Dracula’s Guest by Bram Stoker

• Dracula's Guest
• The Judge's House
• The Squaw
• The Secret of the Growing Gold
• The Gipsy Prophecy
• The Coming of Abel Behenna
• The Burial of the Rats
• A Dream of Red Hands
• Crooken Sands

Format: eBook
Publisher: Public Domain Books

Published: This addition: 1^st November 2003

First published: 1914

Book: Bought
Number of Pages: 200

Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Classic

 

PREFACE

A few months before the lamented death of my husband—I might say even as the shadow of death was over him—he planned three series of short stories for publication, and the present volume is one of them. To his original list of stories in this book, I have added an hitherto unpublished episode from Dracula. It was originally excised owing to the length of the book, and may prove of interest to the many readers of what is considered my husband's most remarkable work. The other stories have already been published in English and American periodicals. Had my husband lived longer, he might have seen fit to revise this work, which is mainly from the earlier years of his strenuous life. But, as fate has entrusted to me the issuing of it, I consider it fitting and proper to let it go forth practically as it was left by him.

FLORENCE BRAM STOKER

Review:

This book is made up of a variety of short stories and one chapter that was left of out Dracula as the final book was too long.  Most of the stories and brilliantly gruesome, and full of terror – all kinds: psychological, fear of death or just the good-old fashioned supernatural kind – but all are of different characters and places, who all face different horrors.

I liked the stories a lot, but I really preferred Bram Stoker’s original, Dracula, probably because I like to know more about the characters and the events of their lives.  However, somehow Stoker manages to pack in so much detail into thirteen-or-so pages long stories that I found myself completely absorbed.

Ranging from wolf-dogs to rats with freaky eyes, the tales are all more than a little bizarre and grisly, but are good nonetheless.  They prove that Stoker is really the creator of the modern horror.

My personal favourite is The Judge’s House; it’s about a man living in the house another man was hung in – and he’s staying in the very room it happened in.  It’s haunted by creepy rats, and although the end is a little cliché, I just loved the whole suspense-terror vibe going on.

The other stories are really good, and there’s a wide range of horror in them.  The only one I wasn’t very keen on was The Squaw, and if you’re an animal lover, this may not be a good one for you (just a warning).  The Gypsy Prophecy and A Dream of Red Hands were my other two favourites, one about confronting your darker side, the other a rather moralistic story about facing the horrific consequences of horrific actions.  The chapter from Dracula was from the start of the book, about what Jonathan Harker got up to just before his arrival at the Count’s house.  It was really good, and it links in because I remember mild hints of something like it in the actual novel.

All in all, a very good book that proves that Stoker could write short stories just as well as he can write long ones.  And also that books from one-hundred odd years ago can still scare and absorb you.

Oh, and a quick note on the eBook: other than a few paragraphs starting in the wrong places, the punctuation and everything was brilliant, and the book was free, too!  I’m still not ready to give up my paper books though: they beat electronic in my book.

Star Rating:
4 Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Horrowitz Horror by Anthony Horowitz

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)

British Book Challenge (Hosted by The Bookette)

Horror and Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)

2011 E-Book Challenge (Hosted by The Ladybug Reads)

Off The Shelf Challenge (Hosted by BA Reading Challenges)

Dusty Volumes Reading Challenge (Hosted by Midnyte Reader)

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Publisher: Penguin Books

Format: Paperback

Published: This addition: 2010

First published: 1887

Number of Pages:
Book: Bought

When blood is the bounty, purity is priceless.

Count Dracula’s castle is a hellish world where night is day, pleasure is pain and the blood of the innocent is prized above all.  Young Jonathan Harker is begged by the locals not to go there – but business must be done.

So Jonathan approaches the dark gates and then his nightmare begins.  His beloved wife, Mina, and other lost souls have fallen under the Count’s horrifying spell.  Dracula must be destroyed...

Review:

Bram Stoker: the creator of the modern vampire and one of the best known vampires of all.  This book did not let the movies down: it was far, far, far better.  There’s a quote in the blurb by Christopher Lee that says, “Nobody has ever filmed it like Bram Stoker wrote it” and it’s so true. 

Unlike a lot of classics, Dracula isn’t a heavy read, despite its length, it’s actually written in quite a modern for a book so old.  And although there are some old-fashioned sexist ideas and out-of-date immediate friendships, it’s probably one of my favourite classics ever.

The story line is brilliant, and I loved the way it was written from most of the lead character’s points of views.  It’s written in diary form, with a few newspaper clippings in that have been pasted into journals. 

Dracula is full of beautiful yet deadly vampires, a Count who can control the elements, wolves, bats and has powers beyond any you can imagine, a group of heroes on a quest to kill them and two heroines who’s souls are in danger because of the monsters.  It had me gripped from the first time Jonathan (one of the narrators) was warned and begged not to go to the castle of the Count Dracula from the locals, who all appear to be terrified of him and his home.  It grips you from there; how Jonathan begins to piece everything together, the heartbreak of losing a loved one, the terror and hypnotism of the three female vampires and the ruthless sophistication of Count Dracula.

I loved this book and all its characters, from the smart, if a little mad, Van Helsing, to sweet, loving Mina, to her brave husband and their three friends, all of whom are amazing. 

I couldn’t recommend this book enough, especially as it is the inspiration for all my favourite books.  It’s a brilliant story, that holds you in its trance until the end.  Must read for all vampire-addicts.

Star Rating:
5 Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer


Challenges It's Taking Part In:
100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)
British Book Challenge (Hosted by The Bookette)
Horror and Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)
The Vampire Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Parajunee's View)
Off The Shelf Challenge (Hosted by BA Reading Challenges)
Dusty Volumes Reading Challenge (Hosted by Midnyte Reader)