Dracul

by Dacre Stoker & J.D. Barker
493 pgs

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed reading Dracul, Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker's prequel to the iconic book Dracula., written by Dacre's great-granduncle Bram Stoker. But before I say anything about the story, I think it's worth mentioning that the backstory of how the book came to be, which is outlined in the Authors' Note at the end, is fascinating and should not be neglected. It adds significantly to the story and explains ho anyone could have the audacity to try to add anything to Uncle Stoker's tale.

The backstory outlines Stoker and Barker's research of Dracula, which included the discovery of a lost journal of Bram Stoker's and the rare opportunity to review the book's original annotated manuscript. The manuscript interestingly begins on page 102, a fact Stoker and Barker deftly use in explaining the origins of their prequel. The story they were able to piece together from the journal and the notes is a great addition to the book and the vampire genre in general.

In the story, Bram Stoker himself plays the role of one of the main characters, and it begins in 1868, with a then 21-year old Bram hiding in the tower of a castle one night trying to ward off Dracul with nothing but holy water and some crucifixes. He's frantically trying to write down and record the events of his life, which led to this point, hoping that even if he dies, or something worse, his story will have a chance to be told.

From there the story goes back in time to Bram's early childhood and the mysterious woman named Ellen Crone who tended to him and his sister Matilda. Ellen took particular care of young Bram, who from birth had been a sickly child who spent almost all of his early childhood confined to his bed. IT wasn't until Ellen arrived and mysteriously healed him that he was able to begin living a full life. Ellen mysteriously disappeared from their lives ad Matilda made it her life's mission to find out what Ellen did to change Bram like she did.

Numerous times in her search for Ellen over the years, she would catch a fleeting glimpse of a woman in a crowd she was sure was Ellen because she looked like she hadn't aged a day since she left, but as soon as she was seen, she'd disappear again.

The story sunk its teeth into me (sorry, I tried to resist) and didn't let go. It's a vampire story that stays truer to the original character than probably any of the hundreds of other vampires stories that it inspired, and it's well worth the time it takes to read it.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Dracula the Un-Dead

Dracula the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker & Ian Holt

It takes a lot of guts (and maybe little brains) to write a sequel to a book that's considered to be a classic by most, especially when you weren't the author of that book. It's not the same thing as taking the idea of vampires and writing your own version of the myth, like so many have done with varying degrees of success. One author in particular has made millions of dollars from her books, achieving the type of financial success that Stoker could never have dreamed of, which I believe is an insult to fine literature. Dacre Stoker, the great-grand nephew of Bram, and Ian Holt, if nothing else, show they have a lot of guts by writing a true sequel to Dracula, which means bringing the original vampire back again.

I bought the book back in 2009 when it came out, primarily out of a sense of curiosity due to the name "Stoker" on the cover. But it stayed low on my to-be-read pile because it seemed unlikely that it would be very good. Most people have read Bram Stoker's book and know how it ends, Dracula is killed by Van Helsing, Dr. Jack Seward, Jonathan Harker, and crew. So how plausible could his return be? Ultimately I decided to finally read it because it's Halloween time and I wanted an appropriate read for the holiday. I was pleasantly surprised.

Twenty-five years have passed since the events of Dracula, and those who were involved in its events have tried to move on with their lives, none very successfully however. Jonathan and Mina Harker are married and have a grown son Quincey. But Jonathan has never been able to look past Mina's relationship with Dracula, and is reminded of it daily due to the perpetual youth it has given her. Their marriage is devoid of happiness and Jonathan's subsequent drinking problem has alienated him from his son who has moved to London to pursue acting at the Lyceum Theatre, owned by Bram Stoker. Fittingly the theatre is preparing to debut the play Dracula, based on Stoker's book, but the death of the lead actor threatens to end its run before it ever gets started. Soon, those who hunted down Dracula begin to turn up brutally murdered, and the rest begin to realize that they may not have been as successful as they had thought for so many years.

Ultimately I enjoyed this book. While it wasn't written in the same format as Dracula, with varying sources for its narration, the book still manages to capture the same tone and feel that the original had; which I think is part of the reason it's stood the test of time. It's not going to join Dracula in the classic literature section of the bookstore, but I think it's a worthwhile read. The authors gave additional depth to all of the characters.

I came across an interview with Ian Holt in which he mentioned that they're working on a prequel to Dracula now. I'll be reading that when it's published.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆