“Listen to them – the children of the night. What music they make!”
Dracula is a spooky, gothic classic (duh). Stoker’s writing is incredible and covers every little detail. His terrifyingly vivid descriptions conjure up the sights, sounds and smells (seriously, SMELLS) of our journey from Castle Dracula to London and back again.
“…God seems to have deserted us.”
I audibly gasped multiple times while reading this book. Sometimes due to the horror within, and other times due to the amazing writing. There’s a scene in the first 50 pages that might be one of the most chilling things I’ve ever read. And if you think it will be relatively tame due to the era in which it was written, don’t worry. There’s no lack of blood in this book.
“But we are strong, each in our purpose; and we are all more strong together.”
The book includes a pretty solid cast of characters, and we get the perspective of each throughout the course of the book. Van Helsing and Mina were the most fascinating and best developed, in my opinion.
“Every breath exhaled by that monster seemed to have clung to the place and intensified its loathsomeness.”
There were moments throughout the book that reminded me of modern horror (and fantasy) novels. I wouldn’t be surprised if books like Silence of the Lambs, IT and even the Harry Potter series drew inspiration from Dracula, or vampire lore in general.
“…it all seems like a horrible tragedy, with fate pressing on relentlessly to some destined end.”
Dracula is not without its faults. It does drag a bit towards the middle (one character’s plot feels repetitive at times) and I found the ending to be a bit anticlimactic, but it’s still a solid classic that horror fans will enjoy.
Read with Aimee 