Dracula (A Graphic Novel Audio): Illustrated Classics

Written by Bram Stoker

Narrated by Saddleback Educational Publishing

Dracula opens the door to the unknown. Do all superstitions have a basis in reality, or are they just folklore? Bram Stoker's Dracula is one of the most feared and most loved tales in literature. From Transylvania to London, the reader explores the dark side of mystery and intrigue riding on the coattails of Dracula's cape, changing from wolf to bat, and living on in the nighttime. Do vampires really exist? Read Dracula and decide for yourself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Saddleback Educational Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2006
• ISBN: 9781612474403

Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker was an Irish author of nearly twenty novels, best known for his gothic horror novel Dracula. Educated at Trinity College in Dublin, he joined the Civil Service before becoming the personal assistant of Henry Irving and manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London.

Reviews for Dracula (A Graphic Novel Audio)

[finxy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm not going to add my review to the millions of previous reviews but I will say I thoroughly enjoyed it yet again. The last time I read this I was staying at an old schoolhouse (rented and now sadly converted into a hotel) at Sandsend a few miles north of Whitby, not far from Mulgrave Woods that Mina & Lucy hike to. I was going to finish the book on my last day there, which I'd planned to do from the cliff tops overlooking the harbour mouth and the final doomed course of the Demeter, near the Abbey and the graveyards (during the day of course) but the weather turned stormy and I had to complete it indoors.

[anagarika · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Twisted. A wonderful classic.

[homechicken · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Having not read a lot of “classics”, I decided to embark on the reading of this book before diving in to Saberhagen’s The Dracula Tape, which I have come to understand is heavily based on Bram Stoker’s classic novel.This book was a good read, and in the true classic style of horror left much more to your imagination than current “horror” authors ever do. The only thing that got on my nerve, and that only toward the end of the book, was Van Helsing’s poor English—I’d like to run through all his journal entries and run ’s/have/has/g’ on them. That got so annoying toward the end that I would read it correctly in my mind and ignore what Stoker wrote.All in all, though, there are reasons this book is a classic. A good plot, well-written characters, and a moving story all contribute to its enjoyability. I would strongly recommend reading this before Fred Saberhagen’s The Dracula Tape.

[dragonimp · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reading this is like stepping back in time, both because of the setting of the story and because of the style and pace of the writing. It is a story of suspense, but told in a much quieter, calmer fashion than modern horror stories.Dracula is told as a series of journal entries, which takes some suspension of disbelief beyond the acceptance of vampires. Although the journals belong to several different characters, there is little noticeable difference in "voice," and the level of detail in meticulous and exact. The pace is often slow, but the story is complelling and intriguing, and well worth the read, if only for the historical significance.

[sharonmariabidwell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A re-read of a classic I’ve not touched for many years. A book of this type will always receive mixed reviews. A classic, by definition, is always a book of its time and will jar for a modern reader. Especially for a modern reader who has not read classic literature for most of their life. My childhood books included novels such as Tom Sawyer and Treasure Island so I have no problem with reading this. At such times when Dickens was popular, writers were paid by the word so if any such novels feel padded there’s a reason. This book does feel overlong, and if written/edited now would be much shorter. I’d particularly forgotten the peculiar way Van Helsing speaks which I read with a blend of irritation and amusing pleasure. In the 21st century the book has many faults, much of it reading like Victorian melodrama, and is far from horrifying, but in 1897 Dracula would have been petrifying. It’s almost impossible to review a book of this type so it’s important to understand how this novel was pivotal.Though Stoker did not invent the vampire myth or write the first well-known story, he wrote the crucial novel, bringing us a vampire who would popularise the genre and creating a legend. Like the writing or not this book deserves its pedestal. Stoker touched on the darkest fears, not only of the time, but at the heart of terror, a creature capable of overtaking the human mind, of seducing, of changing shape and appearance, of ‘infiltrating’ the home, the heart, the marriage bond. Horror novels often reflect societal fears of the moment, and Dracula is no different though many of the same fears exist more than a century later. Stoker also puts into the mind unforgettable images — a wild country of superstition, Dracula’s towering castle, Harker’s slow realisation he’s a prisoner, Dracula’s vertical crawl, his intention to take over London, the crazed incredible Renfield, Dr Seward’s asylum. And, perhaps, for women today, the book represents the ultimate equality statement. Lucy and Mina’s story both begin with them represented as something beautiful and fragile, ‘creatures’ who can do nothing without their men and who require protection. The book ends with a gun in Mina’s hand. She has become a far different woman from the shy girl who did nothing more than look forward to a life of marriage. She wishes to protect Jonathan as much as he longs to protect her, perhaps placing Stoker as a realist and/or ahead of his time. Still, there are moments that sit uneasy with me, the worst of which is the historical error that anyone can provide a transfusion without blood-matching, a fact not discovered at the time but which cannot help making even this modern reader wince.

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book! The two frustrating parts were the denseness of the heroes (it would have been a shorter book if they had not been dull), and the fact that God himself seemed to have no power, only the symbols of faith. The characters prayed wholeheartedly and called out to God to little or no avail, but the crucifix, water, garlic and wild roses were what saved the day. Oh well, at least evil was wholly evil (though it was so evil it had power over one's soul, which we know is not so), and the people knew they were in God's hands for their success. This was a very creepy book with compelling characters and action. Much better than any of the movies. Fun.

[towo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well, the classic vampire story. Dracula as the charming, plotting, intelligent fellow who almost manages to invade England.And, in contrast to the movies, the characters aren't as supersized. Decent fiction.

[themythbookshelf · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Reading Dracula for the first time this summer, I was coming face to face with a sensational classic of the Gothic horror genre. Popular media has ruthlessly tampered with the image of supernatural creatures to the point where there has been a major severing between the original images of Dracula, zombies and Frankenstein’s monster, and their recent adaptations in films, literature and comics. For this reason, it was a pleasure to read of Dracula in its original form – his traits such as his shape-shifting ability and genealogical history colored him in a manner much more intimate than I had imagined. The novel’s narration rests in the hands of multiple people, beginning with Jonathan Harker, a young man who is sent to Dracula’s castle in Transylvania (in northwestern Romania) as a real estate agent. It is Harker who first discovers the supernatural behavior of Dracula soon after he becomes imprisoned in the castle. Correspondence between him and his wife Mina eventually introduces more character, and a death soon demands that Harker and his friends investigate into the mysterious fang-like markings left on the person’s neck.Dracula is a respectably long read – fortunately, it is the abundance of dialogues that pulls the story along. Nevertheless, the lack of development in Dracula’s character was a grand disappointment to me. I suppose I was expecting something similar to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which was a mistake on my part – once you read a masterpiece like that, it’s hard to recover!Of course, this novel is a product of its time – the values embedded in Victorian culture at the turn of the nineteenth century are freely reflected in Dracula, especially those concerning women, and the purity, naiveté, and nurturing values they were expected to uphold. The lustfulness that overtakes female figures attacked by Dracula is a fascinating and endless source of study, though unfortunately there is not enough space to fully deconstruct them in this review.In essence, Dracula stands as a memorable piece of Gothic horror literature, and it naturally calls upon the reader to discuss and deconstruct it in full detail, but as a reading experience it offers nothing short of the ordinary. It’s a classic, so my recommendation is to read it for that reason.

[rebecca8jane · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was way better than I expected it to be. It started fairly quickly, I fell right into the plot within the first few pages. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[peleluna · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow...I'm ashamed to say I'm the vampire fan who has neglected this classic. The darkness of the psyche, impact of new technology on society, and a strong feminine character (the pistol wielding Mina!)...the themes are all the more universal! While not the first to perpetuate the vampire myth Stoker will always be the gold standard!

[ghr4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is a gripping and truly scary horror classic. A sense of impending doom and encroaching terror pervades the novel. It's a wonderful page-turner most of the way, but the final third bogs down. Written in 1897, the book often seems surprisingly modern, yet there are also sections (primarily that final third) that are stilted and decidedly in the overwrought and verbose Victorian style.

[bwhitner-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found this to be interesting even captivating at times. Well written for an older book.

[squeakychu · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Vampires and classic novels are not my thing. The odd part of this equation is that I just finished reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula and loved it! Epistolary novels, in this case a novel told in diary and journal entries, don’t thrill me too much either. What was it then that grabbed me right from the start and wouldn’t let go?Perhaps I was just in the right mood, since I’d just finished another novel that put me in gear for something mysterious. Maybe it was that this book had been recommended to me a while back after I had read The Historian. Whatever it was, this book was the right choice at the right time. This is the story, not of Dracula, but of Jonathan Harker and his girl-friend Mina. Jonathan is a solicitor (lawyer) who was sent by his boss to the home of Count Dracula to complete a real estate transaction for a property in England. Jonathan travels alone to the castle of the Count in Transylvania, discovers that all is not right in the home of his host, and ends up imprisoned within the castle. Meanwhile, back in England, Mina becomes worried when Jonathan does not return.The pacing of this book is phenomenal. It’s not scary or gory or anything that I’d imagine a Dracula story to be. It’s a well thought out mystery that pulls into play much Dracula lore that is still used in literature and other media today. This is not a particularly easy read. It is detailed and moves from the writing of one person to the next. The story takes place through the narratives of its various characters. One of these, a psychiatrist from the Netherlands who comes to England to help resolve problems that have developed, speaks a broken English. Throughout the book, I was careful to read very slowly what this Dr. Van Helsing had to say. I didn’t want to miss any of his expertise. For my careful reading, I was richly rewarded. I could not guess the outcome of this story even when I was within a few pages of its end. This was an entirely satisfying read. Now, for the first time ever, I can say that I’ve enjoyed a classic novel about a vampire. How unlike me!

[aethercowboy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dracula, the novel by Bram Stoker, is about as iconic a vampire book as the eponymous count is an iconic vampire. Never before have I read this book, for whatever reason, until recently. While I was imagining the epistemological nature of the book would be offputting, I found that it worked extremely well.Each chapter is made up of excerpts from diaries, letters, and even news articles focused on events surrounding a small group of people united by the untimely demise of a near friend. They learn of this Count Dracula individual, who they determine is a vampire, and then the seek to vanquish him.If you have read and enjoyed any other vampire book, I certainly hope you’ve read this one first. And if you haven’t, you simply must. If you’re not a vampire fan, you might enjoy this book for its cultural significance, or even for its language. Stoker has pieced together a book that reads fairly well in the present day, and he manages to capture several different unique voices.The book itself is tame enough for the squeamish, and good enough for even the most jaded reader of vampire books. In the end, if you haven’t read it, you should add it to your queue.

[musicmom41 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I’m not sure how to “label” this book. It doesn’t fit “mystery” and I have no other sub-category for fiction—which is probably as well. Would this be a “classic?” I think so, even though the quality of writing doesn’t come close to Dickens or Austen. But it is ripping good story, not nearly as gory as I had feared it would be, with a B movie “western” chase at the end. How could you not love it! It also has quite a lot of religious overtones and some mawkish scenes that seem to be part of this genre in the 19th Century--(Woman in White had similar type of scenes). On the whole, I was delightfully surprised at how much I enjoyed it considering I have spent most of my adult life avoiding Dracula stories of any kind.. I read it now because so many people wanted me to read The Historian and i felt I should read "the original" 1st. This one was the better book!

[imnotsatan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I have the Barnes and Noble edition with illustrations by Edward Gorey, which is worth picking up even if you have a copy already. The illustrations are definitely my favorite thing about the book.Dracula's difficult to review, because it is well written, and it is creepy, but it pales next to modern horror. In a certain light, it's thanks to Dracula that these modern books can be so scary, because Stoker was leading the charge. It is still genuinely scary in places, though.

[jen7waters · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

My prior knowledge about this book was limited. The only thing I knew for sure was the existence of that vile and demonic character, generator of all the evil in the world, blood sucker, figure in black and red eyes, the resident of a castle with pointed towers permanently shrouded in fog, somewhere in the heights of Transylvania, the one and only, Count Dracula. Now 432 pages of successive reports, excerpts from diaries and newspapers, letters, telegrams, and memos, all written, typed, sent, cutted and pasted, exchanged between Harker, Mina, Dr. Seward, Van Helsing, Lucy, Arthur and Quincey Morris, know all the terrifying truth. And that left something (say, a lot) to be desired. Through this style of narrative -report/diary tone-, Stoker shows the depth of the characters, their beliefs, fears, expectations, anxieties, etc., which in more dynamic scenes reported from some narrators (Dr. Seward is my favourite) worked quite well, sometimes even with a comic tone to it, however, the same style, in certain occasions turned the text into a tediously descriptive and repetitive monologue... as expected, these moments became anti-climatic, and that is one of those things that usually leads me to put back a book in the shelf without finishing it, but my optimistic spirit (and crush on Dr. Seward) made me believe the author was saving everything, everything, everything to the final confrontation between the unexpected heroes and the vile creature. Wrong. In the end what continuously echoed in my head was “was that all?” Nevertheless, I give it 3 stars.

[cyderry · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have a hard time with classics, I don't like books with vampires, so why then did I enjoy the 1897 classic novel about the vampire to top all vampires, Count Dracula? I won't go into the plot, I'm sure that there are many descriptions that are far better than I could write, but I will try to explain my feelings about this book.First, I have to say that I've never watched the movie so I had no idea of the tale that would be related, so I was enveloped into the story at the very beginning, travelling through what is described as a beautiful land but with residents that are frightened of something, but no idea what.The story was captivating, how this group came together to defeat this evil creature and save the lives of women and children that were threatened. However, the characters were, IMO, a little two dimensional and the style was a little difficult to follow in a few areas, but overall, I liked the story being told in their diaries and letters. At the time of the original publication, I would imagine that Victorian England was scandalized by the behavior of Dracula and his victims, because even though there may have been discussions of folklore related to vampires, I doubt there were few books telling the tales.So for me this classic was a winner. But don't think that I will be searching or reading more vampire literature, I think I've had made fill.

[miaandpatrick · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A classic. I'm usually more of a movie buff, but with this one I'd say read the original.

[lgandt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Much better than any of the films, no matter how good some of those are, this is the best version.*Update* I do wish someone sometime would give this book its do justice and make a decent film adaptation. Some are close but still lack so much.

[tvnerd95 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was absolutely captivated by this story from the very beginning and the characters are so well described that I couldn’t stop reading.

The cinema was my only exposure to this story before now and what can I say but the cinema destroyed these fascinating characters by either sidelining them, not including them or over sexualizing them for the entertainment value. Lucy and Mina are two of the strongest female characters that I have ever seen in literature and their friendship is wonderful. The gentlemen in this story are very courageous and it is amazing how determined they were to see Dracula destroyed because it was the right thing to do and not for revenge.

My only con is there are times that the author gets a little wordy with some of his side stories and conversations that I almost wanted to skip some of it.

This is a great performance to listen to. All the actors not only had to act out their main part but also any of the other characters when the story was being told from the journal writer’s point of view. The actors did a great job of maintaining each characters personalities and subtleties no matter which actor was speaking for the character. It is exceptionally well done.

[edgeworth_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Dracula is (as I’m sure you know) a classic work of horror fiction from the 19th century which, while it didn’t invent the concept of the vampire, certainly modernised it and turned it into the contemporary horror trope we’re all so thoroughly sick of today. I must have read an abridged version of it in my youth, because I remembered most of the major plot points. I think it must have been an illustrated version; I distinctly remember the image of Dracula holding Mina Harker’s wrists together with one hand at her bed, and also a vague image of Van Helsing looking heroic at sunset at the novel’s climax (or anticlimax, as I found this time around).The funny thing about a novel like Dracula is that while it’s a classic today – and is therefore assumed, by people who haven’t read it, to be a great work of literature – Bram Stoker was actually a pop culture writer akin to Arthur Conan Doyle. Which is not to say that his books (or Doyle’s) were bad – merely that they were neither intended to be, nor considered to be, brilliant literature, just an enjoyable way to pass the time.Dracula begins with English solicitor Jonathan Harker travelling to Transylvania to assist the titular count with his purchase of an estate on the outskirts of London. The first 60 or so pages of the novel, which comprise of Harker’s journal while he is staying at the Count’s castle, are excellent. Stoker develops a deep and foreboding sense of dread as Harker gradually realises that he is a prisoner, becoming more and more desperate as he realises that Dracula knows he knows, and doesn’t seem to care, and eventually intends to kill him. (Mind you, it makes little sense for the plot – if Dracula’s intention is to secure a place for himself amongst London’s “teeming millions,” why arouse suspicion before even moving there by summoning your lawyer’s right-hand man and then killing him?)After the end of this segment, unfortunately, the focus shifts back to England. There is a brief section comprising a ship captain’s journal and a newspaper report from Whitby detailing the night that Dracula’s vessel comes ashore, all of which is excellent. Following this, however, Dracula enters literary doldrums from which it never recovers. Lucy Westenra, a friend of Harker’s fiancee Mina, is chosen by Dracula as a victim, and her long, weak decline into vampirism is drawn out and tedious. After Lucy, the process is again repeated with Mina. This part of the novel also introduces the insufferable Professor Van Helsing – a verbose, waffling Dutchman who wises up to what’s going on and leads the fight against Dracula, always explaining what’s going on with far more words than necessary, none of which is made any easier by Stoker’s stilted method of expressing Van Helsing’s Dutch accent. See:“I admit that at the first I was sceptic. Were it not that through long years I have trained myself to keep an open mind, I could not have believed until such time as that fact thunder on my ear. ‘See! See! I prove, I prove.’ Alas! Had I known at first what now I know, nay, had I even guess at him, one so precious life had been spared to so many of us who did love her. But that is gone, and we must so work, that other poor souls perish not, whilst we can save.”Et cetera. Van Helsing has far more dialogue than any other character in the novel, and his imperfect English is grating to read. And after these boring 200 pages at the centre of the book, it seems to promise to pick up again towards the end as the characters chase Dracula back into Eastern Europe, only to finish on a curiously underwhelming note as two of them kick his coffin out of a wagon and cut his head off while he sleeps. One of them is killed by gypsies in the process, but since he had no character attributes other than “is American,” I can’t say it was one of literature’s more heart-wrenching deaths.That’s also, incidentally, another clumsy running theme throughout the novel – Stoker continually violates the show-don’t-tell rule in his attempt to pluck at the reader’s heartstrings. The characters are constantly crying and holding each other’s hands and talking about what good, strong, brave people their friends are, and what a great pact of friendship they’re making, and so on. Meanwhile the reader is counting how many pages left until he can be rid of their company.I can’t recommend Dracula; it may be a classic, but despite a few strong sections it’s not a good book. Simply because a novel is old and enduring and spawned an entire subgenre of horror fiction doesn’t mean it has great literary merit or is even, by modern standards, the easily readable popular fiction it was originally meant to be.

[janemarieprice · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Generally I enjoyed [Dracula]. It had a sort of action adventure quality while maintaining the dark and moody tone. Each characters letters and journals were usually distinct, although at times some of the denser material read like standard prose. I could not bring myself to like Mina. I found her insufferable and boring most of the time and a ‘product of her time’ at the best.

[exlibrisbitsy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The book Dracula is nothing like any of the movies or TV shows that try to depict him. There are no capes, unnaturally pointed faces or strangely coiffed hair, and no one ever says, “I vant to suck your blood!” Dracula is actually a fairly handsome gentleman with good manners (to a point) that does everything he can to appear as a normal human being: fashionable mode of dress, normal hair, polite conversation and if he is a little pale and his teeth just the slightly bit pointed, what of it? His good manners extend even to the point of entertaining his guests with jokes and stories that keep them laughing and listening well into the small hours of the morning. To his advantage.If you take everything you ever heard or have seen about Dracula from modern media and toss it aside, the book Dracula is actually a fairly creepy tome in it’s own right, and with it’s own unique nature actually can be construed as even scarier. The best of the technology they had on hand seemed to do nothing to stop him and old wives tales and primitive treatments were their only protection in a war that no respectable person would have believed they were fighting. The insane that did believe them had their own ends for their belief, and I believe the lunatic in the novel was one of the freakiest literary characters I’ve ever come across, Dracula and his brides not withstanding. This was one of the original horror novels, upon which all others are today based.One of the things I found frustrating about the novel was the amount of sexism in it. It was accurate and fully expected of the times, but the number of times they discounted or tried to protect women (and only managed to succeed in getting them killed or worse) drove me up a wall. The women were not helpless by any stretch of the imagination and, in their enforced cluelessness, managed to prove that by causing a whole lot of trouble that could have easily been prevented had they known what was going on. When they were clued in they proved invaluable assets in the ongoing struggle, but only at the end of all things, and only as an extreme last resort were they permitted to do so.If you enjoy some well written classic horror, then I recommend reading Dracula, with the caveat that you should keep in mind the era it was written in and be prepared to deal with the strictures placed on society back then, and the influence that will have on the story.

[sealford_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to become the bride of Dracula. There is something about vampires that is completely and utterly romantic. Maybe it is the way the moonlight hits their fangs, revealing the sweet sanguine from their latest kill, I'm not really sure. Each time that I read "Dracula," I remember when I feel in love with the story and the character, and this books is just as much a bittersweet love story as it is horrific.

[andreablythe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The writing's not always great and the heroes are rather flat, but Stoker gets tons of kudos for creating a rudely iconic vampire. I was surprised by how readable this was and once the characters finally pulled together and went on the hunt, the story was thrilling. One thing I thought interesting was that this seemed to be the birth of the monster fighting team (maybe, I don't know what earlier stories there might have been), in which a group of disparate people come together to fight what goes bump in the night. This kind of group is typically four or five and has to keep their deeds secret (think Buffy the Vampire Slayer), which causes it's own logistical and financial challenges. While Dracula ends with everyone settled and into domestic bliss, I could just as easily see the group carrying on the battle, seaking out new monsters to destroy.

[ctfrench · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Young London lawyer Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to conduct business with Count Dracula, a mysterious and very sinister-looking man who reveals himself only at night. When their business is finished, Dracula seems intent on keeping Harker in Transvlvania while he travels to England. Harker soon figures out Dracula is not just an ordinary man but a vampire and manages to escape only to suffer a mental breakdown, delaying his marriage to Mina, a woman Dracula becomes fixated on. To the rescue comes Van Helsing, a doctor who knows about vampires and how to kill them. But their efforts to find Dracula are hampered by the fact that Dracula has Mina under his power and is able to stay at least one step ahead of them as he flees back to Transylvania.This classic is written in an interesting style with the plot relayed through diary and journal entries of the people surrounding Van Helsing. Readers might find it interesting that Stoker based Dracula on Vlad the Impaler, a Romanian ruler during the mid 15th century known for his cruel impalements of men, women and children. The plot lags at times, especially during lengthy discourses by Van Helsing, but it's an interesting look into the period (late 19th century) and the mindsets and interactions of men and women of that time. The story is at times thrilling and suspenseful and Dracula a most evil character.

[helena81_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book a lot, although as usual with epistolary novels there was some odd moments as characters are forced to over-explain their actions. Overall, very enjoyable, lots of twists and turns and engaging characters.

[jgolomb_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's Gothic, intricate, romantic, tragic, fun and surprising. I haven't read Stoker's original "Dracula" in about 20 years and most of the details I'd either forgotten or had been smudged, smeared, and overwritten by a lifetime of modern vampire stories and myths."Dracula" is set in the late 19th century and is presented through a series of letters, memos and recordings between numerous characters who, through no fault of their own, become entangled in Dracula's plot to move away from his rapidly dwindling (and more "vampire-aware") food supply in Romania to the hip and crowded urban living in London.Stoker's mythology around Vampires had a few surprises (to me, at least...apologies in advance if any of these are common knowledge to Stephanie Meyers lovers...). Vampires only lose their powers during the day. They don't burn up or anything in the daylight...they just can't morph into animals, use superhuman strength, etc. Vampires can't turn into anything fancy when they're over water...which was a convenient plot point revolving around Dracula's travels to and from London via boat. Also, Stoker describes Dracula as having a long thin moustache...so I can't help imagining a fu manchu.Van Helsing comes across as a Victorian age vampire-fighting Yoda. Stoker may have been writing Van Helsing's backward-talking soliloquies to be delivered with a Danish accent, but perhaps the Stoker estate should have a chat with Lucasfilms...Harker's wife Mina is a central figure throughout the book - initially only as the target of Jonathan's letters from Transylvania, and eventually as a key figure in the hunt for the Count. Her passion and love for hubby Jonathan is both melodramatic and touching. One can't help but feel a very Victorian-England vibe in their relationship.I thoroughly enjoyed the Stoker original. He does a masterful job connecting the plot dots through diaries and correspondence. Even by today's standards, I find his approach very fresh. The first quarter of the story takes place in Romania and Dracula's castle, and Stoker is at his best in his exposition of place and in setting the weighty and Gothic tone of Dracula in his environs. The image of the Count crawling down the outer walls of his castle, while Jonathan Harker watches from above, is burned into my mind.

[bookbug105 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good book but hard to get through. it took me about 1 1/2 months