The prequel to Dracula, inspired by notes and texts left behind by the author of the classic novel, Dracul is a supernatural thriller that reveals not only Dracula’s true origins but Bram Stoker’s—and the tale of the enigmatic woman who connects them.It is 1868, and a twenty-one-year-old Bram Stoker waits in a desolate tower to face an indescribable evil. Armed only with crucifixes, holy water, … only with crucifixes, holy water, and a rifle, he prays to survive a single night, the longest of his life. Desperate to record what he has witnessed, Bram scribbles down the events that led him here…
A sickly child, Bram spent his early days bedridden in his parents’ Dublin home, tended to by his caretaker, a young woman named Ellen Crone. When a string of strange deaths occur in a nearby town, Bram and his sister Matilda detect a pattern of bizarre behavior by Ellen—a mystery that deepens chillingly until Ellen vanishes suddenly from their lives. Years later, Matilda returns from studying in Paris to tell Bram the news that she has seen Ellen—and that the nightmare they’ve thought long ended is only beginning.
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Ever hear something that brings back a childhood fear? Mine are pretty easy. But there is one particular sound that still makes my skin crawl ( you are gonna laugh, I KNOW IT!)
The musical intro to “Are You Afraid of The Dark?”
I am not even kidding! I would hear just the beginning three seconds of this bad boy and run out of the room and beg either my parents or grandparents to turn it off. You see, I was completely sheltered when it came to all things scary. It wasn’t until I met my husband that I was introduced to the wonderful world of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Friday the 13th”! While horror isn’t my go-to genre, it’s always nice to pick one up from time to time. I’m always reminded that you don’t always have to watch something on TV to have something scare the pants off of you, and Dracul is no exception.
“Nanna Ellen was there at Bram’s beginning and most likely end (as he was for hers).”
Abraham (Bram) Stoker was thought to have been a stillborn at birth. He was brought into this world breach, feet ready to make their mark, and umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, as if the world wasn’t ready for him to tell its secrets. Nanna was there to revive his lifeless body, taking him in her own room two days at a time to continually nurse him back to health. After those two days Nanna looked drained, and stayed locked in her room until she fully recovered.
Naturally being sick off and on as a child will eventually come to a head. Bram’s sickness rears its ugly head conveniently on a night when Nanna Ellen is out of the house. The only choice the Stoker’s had was enlisting the help of father’s cousin Edward, a Dublin doctor, who believed firmly in the practice of blood letting. With leeches attached, Bram is left to a fever dream of events. He sees Nanna Ellen come into his room, orders everyone out of the room, and promptly takes the leeches off. When Bram awakes, he feels as though he has never been sick a day in his life.
It wasn’t until Bram and sister Matilda were older and more curious that they started noticing oddities about Nanna Ellen.
“At that age, the true and the fantastic blend together, becoming as one.”
Matilda was fascinated with art, making sketches since she was little. One of her favorite things to do was draw Nanna Ellen. Years worth of sketches and not a single portrait was the same. It always drew similarities to Nanna Ellen, but never truly captured her. She would tell Bram of all the comings and goings of the Stoker household, whether exaggerated or not. Because how can children understand the difference between childhood fairy tales and reality? The pair sneak into Nanna Ellen’s room to do some investigating. But what they find will fill them with more questions than answers, and a lifetime of looking over their shoulders?
“Nanna Ellen told us tales of creatures, so in our minds she became one.”
****************POSSIBLE SPOILERS***********************
Have you ever watched a scary movie? Yeah? Me too. Have you ever held a pillow (blanket, hand, etc.) over your face during the scary parts? Yeah? Me too! Have you ever pulled that pillow down when you thought the scary part was over, just to catch a glimpse of it and pull that pillow back up? ME TOO! This is exactly how Dracul reads.
We have paragraph after paragraph that rivals a Stephen King novel. For a book to build the same anticipation as a movie takes ingenious effort. You are lacking the musical accompaniment, the actual film in front of your face. But you have a book that does that, what are you going to do? Close your book or Kindle and put it in the corner until you are over it?
Jump scares? Got ’em. Building amounts of dread? Got ya covered. Dracul had me guessing the entire time I was reading it. Don’t get me wrong, there were a FEW instances where I over-exuberantly shouted “I KNEW IT!” which always startles the hubs and the minions.
If I HAD to complain about anything. . . The ebb and flow of present to past was just that. When it was great, it was spectacular, and when it was slow, it drudged on. . .and on. . .and on. But truly, the knowledge of Dacre Stoker combined with the thriller know-how of J.D. Barker is exquisite. Stoker and Barker make quite the horror pair, and while I know another compilation may not be in the works (any time soon, or at all) for me, it would be an instant buy.
Dracul is the ideal read for the fall season, and the perfect prequel to introduce you to the classic Dracula. So grab your pitchforks, throw some marshmallows on, and get lost in the horrifying origin story of how Dracula came to be.
The “true story” behind Bram Stoker and his tale of Dracula. Gah, I wanted to LOVE this book – I love vampire stories, and slow-burn gothic dread and suspense – but it just didn’t quite deliver all the way.
During the first two-thirds of the book we jump back and forth between a scene where Bram is trapped in a castle tower fighting off some evil entity, and his journal entries/his sister’s letters telling the tale of their lives up to this point. This is a little confusing for two reasons. First, they are told in two different points of view – Bram in the tower is in third-person voice, while the journals and letters are in first-person voice. Second, because the “rules” aren’t explained until later in the book, some of what happens in the tower scenes don’t make sense to us yet (what’s with the roses? Why can’t Bram fall asleep? What’s up with the wolves?).
The mood over the course of the book is inconsistent. During the story of Bram and Matilda’s childhood and their trying to unravel the mystery of Nanna Ellen, the story is wonderfully atmospheric and foreboding, and a breadcrumb trail of terror is slowly dropped for them (and us) to follow. Once we get to adult Bram and Matilda’s story, however, things morph into more straightforward horror and action, with much less of a sense of building dread and mystery.
I think moving the information/notes section from the end of the book to the beginning would be a great improvement – knowing that this was truly based on Bram Stoker’s actual journals and the missing chapters of the original Dracula manuscript added another dimension to the story! Don’t wait until the end to tell this to the reader!
Ultimately, it was a good story and I was pulled in, but I hoped for so much more.
No. I do not recommend this book. Attempted reading it on 3 different occasions, and it was simply something that just did not grab me, hold me, or interest me. Perhaps my expectations were to high, but for me this was a fail.
I’m a huge fan of the original Dracula, it would take a lot for me to accept a prequel but I was hopeful since this was written by a relative. I was not happy with the book. I’ll find it hard to accept any other work by this author in the guise of Dracula.
Dracula is a new modern take on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I have mixed feelings about this book. At times I found it hard to put down and at others I was bored to death. If you are expecting horror this book is not it.
The novel follows Bram Stroker from birth to close to his death. Entwined in the tale we are introduced to his older brother Thornley, his older sister Matilda and their Nanny Ellen Crone. Ellen appeared out of nowhere when Bram was born and thought to be dead but somehow breathed life into him.
As the story progresses Bram goes from a sickly child to one who seems to have above normal health and stamina. Matilda and Bram start to notice disturbing things about their nanny. From here the legend of Dracul, later to be called Dracula, unfolds.
I thought the storyline of the book was uneven. At times it really held my interest at others it was a chore to continue reading. The novel takes on a substantial story that never seems complete. Although it is about Bram Stoker it leaves out much of the Dracula legend which it is built on therefore leaving the reader floundering to put the pieces together. It also introduces Ellen Crone who has a strong connection to Dracula. More of Dracula would have made the storyline stronger and it would have made more sense.
Character development was also lacking for me. We learn ABOUT the characters without really knowing who they are. Sadly Matilda is the most developed character in the book. Although she is important to the storyline Bram, Ellen and especially Dracula are the characters who should have been better fleshed out to make this story flow.
I can’t recommend this book. If you want Dracula read the original work by Bram Stoker. If you want more information on Bram Stoker then read a biography. This book is readable but uneven at best.
I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily reviewed it.