Dracula Everlasting Vol. 3

Dracula Everlasting #3

by Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, Rhea Silvan (Artist)

Dark Lord Triumphant! Nicholas Harker is no more. His identity is now fully subsumed by Dracula. The one thorn in his side, Jill Hawthorne, has been effectively removed. Finally, the lord of all vampires and his Renfield are ascendant! The vengeful wiccan Cate, however, has plans of her own-to assemble a team of vampire slayers. Together with the broken-hearted Jill and Detective Murphy, and a new player on the stage who has every reason to seek vengeance, a final battle looms. Yet Dracula grows stronger by day and night, as he amasses a small army of brides from the dead. Is it too late to destroy him? Find out in this thrilling conclusion to the Dracula Everlasting trilogy!

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Vampires, Comics, Paranormal, Ebooks

175 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 3, 2013

About the author

Nunzio DeFilippis is married to Christina Weir; together they have written a large number of graphic novels. They have written superhero comics but also created original comics and graphic novels of many genres, from YA fantasy to sports to horror to crime drama.

Reviews

[Mizuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last volume, how will it turn out?

In the end, I am kind so I will give this last volume 4 stars, though I feel conflicted about the ending, but I will give the author brownie points for trying something a bit new.

But the villains are flat as hell.

[Brea · Rating 1 out of 5]

**SPOILER ALERT** Really this review is about the series as a whole, but I am writing it on the last book since it makes the most sense to do so. I don't want to just flat out say that this series was terrible, but it's terrible. The drawing is bad, the dialogue is bad, the plot, though intriguing, falls flat, the characters are forgettable and one dimensional, and the writing is God-awful. More than anything I'm extremely irritated that I spent $30 on this series when it was such a massive disappointment. There are SPOILERS ahead so if you want to be surprised on your own at how terrible this manga is, stop reading now. That being said, the first installment wasn't horrible. Although the drawing left something to be desired about 75% of the time, I felt like the premise of the story (decedents of all the original "Dracula" characters in the modern world (i.e. Harker, Van Helsing, Reinfield, etc.) still destined to come together as they had in the past) was intriguing. There was suspense, mystery, a budding romance... all the elements that had the ability to hook the reader. Book 1 ends with us realizing that Jill is the decedent of Van Helsing himself! Dun-dun-dun! Then we get to volume two. By now I had adjusted myself to the sub-par manga illustrations to the point where I could find them somewhat enjoyable and focus more on the story itself. But, as the second book progressed, the story slowly started to deteriorate. It was SO frustrating because it had SO much potential to be a great story. The worst part was the dialogue between characters. It felt like by the middle of the second volume EVERY character was so high strung and rage-y that they wigged out at anyone else that breathed incorrectly in their direction. Scenes that were supposed to be funny weren't. Scenes that were supposed to show tension didn't. The story started jumping around all over the place. Sequences weren't making sense anymore. Jill's mother randomly gets involved towards the end of the book and tries to take down Dracula herself after hearing Jill and Cate discussing what sounds like a completely MENTAL situation through the bedroom door without so much as a serious question or any skepticism AT ALL. The next day she is suddenly terrified of Jill spending anymore time with Nick because she is all in and just assumes he is Dracula reincarnate. WHAT!? How does this even make ANY sense? Especially when literally EVERY OTHER CHARACTER in the ENTIRE story that is on the receiving end of Dracula's anger questions the WHOLE insane thing! But Miranda (her mother) just rolls with it!? Needless to say, it ends up getting her killed at Dracula's hand and instead of going completely catatonic, Jill instead FINALLY accepts what Cate has been saying all along and says she is ready to take down the fanged freak. Like, are you kidding me? I mean, sure she is sad and upset that her mother is now dead, but how could you NOT completely lose your sh*t over that? This is how book 2 ends. Enter the clusterf*ck that is book 3. It is at this point that the authors decided to introduce another main character (yeah, this late in the story) that really doesn't have much consequence on the remainder of the story at all, so I'm honestly not sure why. The dialogue is even more all over the place (if that's possible). Characters are both simultaneously angry and agreeable about everything. The drawing sequences are hard to follow. And on top of ALL of that, Jill insists on still trying to save Nick because "it's not his fault" and she clearly still wants to be with him. Which, honestly, makes zero sense to me because, regardless of whether or not he was "in control" at the time he killed her mother, how could she stand to look at his face after that!? That seems like the obvious, normal response. That will forever be the face of the man who murdered her mother and she's okay with that??? Surprisingly, the story took an unexpected turn when, in the last few pages, she decides that (as a last ditch effort) she is going to KISS Dracula in hopes that Nick will resurface. As luck would have it, it works and Nick regains temporary control of himself again long enough to drive the stake into his own heart and thus ending the terror of Dracula. At this point I was pleasantly surprised. I couldn't believe they would actually kill him off, but they did. And the book was able to redeem itself just slightly because of that. But then, of course, they had to ruin it with the epilogue. Jill, Cate, and the new character Gareth are standing at Nick's grave on the third night of him being buried (never mind the fact that there was no other mention of vampires rising from the grave on the third night before this (the reader would have to know this lore beforehand)). Suddenly, an arm reaches out of the ground and Nick pulls himself out of his grave. They assume he is Dracula coming back and get ready to stake him again but in a sudden TWIST he MIRACULOUSLY is Nick again! With no trace of Dracula left. How does he know? Well, as the character puts it, he just has "this feeling" about it. Yeah. Literary genius at work, people. Then he suddenly realizes he has no heartbeat and proclaims that he thinks, before, he was a human body hosting a vampire, but NOW he is a VAMPIRE hosting a HUMAN SOUL. Yes. You read that correctly. And that folks sums up the entire stupidity of the series. Right there. In that one dialogue bubble. A vampire. Hosting a human soul. Why? WHO THE F*CK KNOWS!? And of course, Jill, overcome with happiness, leaps into his arms and she lives happily ever after with the man that killed her mother. So there you have it. Plot holes galore. Nothing remotely explained to satisfaction. These authors just threw sh*t together as they went along and hoped that the readers would just roll with it. Honestly, it reminds me a lot of the stories I would write when I was in middle school. Except the ramblings of a middle schooler at least had SOME cohesion. This, not so much. To be fair, I have pretty high standards for manga (avid Vampire Knight fan here), so I know I'm a little biased when it comes to the drawings in particular. But I'm sorry, looking beyond that, this story was just TERRIBLE. If you want to see for yourself, go for it. The horridness of it is practically an art in and of itself. But if you like to read good manga I would definitely pass on this series. It is a massive waste of time that could have been so much better. I know this review is harsh, but I stand behind it. As cliché as it sounds, reading this series is 6 hours of my life I'll never get back. NEXT!

[ririni · Rating 2 out of 5]

eh

[Lady Entropy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A revisiting of the Dracula Mythos in present era, seen through a manga format and sensibility. It's decent enough, but not particularly inspired, although it tries to be different to other approaches to the story.

In my opinion, the fact that it has things like ghosts who can manifest and a Wiccan witch who can throw fireballs cheapens the plot and the sudden discoveries. The series would have worked better if it hadn't been limited to a trilogy, as it starts to rush midway through the second volume, and had good ideas that didn't have time to get explored properly.

However, the reason why this gets 2 stars and not 3, is that while dracula is shown as a proper, heartless monster, he has none of the strength, cunning and nobility of the original Dracula. He comes across as a spoilt, stupid and easily distracted entitled whiny little bitch with no tactical acumen. This is the man who defeated the Turks again and again. The Prince of Darkness deserved better.

Also, for someone who loved Dracula so much as the authors claimed to, they sure seemed to forget that in the original book, FREAKING DRACULA COULD WALK FINE DURING THE DAYLIGHT, IT WAS JUST UNCOMFORTABLE AND RESTRICTED HIS POWERS TO A POINT.

Since a MASSIVE plot point hangs on this particular issue, I want to throttle someone.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boo. What was shaping up to be a great Dracula tie in for teens ended with a wussy Twilight cop out. Disappointing.

[Tema · Rating 1 out of 5]

Turned into Twilight Dracula style

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it. A good fast read.

[Lulu · Rating 2 out of 5]

The miniseries gets a star for art, but story-wise and characterization were badly wanting of depth and just generally being interesting. What’s ironic is that it’s worsened by the author’s complaints of the dumbing down of vampires in contemporary literature, and yet Everlasting doesn’t stand out from the rest other than having “Martin Mystery” vibes. I *almost* came out of Everlasting with a sense of “That wasn’t too bad,” but then it turns around and ends things on a ridiculous, unwanted “happy” note.

[B&F · Rating 4 out of 5]

And so it ends....
This was actually pretty good. I think 90% of what I loved was all Cate Ambrose! Now that's one brave badass Wiccan 🌟the series is definitely worth reading if you just want a quick, not too complicated manga. I'm really not sure what was up with Mason Redfield's brothers though...just because they are bad guys doesn't mean they need to be drawn with*cough cough* Shark teeth(?? Really lol) I found their depictions more comical than a villain worth taking seriously.

[Kristina · Rating 2 out of 5]

This entire manga trilogy is currently free on kindle and I think it's worth checking out for a quick series read. The Dracula story is retold in modern times as a young adult story. It's a fun read! This one was far more teenage drama, and I've knocked off a star for a ridiculous ending. However, I still think this series is worth a read.

[Amanda Rodrigues · Rating 4 out of 5]

That ending!

All three books are free so you really have nothing to loose by checking them out.
I really loved the story and the characters! Jill's development especially.
Overall, I'd say Cate was my favorite character and Gareth was an amazing addition to their squad.
I would definitely love a sequel series where all four of them help the detective monster hunt.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tragic endings.

Black and white artwork ,featuring blank faces. Reads American style. Good English. The finale of a good trilogy. Pretty big body count with little official involvement.

[Erin Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This last graphic novel just didn't seem as good as the previous two. I twas good but I felt it should have been better. Overall I did like the series. It was good and short but had a decent story. Would recommend for a quick and mildly entertaining read.

[Andy Febrico Bintoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Free series on kindle

The last volume. Its a short series, the story rather complicated, maybe seems ordinary and many things hardly to happened in the real life, but for a free series this is rather good.

[Courtney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeah, no.

This was actually quite awful. So boring. I had to force myself to finish it. The first two books were really interesting and good reads, this one was the complete opposite

[raphaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than twilight

This may not be a perfect vampire story but it makes sensible rules and follows them. The romance is also pretty nice

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked it, would definitely read again. I usually can’t stand vampire stories but this one was acceptable.

[Kaysie · Rating 3 out of 5]

That ending left me pleasantly surprised. Overall, if was a pretty interesting series.

[Dulce Zaragoza Belman · Rating 1 out of 5]

el desenlace, la batalla. No evoca nada al drácula de bram stoker. Inicia bastante bien y termina meh.. Las ilustraciones si muy lindas

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have reservations about the epilogue. It was sudden and needed more explanation. The epilogue ended far too abruptly and was too short to be satisfying.

[Haaley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this series. I didn't really like the ending though. It seemed like they were in a rush to end it and made it quick and simple.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing groundbreaking here, but a quick read with lovely artwork.