Kyle Peters

A fantastic reimagining of a what if scenario of Bram Stoker's novel. Dracula becomes the king of England through legal means, vampires take over the British empire but society moves on without much change aside from the undead. The fusion of modern vampire traits like sunlight death and silver are merged brilliantly with classic elements from Bram's novel like day walking, shapeshifting and a bite alone not turning someone into a vampire. The vampires are not brainless fools who go around killing every human they see only to leave themselves without food, no they understand humans are alive and think, they remember being human, they keep the humans happy and they don't have to deal with people trying to kill them in their sleep as much. The mystery is admittedly revealed early in the story but the case of Jack the Ripper is driving force for the plot not a mystery to be shocked by. The different breeds of vampires with different trait's like Dracula's shape shifting being exclusive to his clan and becoming something they don't even realize they are doing as they get better at it are all brilliant additions I love to see. It's a well written fantastic read with some truly great moments and a far better follow up to Bram's novel than anything Dacre get's up too.

This book is such a mess. It ties Bram stoker and his siblings into the event's of the book with all the grace of tripping into a wall. The legendary Dracula oh I'm sorry, Dracul goes from a intelligent almost unknowable force to an angry stalker who kills dozens of people because a Irish vampire he "saved" doesn't want to be his wife. That's the big plot/pot twist of why Dracul is being so evil. He went out of his way to go to Ireland, find and resurrect a vampire there, bring her to Romania and try to marry her while treating her like garbage or an item, but is shocked she doesn't like him. This plot twist makes him seem less like an all powerful demon of chaos or fearsome master of magic with all the time he needs for his revenge and turns him into a whiny petulant brat stalker. And it just gets worse from there. With stupid inclusions like Dracula being able to magically create snakes out of thin air (you're guess is as good as mine), wooden stakes or silver being the only things that can kill vampires, Bram stoker having vampire senses and healing and generally depicting vampires more like demons from a horror movie rather than vampires. It all leaves a sour taste in your mouth and all the while the book tries to masquerade as a cannon prequal to Dracula and you get a dumpster fire that insults Bram Stoker's legacy. Also the switch from journal style past tense to poorly written omniscient narrator present text is not just jarring but shows how poorly written the non journal is. If you want a better reimagining of Bram's novel that is infinitely better then this poorly written mess that has "twists" so obvious you can see them a mile off, go read Anno Dracula.