Anno Dracula, by Kim Newman
Feb. 5th, 2010 11:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missroserose An interesting premise and good pacing make this a quick and enjoyable read; however, the story lacks the coherence needed to be truly impressive. It wasn't disappointing, exactly, but what could have been quite the impressive mashup of Victorian literature eventually shows itself to be, like its title character, a hollow shell of pretension.
Part of the trouble is the large cast of characters. Many seem tossed in simply as a wink to some iota of Victorian history or literature, and the reader is never given any indication of their personality or even a real reason to be interested in them. The novel also takes its time deciding who the major protagonists will be, although to its credit, when it finally settles on a lead couple about halfway through it finds ways to dispose of many of the extras. The intra-story editing left this reader with a slight sense of befuddlement ("...why did I spend all this time reading about these people if they were just going to die?") but it did make the second part of the book rather more streamlined. Still, the narrative shifts far too often away from the central characters; and the occasional birds-eye-view segment, while probably intended to give background, simply adds to the choppiness and lack of cohesion.
Another problem is the beginning and ending, or, really, lack thereof. The opening is slightly misleading, letting any reader familiar with Dracula assume that the story's format will follow the original text much more closely than it actually does. Similarly, the story is left frustratingly open-ended, with less than a page of proper dénouement, and a generalized sense that the author simply got tired of writing the story and slapped on a "The End" without taking the time to properly tie up the threads.
Even with these flaws, however, it was a surprisingly enjoyable read. The action moves along at a good clip, and the author manages to create a couple of memorable and sympathetic lead characters. The novel's ambition is laudable, even if it sadly never quite leaves the realm of "potential". For fans of alternate-historical and vampire fiction, this one may be worth seeking out. B-
Part of the trouble is the large cast of characters. Many seem tossed in simply as a wink to some iota of Victorian history or literature, and the reader is never given any indication of their personality or even a real reason to be interested in them. The novel also takes its time deciding who the major protagonists will be, although to its credit, when it finally settles on a lead couple about halfway through it finds ways to dispose of many of the extras. The intra-story editing left this reader with a slight sense of befuddlement ("...why did I spend all this time reading about these people if they were just going to die?") but it did make the second part of the book rather more streamlined. Still, the narrative shifts far too often away from the central characters; and the occasional birds-eye-view segment, while probably intended to give background, simply adds to the choppiness and lack of cohesion.
Another problem is the beginning and ending, or, really, lack thereof. The opening is slightly misleading, letting any reader familiar with Dracula assume that the story's format will follow the original text much more closely than it actually does. Similarly, the story is left frustratingly open-ended, with less than a page of proper dénouement, and a generalized sense that the author simply got tired of writing the story and slapped on a "The End" without taking the time to properly tie up the threads.
Even with these flaws, however, it was a surprisingly enjoyable read. The action moves along at a good clip, and the author manages to create a couple of memorable and sympathetic lead characters. The novel's ambition is laudable, even if it sadly never quite leaves the realm of "potential". For fans of alternate-historical and vampire fiction, this one may be worth seeking out. B-
