I hoestly tried to like the book...

... but I did not succeed. Some ideas where really good: Featuring Bram Stoker as a character in the sequel, or showing the shadow sides of all the brave and noblehearted characters of the original. But unfortunately some good ideas are not enough to make a good read:

1.) The authors did not succeed in satisfyingly explaining how Dracula "survived" his beheading and crumbeling into Dust at the End of the original.

2.) Where is all the subtle horror?! I don`t mind if a book is written to become a Hollywood Blockbuster, but if you can not actually help foreseeing the next clifhanger in the script alltogether with the computer animated effects, the THX surround sound and the smell of the Popcorn in every scene, that is way to much.

3.) The good idea of showing the dark sides of the characters of the original is exaggerated by far - I really can not imagine Mina from original "Dracula" and the Mina from "The Undead" beeing the same person (same thing with Van Helsing and Dracula himself).

4.) Why do all the people that are infected with Draculas blood do have to have superpowers (even if not undead yet).

5.) Last and worst of all: Was this "Dracula-loves-loves-Mina-with-all-of-his-(undead)-heart-crap" in the end really necessary. In my oppinion this turnes one of the most fascinating badguys into a whiny "twilight" hoax.

I hope there will be no sequel to the sequel.

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A fan fiction, fun at times, ruined by vanity

This book's greatest sin is its pretense and vanity. A fan fiction sequel to Dracula has, of course, every right to exist, like many others. Dacre Stoker, however, mixing his discovery of his ancestry with his American audacity, managed somehow to convince the Stoker estate to make this "the official sequel". What a shame. One of the most influential books in human history needs no sequel. That much goes without saying. Sadly for Dacre, this ludicrous title is what makes the book weaker, more ridiculous, more irritating, more unnecessary than it surely would have been anyway.

Some of the premises are certainly intriguing. Dacre is humble enough to work with a co-author - an actual writer. Others have been already done much better. However, somewhere around the book's half even the good ones become tiresome and are ultimately wasted, and all the twists and turns are obvious a mile away. Another noteworthy sin for this "sequel" is a retconning of the original. Dacre obviously counts not on fans of his great ancestor, but rather on fans of the many Hollywood treatments of his work.

Alex Dunbar does a decent enough job reading the material, but his voice is too weak and too high pitched, so alas the book is not saved by the narration.

I can only recommend this book to Dracula completists (such as myself). Us, completists, will certainly give his "prequel" a go as well.

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