Evil never truly dies…and some legends live forever. The dark heart of Bram Stoker’s classic is reborn; capturing the voice, tone, style and characters of the original yet with a modern sensibility this novel is perfect for fans of Dracula and contemporary horror.“Inventive and spooky” Mark Gatiss, co-creator of the hit BBC series Dracula and SherlockIt has been some years since Jonathan and … Dracula and Sherlock
It has been some years since Jonathan and Mina Harker survived their ordeal in Transylvania and, vanquishing Count Dracula, returned to England to try and live ordinary lives.
But shadows linger long in this world of blood feud and superstition – and, the older their son Quincey gets, the deeper the shadows that lengthen at the heart of the Harkers’ marriage. Jonathan has turned back to drink; Mina finds herself isolated inside the confines of her own family; Quincey himself struggles to live up to a family of such high renown.
And when a gathering of old friends leads to unexpected tragedy, the very particular wounds in the heart of the Harkers’ marriage are about to be exposed…
There is darkness both within the marriage and without – for new evil is arising on the Continent. A naturalist is bringing a new species of bat back to London; two English gentlemen, on their separate tours of the Continent, find a strange quixotic love for each other, and stumble into a calamity far worse than either has imagined; and the vestiges of something forgotten long ago is finally beginning to stir…
“This epic tale of madness, temptation, and political scandal set in early-twentieth-century England strikes a resonant chord with today’s political climate” Booklist
‘A patchwork of dark thrills, woven skilfully from new and familiar voices – Dracula’s Child is a macabre delight’ Aliya Whiteley, author of The Beauty
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Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel for an honest review. It has been published in September 2020.
“Dracula’s Child” by J.S. Barnes is one of the most charming, absorbing horror novels I’ve read recently.
It’s set a few years after the epilogue of “Dracula” by Bram Stoker–Mina and Jonathan Harker’s son Quincy is 12 years old when “Dracula’s Child” begins. Fans of the original will be delighted to meet their favourite characters again, to see how they’ve been coping with going back to their ordinary lives and to learn what they’ve been up to since confronting and defeating the Count.
The author somehow managed the near-impossible feat of being passionately loyal to the original and yet at the same time to create something new, fresh and imaginative. “Dracula’s Child” is more than just a sequel to one of the most famous masterpieces of genre literature in the world: it’s a masterpiece in its own right.
The story is handled in such a way that even someone who hasn’t read the original – or someone who hasn’t re-read it in a good while, like me – can feel right at home among these pages and enjoy the book thoroughly.
The story, true to the original, is a slow-burn crescendo of visionary horror, that gradually picks up its pace throughout the narration: it starts quietly, but by the time you reach the ending, you’ll be gasping for breath.
I loved the characters, the old ones and the new ones as well. They are all beautifully deep, complex and flawed. Even the really minor ones, who only appear in one single scene, take centre stage in turn and can give the reader goosebumps. I found the characters of Joshua and his “sister” truly chilling, and they are only present in a handful of pages!
I loved how every character in the book has his/her own voice, something which was perfectly achieved by the joint efforts of an amazing author such as J.S. Barnes and two very talented narrators such as Jonathan Keeble and Emma Gregory.
The writing style shows an admirable loyalty to the original, although some modern elements have been added that would have been unthinkable in the days of Bram Stoker, such as open references to homosexuality–albeit the “deed” always happen off-scene, with respect for the Victorian sensitivity most of the characters retain.
The atmosphere is exactly like in “Dracula”–but made even scarier by the horrors being closer to us in time (“Dracula’s Child” is set in the 20th century) and with respect to the villains’ modus operandi: explosive devices detonating in European capitals are sadly not confined to horror fiction these days!
Another added bonus was the subtle political critique that permeated the second half of the novel, giving a nod to the current events we hear every day in the news.
My favourite quote from the novel – which must be one of my favourite quotes EVER – is, “I shall kill you just as many times as it takes.”
The ending was awesome – the final twist really blindsided me – and the very last sentence that concludes the last chapter, before the epilogue, is one of my favourite quotes as well, but I’m not including it in this review because I don’t want to spoil it for whoever hasn’t read it yet.
Dracula’s Child was a phenomenal read for me! I really enjoyed the turn this book took from the original story of Dracula. It was thrilling, intriguing, sad in parts and kept my undivided attention. This is a real page turner.
This is told in diary and journal entries and more or less written in the style of that era, I i dare say it was a little more modernized than the language would have been then.
There were quite a list of words that I had to look up and words I had never heard before, but because of some of their use in sentences they didn’t require looking up a definition.
I believe it also must say in the synopsis or description that this is an LGBTQ book as I believe one of the characters in the book to be gay.
If you like classic literature or Dracula then I definitely recommend reading this exciting book!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC. All opinions are my own.