Hello all,
Today lets dive into a book for NetGallery.
Dracula: The Rise of The Beast.
Blurb: Anthology of stories exploring the secret history of the world’s most iconic monster
That the cruel, ambitious monster of Bram Stoker’s most famous novel was once Vlad III Drăcula, Voivode of Wallachia – the Impaler, to his enemies – is known. A warleader in a warlike time: brilliant, charismatic, pious, ferociously devoted to his country. But what came of him? What drove him to become a creature of darkness – an Un-Dead – and what use did he make of this power, through the centuries before his downfall?
Decades after the monster’s death, Jonathan and Mina Harker’s son Quincey pieces together the story: dusty old manuscripts, court reports from the Holy Roman Empire at its height, oral traditions among the Szgany Roma people who once served the monster.
David Thomas Moore, editor of Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets and Monstrous Little Voices, brings together five new and established authors with roots in Central and Eastern Europe to reveal a side to the literary world’s greatest monster never seen before.
What I Expected: A vampire take on history to do with Dracula and those to whom he sired or others that might have learned how to survive with them. I expected to sink into the world of Dracula and feel the great excitement that comes with this sort of book.
What I Got: A series of disjointed stories that didn't really work as well as I had hoped. I started having to read them like they were stand alones which is not what I thought I was getting.
Review: The book has many points of view at the beginning it starts out with part one that is long winded. Sometimes dragging in parts. This made the enjoyment hard at times. There was humor only I wasn't able to get a lot of it. Lots of parts lost me.
Part two tying the story to the countess that was legendary at around the same time as Dracula was interesting and made me feel like the book picked up. There wasn't much of Dracula in this part though, which I think would have made it truly shine. Other characters seem to become forgotten in the shuffle. It had a strong ending, this is where I realized that they were single stories not whole ones.
Part three: Had a very jerky start to it. It wasn't holding my attention well at the beginning and found it a hard fought battle to not want to pick up other books. The mixture of witch, hunter and business man became interesting as the story progressed. Even if it was disjointed and felt like a big let down after part two.
The fourth part to me seemed to lack a hook, very disjointed and slow at times. It dragged to begin with. You witness his personal struggles. Siring three children with a succubus.
After so long he finds a town that he has hidden from him for so long and the hardships it now faced. It's a very strange take on the folk lore. What made it nice was how well the birth and change in him was done. The creation of a new legend.
The final part of the book we saw a hunters point of view, I like the gypy element and how well it was done. How they had looked at the way the hunter had to earn the gypys trust, staying at the castle or estate. The curse that is explained in detail. Journalist dies before the article can be finished and I was saddened at this point.
It doesn't move flawlessly into the letters from the descendants. Lolo's meeting and cliffhanger ending with Dracula was rushed and just not what I hoped for this book at the end.
Those are my honest thoughts and I am grateful for the chance to share them with all of you.
CLICK HERE FOR AMAZON UK
CLICK HERE FOR AMAZON US
CLICK HERE FOR GOODREADS
Thank you for stopping by and I hope to hear back from you at your earliest convenience,
Kristal McKerrington
Today lets dive into a book for NetGallery.
Dracula: The Rise of The Beast.
Blurb: Anthology of stories exploring the secret history of the world’s most iconic monster
That the cruel, ambitious monster of Bram Stoker’s most famous novel was once Vlad III Drăcula, Voivode of Wallachia – the Impaler, to his enemies – is known. A warleader in a warlike time: brilliant, charismatic, pious, ferociously devoted to his country. But what came of him? What drove him to become a creature of darkness – an Un-Dead – and what use did he make of this power, through the centuries before his downfall?
Decades after the monster’s death, Jonathan and Mina Harker’s son Quincey pieces together the story: dusty old manuscripts, court reports from the Holy Roman Empire at its height, oral traditions among the Szgany Roma people who once served the monster.
David Thomas Moore, editor of Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets and Monstrous Little Voices, brings together five new and established authors with roots in Central and Eastern Europe to reveal a side to the literary world’s greatest monster never seen before.
4/5 Stars
What I Expected: A vampire take on history to do with Dracula and those to whom he sired or others that might have learned how to survive with them. I expected to sink into the world of Dracula and feel the great excitement that comes with this sort of book.
What I Got: A series of disjointed stories that didn't really work as well as I had hoped. I started having to read them like they were stand alones which is not what I thought I was getting.
Review: The book has many points of view at the beginning it starts out with part one that is long winded. Sometimes dragging in parts. This made the enjoyment hard at times. There was humor only I wasn't able to get a lot of it. Lots of parts lost me.
Part two tying the story to the countess that was legendary at around the same time as Dracula was interesting and made me feel like the book picked up. There wasn't much of Dracula in this part though, which I think would have made it truly shine. Other characters seem to become forgotten in the shuffle. It had a strong ending, this is where I realized that they were single stories not whole ones.
Part three: Had a very jerky start to it. It wasn't holding my attention well at the beginning and found it a hard fought battle to not want to pick up other books. The mixture of witch, hunter and business man became interesting as the story progressed. Even if it was disjointed and felt like a big let down after part two.
The fourth part to me seemed to lack a hook, very disjointed and slow at times. It dragged to begin with. You witness his personal struggles. Siring three children with a succubus.
After so long he finds a town that he has hidden from him for so long and the hardships it now faced. It's a very strange take on the folk lore. What made it nice was how well the birth and change in him was done. The creation of a new legend.
The final part of the book we saw a hunters point of view, I like the gypy element and how well it was done. How they had looked at the way the hunter had to earn the gypys trust, staying at the castle or estate. The curse that is explained in detail. Journalist dies before the article can be finished and I was saddened at this point.
It doesn't move flawlessly into the letters from the descendants. Lolo's meeting and cliffhanger ending with Dracula was rushed and just not what I hoped for this book at the end.
Those are my honest thoughts and I am grateful for the chance to share them with all of you.
CLICK HERE FOR AMAZON UK
CLICK HERE FOR AMAZON US
CLICK HERE FOR GOODREADS
Thank you for stopping by and I hope to hear back from you at your earliest convenience,
Kristal McKerrington
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