Where Awesome Happens Book Review

Butterfly in the sky? I can go twice as high!



By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com




Where Awesome Happens Book Review: Bram Stoker's Dracula



Bram Stoker's Dracula kicks effing rear. The reason I felt obligated to call it "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and not just "Dracula" is to indicate that Bram Stoker's is the original Dracula. Stoker made up Count Dracula and vampires. Since then, as you know, there have been countless other stories about Dracula, and I wouldn't want you to be confused as to which book I was talking about.

The book was a lot different than I thought it would be. I thought it would be more of the horror/action genre where a group of guys were always getting attacked by Dracula, or there were a lot of physical encounters. It turned out to be much different than that. Since this was the first Vampire book, it assumes the reader had no idea what a vampire was or who Count Dracula was, or what they did. So the bulk of the book is about a group of 5 people trying to compile all the their facts about this shady Count Dracula character, and see how they can put an end to his misdeeds before it's too late.

Stoker's writing style for the book was as original as his subject. The entire book was written as a compiled series of diary entries and letters of correspondence, among his 4 most main characters. That convention heightened the urgency for the reader since the reader was able to know exactly what the characters knew or didn't know. I found that convention to be much more original and dramatically exciting than the often used omniscient narrator. Being that the book was mostly written as diary entries, it provided great characterization in a short amount of time, and let you in on the characters secret fears regarding Count Dracula that they dare not let on in front of their friends.

Dracula, was also a much faster read than I had anticipated and wasn't at all burdened with the usage of any kind of Dickensian-era English whatsoever.


As far as recommendations go, I can recommend this highly. I'm not a big horror/sci-fi fan, so it certainly helped for me that I read it right before Halloween. But after having read it and being surprised at how un-horror-y it was, I think anyone could enjoy it at anytime of year. I was very impressed by this book.