Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Tales

From the opening sentence, this book had me in a chokehold. It was an amazing and spooky experience full of foreboding and dread. The gothic atmosphere also helped to create the ideal backdrop for this sinister tale.

The characters are dynamic and well-developed. And I really appreciated the sense of found family and love they had towards one another. My favorite character by far was Van Helsing he was the one who set the wheels into motion with his wisdom and quick thinking. The group wouldn't have gone far without his input.

I loved all the vampire lore that was in this book and how villainous Dracula was. The description of him smelling like decay and having long fingernails with a pale appearance was so ghastly. Quite different from the modern-day vampires we've romanticized and lust after.

And the pacing came full circle. We started with a rather shocking beginning as Jonathan Harker traveled to Transylvania to meet Count Dracula and the hellish discoveries that were made during his stay. Then we transition to a slower pace as we witness the unfolding of Dracula's diabolical plan to overtake London for his devilish enterprise.

Towards the end, the pace picks up again as the characters race to meet Dracula for the final showdown. Even though the story slowed considerably in the middle the mysterious circumstances that occurred were enough to keep me entranced.

While I'm still kicking myself that I haven't read this classic masterpiece sooner I'm glad that I chose it now. It was the perfect read to kickstart the spooky season. A must-read for those that love vampires.

Check out my full review on my blog: https://www.kathleenhaagenson.com/dracula-by-bram-stoker/

I never had much interest in reading Dracula until I read Frankenstein earlier this year. Much like my experience with that book, I was braced for campiness rather than genuine source material. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I ended up enjoying it.    Told from multiple POVs as well as multiple writing mediums, the story conveys the terrors caused by Count Dracula. A large portion of the book focuses on his victim Lucy and the efforts to keep her out of Dracula's clutches. The rest is dedicated to the study of the count and the pursuit to put an end to him altogether.    The different writing styles threw me off in the beginning. I couldn't latch on to the story until it came to scenes with Mina and Lucy. For me, that's when the story began. Before then I struggled to discern who each of the characters were. I could differentiate Lucy and Mina right away but the men took much longer.    I enjoyed the gothic atmosphere the most. I can't do modern horror, but I'm finding that I have an interest in some of these classics. It's also interesting to see the original characters who have since become commonplace in media and more often than not spoofed and made comical. 

Love the manner it's written in. Took some time to get used to it but it was a great exprience reading it and I had a good time.

This was the most boring thing I've ever forced myself to finish, and had it not be an audiobook I dont think I would've managed. I appreciate the vampire mythology and was interested to ponder on how it's changed over the years.

Van Helsing is such an overrated character.

The overall story of this book is actually really good, probably 4 stars, maybe even 4.5 stars. 
But!
It is sooo. daaaamn. looooooong.
Like, it's just too long, and would have benefited greatly by decreasing it by at least 50 pages. AT LEAST. 
So yeah. That knocked off a star or so because it was simply too long. 
Otherwise, I really really enjoyed it!

Ok, I don't want to shit on a classic and maybe reading Dracula was fun and interesting back in the day but for me, now, it was so, very, deadfully boring.