Dracula The Un-Dead
Selected Book Details
- Hardcover
- Edition: 1
- Author: Dacre Stoker, Ian Holt
- Publisher: Dutton Adult
- Release Date: October 2009
- ISBN-10: 0525951296
- ISBN-13: 9780525951292
- List Price: $26.95
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryAt last--the sequel to Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula, written by his direct descendant and a Dracula historian |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Disappointing sequel
Rating:
I was really excited to read this book because I love the original Dracula novel. Unfortunately, this book does not live up to its predecessor. The authors state in their notes at the end of the book that they made some of the changes they made to appeal to fans of the film who have never read the book. This was reinforced by the fact that Ian Holt originally conceived of the book as a screenplay. While I might have been more forgiving of some of these changes in a movie sequel, I was frustrated by them in a book sequel. I wanted a sequel that told a new and exciting story but stayed true to the spirit of the original. Instead, I got a sensationalistic, slightly sex-obsessed "modern" vampire novel using the same character names as Bram Stoker. Its a shame they wasted such a good opportunity.
Don't bother.........
Rating:
Dracula the Undead was a huge disappointment. The writers should have just spit on the original classic- it would have been easier and saved me some money. If you take the 1992 Dracula film, cross it with the Blade films, add a twist stolen straight out Star Wars, you'll have this novel. The writing is that of a science fiction B movie. If you want to read a really great vampire novel, read Steven Koontz's Last Rites of the Vampire and skip Dracula the Undead.
This terrible, toothless book must have Bram Stoker rolling over in his grave!
Rating:
I was excited about this book because it was supposedly written by a descendent of Bram Stoker so I expected a respectful, thoughtful sequel that would be true to the spirt of the original source.
I could not have been more wrong! This book was so awful, so terribly written and had such a ridiculous plot that I could barely even finish it! I must admit I pretty much skimmed the final third - before throwing the horrible thing across the room in disgust.
This book is just awful - it contradicts and even re-writes Stoker. The treatment of the original characters is disrespectful and an insult to Stoker's intent. The writer tries to bring historic characters into the mix throwing in everything from Elisabeth Bathory (who here is a true vampire), Jack the Ripper, even (and I saw this one coming a mile away), The Titanic!
Dacre was obviously influenced by Francis Ford Coppola's film, "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and that could have been a good thing, except that the writer handles plot and character development so ineptly that the whole story falls flat and is anything but sexy. Coppola's version may not have been true to the letter of the original book, but it did retain the original spirit, was a fun adaptation and was intelligently executed on the screen. Of course Coppola played up the love angle between Dracula and Mina, which was NOT in Stoker. But that was Coppola's take on the tale, we've been there and done that now - one expected this book, written by a Stoker, to go back to basics and evoke Stoker's original vision. But no - 'Ol Dacre has to go and handle the whole thing so incompetently that there are not even any entertaining passages, and at no point is the reader truly engaged on any level. It is impossible to feel anything toward the unlikable characters this fool of a writer throws at us.
One thing that really disgusted me was that Dacre perpetuates the silly notion that sunlight is fatal to vampires, a concept not in the original novel, nor in any other vampire fiction or mythology until Hollywood invented the notion! To Coppola's credit, he went back to Bram Stoker on this concept - in his film, the Van Helsing character explains in a voice-over, "contrary to some beliefs, vampires, like all nocturnal creatures, can move about by day, though it is not their natural time and their powers are weak." But 'ol Dacre ignores his grandfather and all vampire mythology and has the vampires bursting into flame in the sunlight! Yawn!
Maybe the silliest aspect to the book, besides the whole Bathory vs. Dracula angle which makes no sense whatsoever, is making Bram Stoker a character alongside his fictional characters. I mean, WTF?! And the author does nothing interesting with this concept at all! That whole subplot is just unbelievably silly and ludicrous! In fact the whole damn book is a sloppy, unfocused, infuriating mess that had me laughing out loud at how ridiculous the author's little twists were as the lame "plot" stumbled along! It was also over the top gory and mean spirited in how it dispatched some of Stoker's original characters.
Avoid this mess at all costs! Will we ever get a worthy sequel to Dracula? It is seeming more and more unlikely! I hated this book - it was a complete waste of money and I regret buying it and supporting this writer and his silly book! Don't make the same mistake!
This is a really bad novel
Rating:
Please do yourself a favor and do not waste your time reading this novel. The writing is at best at the level of a high school writing class.
Excrable!
Rating:
I am generally very reluctant to give a novel a one star review. As a novelist, I know what it takes to sit in a chair, day after day, writing away in the hope that somewhere, there is a readership that find your work worthy of attention. This makes me think long and hard before writing a review that excoriates and condemns another person's efforts with a rating that basically says: this is not worth the paper on which it is printed.
But Messrs. Stoker and Holt have it coming. They have taken Bram Stoker's Dracula, a novel that set a standard for the depiction of supernatural evil with its main character, Count Dracula, and completely debased everyone and everything in that worthy story. The characters of Johnathan and Mina Harker, Dr. Seward, and Abraham Van Helsing are completely gutted and reduced to miserable shells of their former selves in this "sequel." In the hands of Holt and Stoker, these noble heroes of the original are turned into addicts, embittered spouses, and hollow old men, fearful and pitiful relics of the characters who once faced down Dracula.
But, by far and away, the worst assault has been on the character of Count Dracula himself. For all the modern-day sexual allure that vampires frequently exhibit in books, tv, and movies, Dracula himself has succeeded as an archetype of evil because of what he actually is: a dead creature who feeds on, enslaves, and kills the living. The horror engendered by such a creature touches something very primal in our collective subconscious and has made Bram Stoker's Dracula an enduring figure in our storytelling.
In their miserable attempt to turn Dracula into the hero of this story, Mina Harker's "Dark Prince" (gag!), the authors of DRACULA: THE UNDEAD have disemboweled Bram Stoker's original work and stuffed it full of their own rancid imaginings until what remains is virtually unrecognizable. In so doing, they have crushed the heart of the original, something no sequel writer with any respect for his or her source material should ever do.
Do not waste your time with this trash. Read the original. Bram Stoker knew what he was doing, and he did it well.
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