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Deborah Ideiosepius's Reviews > Dracula the Un-Dead
Dracula the Un-Dead
by Dacre Stoker, Ian Holt
by Dacre Stoker, Ian Holt
I found this an appallingly bad book and despite being a fast reader, resorting to a lot of skim reading I have so far been unable to make it past page 64 or the end of chapter nine. There are almost limitless cringe-worthy points in these first chapters and while I may pick the book up again one day I am not betting that I will be feeling that masochistic anytime soon.
Regarding the authors; I see Dacre Stoker is a descendent of Bram Stoker and is not himself an author. My guess is that someone paid him to have his name on the cover to boost sales. Ian Holt is supposed to be a Dracula expert according to IMDB but I am not seeing any memorable list of novels. Our authors may have the Stoker DNA on their side but they do not have the talent.
There is a strong effort to mimic the subtle contemplative (or if you must, gothic) style in the original Dracula. This effort fails on all counts, and instead comes across as clumsy and modern-trying-too hard with a significant failure to do homework;
“Mina .. pulled on a matronly floor-length dress” [pg. 61] Hang on – 1912 right? do these two authors not have access to google? Can they not have a look at respectable dress lengths in those days? Puh-lese.
I can put up with the evil vampire baroness going to the theatre dressed as a man (though it is unlikely that a woman dressed that way in that era would have been admitted) because they are trying (badly) to make a point.
However: “...he took a deep breath and hauled himself up onto the lowest branch.” [pg 13] Except that it is a palm tree. Palm trees do not have branches, they have fronds and a grown man would not be able to ‘haul himself up’ onto one. I am guessing our intrepid authors have never holidayed in the tropics and we have already established their limited access to google.
Now getting back to the evil Baroness – the young maiden married off against her will! To a nasty older husband! Causing her to become a lesbian! Warped and evil!
Really? Again?
This is a pretty overworked theme and you need to be a smoking hot wordsmith to use it with any credibility these days, in this book it is just lame andtedious.
Regarding the authors; I see Dacre Stoker is a descendent of Bram Stoker and is not himself an author. My guess is that someone paid him to have his name on the cover to boost sales. Ian Holt is supposed to be a Dracula expert according to IMDB but I am not seeing any memorable list of novels. Our authors may have the Stoker DNA on their side but they do not have the talent.
There is a strong effort to mimic the subtle contemplative (or if you must, gothic) style in the original Dracula. This effort fails on all counts, and instead comes across as clumsy and modern-trying-too hard with a significant failure to do homework;
“Mina .. pulled on a matronly floor-length dress” [pg. 61] Hang on – 1912 right? do these two authors not have access to google? Can they not have a look at respectable dress lengths in those days? Puh-lese.
I can put up with the evil vampire baroness going to the theatre dressed as a man (though it is unlikely that a woman dressed that way in that era would have been admitted) because they are trying (badly) to make a point.
However: “...he took a deep breath and hauled himself up onto the lowest branch.” [pg 13] Except that it is a palm tree. Palm trees do not have branches, they have fronds and a grown man would not be able to ‘haul himself up’ onto one. I am guessing our intrepid authors have never holidayed in the tropics and we have already established their limited access to google.
Now getting back to the evil Baroness – the young maiden married off against her will! To a nasty older husband! Causing her to become a lesbian! Warped and evil!
Really? Again?
This is a pretty overworked theme and you need to be a smoking hot wordsmith to use it with any credibility these days, in this book it is just lame andtedious.
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