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A review by breebers
Fangland by John Marks
3.0
This book begins as a modern take on Dracula, with a female protagonist. Young journalist/associate producer goes to Romania to scope out a potential interviewee - a man who claims to be the head of Eastern European organized crime, and proves to be something quite different. The story is told through journals, emails, and a random third-person omniscient narrator for one character, which I still don't get... There's no traditional vampirism that happens, though some of the conventional restrictions and powers afflict this book's 'vampire.'
A huge divergence from Dracula is that in addition to this book having its own Renfield, practically every person who tells a portion of this story goes batshit crazy by the end and the very end is a veritable blood bath. While the reasoning behind this makes sense in the story, it also makes it a little more difficult to take seriously. So does the sex and violence portrayed in such a way as to seem not provocative and integral, but detached and bordering on gratuitous at times. While they are integral to the plot, the placement and style in which they're written fail to make it feel integral.
Overall it was an interesting take on the classic idea (and I laugh at the reviews I read that called it 'original' - it most certainly is not), and there were some genuinely scary moments. I'm glad I read it, but I don't see it as the incredible achievement in fiction the cover reviews would have you believe it is.
A huge divergence from Dracula is that in addition to this book having its own Renfield, practically every person who tells a portion of this story goes batshit crazy by the end and the very end is a veritable blood bath. While the reasoning behind this makes sense in the story, it also makes it a little more difficult to take seriously. So does the sex and violence portrayed in such a way as to seem not provocative and integral, but detached and bordering on gratuitous at times. While they are integral to the plot, the placement and style in which they're written fail to make it feel integral.
Overall it was an interesting take on the classic idea (and I laugh at the reviews I read that called it 'original' - it most certainly is not), and there were some genuinely scary moments. I'm glad I read it, but I don't see it as the incredible achievement in fiction the cover reviews would have you believe it is.