Original, con diversos puntos de vista, terrorífica y llena de imaginación. Nadie puede discutir que supuso un antes y un después, y de hecho sus personajes ahora forman parte del folclore actual.
Así pues, la idea de contar parte por parte la historia de Drácula, cambiando lo suficiente para ambientarlo a la actualidad, pero no tanto para que cualquier lector sea capaz de reconocer la obra de Stoker, me parece un error. No me aporta lo suficiente como para sentir que no estoy leyendo una copia mediocre del original.
heathersbooks100's review against another edition
2.0
Fairly strong start, but after that the book just fell substantially and never got better.
literaryfeline's review against another edition
3.0
http://www.literaryfeline.com/2008/03/fangland-by-john-marks.html
lostinabookbrb's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
rebjam's review against another edition
2.0
While some of it was fun . .the Don Hewitt character yelling "the Network" at the time when consummate evil was overtaking the pseudo-60 Minutes television show. . it was a bit of a misfire. I didn't even really understand what Torgu was doing? was he the physical embodiment of eviL? And really the lead character doing a striptease is what undid him? I mean on one hand that is terribly funny as men do stare dumbly at naked girls but really, that's all she had to do? And what happened to her afterward? She disappeared? Did she take up his role as the seeker of mass death?
On the onset a fabulous and funny and chilling idea--evil attacks the correspondents and staff of 60 Minutes but the execution was terribly flawed.
On the onset a fabulous and funny and chilling idea--evil attacks the correspondents and staff of 60 Minutes but the execution was terribly flawed.
pinknantucket's review against another edition
3.0
It’s been a long time since I read any horror, because, you know, me and horror don’t get along so well, so I’m not sure if I’m correct here, but I think this book might, well, be sneaking over into the horror genre. There are no ice picks involved, or chainsaws or people being skinned or anything (not directly, anyway) and the book cover doesn’t make use of dripping blood; the horror it contains is more of an intellectual quality - the horror that has been inflicted on real persons throughout the centuries.
Interestingly, also, Fangland is a post-9/11 horror story; the horror that was nearly 3000 people’s last moments (plus all the associated shock and emotional damage that was the survivors’) is woven into the narrative. I’ve only read one other book that was quite so directly a post-9/11 novel, Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close; and although I thought Foer’s book was excellent, I think Fangland was more effective at capturing what the events of that day did to the city of New York.
Fangland is a modern take on the vampire legend, and at the start I thought it was going to be a bit too clever for itself, but I ended up really quite liking it. I will look for other novels by John Marks. It is set (for a good part of the action) in the offices of a television current affairs program (The Hour) in downtown New York, located just next door to the holes that exist where the World Trade Centre used to stand. The rest of the story is set in Romania, as we follow what happens to one Evangeline Harker, who has been sent there by her bosses at The Hour to assess the possibility of a story on an Eastern European crime lord called Ion Torgu.
The story is told from the viewpoints of a number of different characters; for me it was Evangeline’s voice that read best, challenging my pet theory that it is difficult for men to write convincing female characters and vice versa. (I can’t really test the vice versa; male characters written by women often seem quite convincing to me, but what would I know? You blokes will have to confirm/deny). Not all of the book works for me and there are, to paraphrase the C&C Music Factory, a few bits that made me go “Hmmm” - such as the scene in which Evangeline uses her sexuality to fend off an attack by Torgu. To paraphrase the evil Mexicans in For a Fistful of Dollars, “ehhhh??” I suppose at least it wasn’t the same old “vampires are sooo sexy” thing that most authors peddle. But overall, the book was moving and chilling…if you feel in the mood for a vampire novel, definitely read this one over Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian.
Interestingly, also, Fangland is a post-9/11 horror story; the horror that was nearly 3000 people’s last moments (plus all the associated shock and emotional damage that was the survivors’) is woven into the narrative. I’ve only read one other book that was quite so directly a post-9/11 novel, Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close; and although I thought Foer’s book was excellent, I think Fangland was more effective at capturing what the events of that day did to the city of New York.
Fangland is a modern take on the vampire legend, and at the start I thought it was going to be a bit too clever for itself, but I ended up really quite liking it. I will look for other novels by John Marks. It is set (for a good part of the action) in the offices of a television current affairs program (The Hour) in downtown New York, located just next door to the holes that exist where the World Trade Centre used to stand. The rest of the story is set in Romania, as we follow what happens to one Evangeline Harker, who has been sent there by her bosses at The Hour to assess the possibility of a story on an Eastern European crime lord called Ion Torgu.
The story is told from the viewpoints of a number of different characters; for me it was Evangeline’s voice that read best, challenging my pet theory that it is difficult for men to write convincing female characters and vice versa. (I can’t really test the vice versa; male characters written by women often seem quite convincing to me, but what would I know? You blokes will have to confirm/deny). Not all of the book works for me and there are, to paraphrase the C&C Music Factory, a few bits that made me go “Hmmm” - such as the scene in which Evangeline uses her sexuality to fend off an attack by Torgu. To paraphrase the evil Mexicans in For a Fistful of Dollars, “ehhhh??” I suppose at least it wasn’t the same old “vampires are sooo sexy” thing that most authors peddle. But overall, the book was moving and chilling…if you feel in the mood for a vampire novel, definitely read this one over Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian.