Dracula starts as a brilliant novel. It is a real page turner, it is wonderfully horrific and haunting. It is presented through journal entries from a number of characters and so this was interesting in its reveals and tensions, and also made it easy to read. Its meditations on Romanticism and the Enlightenment, Victorian society and tradition were thought provoking. The first half is particularly delightful. The middle is interesting enough. And then it takes a nose dive about 3/4’s of the way through, straight down the winding toilet of dull and tedious. I actually stopped reading this for a few months as the allure of starting a new novel was too overpowering against the dreary and snail pace marathon Dracula was taking to reach its final end. Truly, the last 100 pages are such a bore, and it makes writing this review very difficult. Bram Stoker, I’m so disappointed in you. I loved you so much until the end. It is clear Stoker had no clue how to end Dracula and as a result he meanders and waffles and avoids his way to the end. I haven’t seen any film adaptions yet but I have heard that they are nothing like the novel. Yeah well, I can see why now. Should you read this? Absolutely! It’s a classic, it’s iconic and it’s fun (until the end). I still give it 4 stars though, because, come on, it’s Dracula and I’ll still recommend it.

Having never seen the film I didn't really know the story of Dracula (the film is vastly different I have now discovered!) so went into this with a very open mind. Having been written so long ago I found it quite hard to grasp the language and how it was used but got to grips with it eventually; the story is written in the form of diary entries and letters from the different characters, this gives it a very personal feel which I enjoyed. There are some part which I found uncomfortable to read (flies, spiders...if you know you know!) but I think these are important to the story as they help contribute to the feeling of unease and that something unnatural is happening. Taking into consideration the time in which it was written there is a fair amount of sexism which at times I found frustrating but all in all I did really enjoy reading it and I'm glad I can tick it off my list!

The true original, where it all started and a phenomenon that spawned a generation and more of copy cat stories and movies. Yes of course it is off its age, and the descriptive prose/language can take a short time and a little concentration to adjust to....but persevere and you will be rewarded with an exciting introduction to Nosferatu, the Un-Dead, and in particular the evil of Count Dracula. Not only did Bram Stoker write an exciting adventure full of horror but the characters were colourful/strong and the descriptive eerie atmosphere added a wonderful mood and sense of doom to a highly charged story..... "How sweet it was to see the clouds race by, and the passing gleams of the moonlight between the scudding clouds crossing and passing-like the gladness and sorrow of a man's life; how sweet it was to breathe the fresh air, that had no taint of death and decay." "Never did tombs look so ghastly white; never did cypress, or yew, or juniper so seem the embodiment of funereal gloom; never did tree or grass wave or rustle so ominously; never did bough creak so mysteriously; and never did the far-away howling of dogs send such a woeful presage through the night." "The mist grew thicker and I could see now how it came in, for I could see it like smoke-or with the white energy of boiling water-pouring in, not through the window, but through the joinings of the door." In particular the characters of Mina and Van Helsing proved a joy for the reader to encounter and behold. Jonathan Harker's beautiful and intelligent bride Mina with her delicate pale femininity and the almost swash buckling elder professor and Vampire Hunter Van Helsing who positively jumps out of the pages with his vitality and passion as he searches out and races against time to rid the world of the evil Dracula. The excitement and action traverse the UK and Europe culminating in a classic showdown at the Counts evil lair....Castle Dracula. So forget True Blood and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and just try to understand how it all started and what a great debt we owe to the creator of this pure evil!

The story begins with Jonathan Harker, a young solicitor who visits Transylvania to assist Count Dracula with buying a house in London. It doesn't take too long however for Jonathan to realise that something about this new 'client' of his is amiss... Writing down his thoughts in multiple diary entries, Jonathan soon notes that rather than him being a welcomed guest in the castle, he is in fact a prisoner... Matters only get more bizarre and sinister when an unmanned ship then appears off the coast of Whitby. When Lucy Westenra, a dear friend of Mina Harker, has strange puncture wounds appear on her neck, it's down to a group of unlikely heroes led by Van Helsing to try and bring a stop to it all...

Lovely book and beautifully bound but it’s not illustrated. A bit disappointed.