“There was something diabolically sweet in her tones—something of the tingling of glass when struck-which rang through the brains even of us who heard the words addressed to another. As for Arthur, he seemed under a spell; moving his hands from his face, he opened wide his arms.”
Summary:
When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the ‘Master’ and his imminent arrival.
In Dracula, Bram Stoker created one of the great masterpieces of the horror genre, brilliantly evoking a nightmare world of vampires and vampire hunters and also illuminating the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.
My Thoughts:
A lawyer, a cowboy, a vampire, two doctors, two friends, and an insane asylum. There is a large cast of characters to keep up with in this classic horror novel, but it is worth every minute of reading.
Dracula is a story of a vampire who has a diabolical plan to grow his vampire line by moving from his isolated castle in Transylvania to property in England. Through this, he prays on a group of English people and their American friend, who band together to foil his plans of evil. Dracula is not trying to swoon women into a relationship. Instead, he is draining them of their blood to create she-demons.
Stoker lays the framework for a true bloodthirsty intelligent monster.
The story is told through letters, telegrams, news clippings, articles, and journals entries of the main characters: Jonathan Harker, Mina Merry, Dr. John Seward, Lucy Westenra, and Dr. Van Hesling. Often their letters overlap and add details to the events unfolding. The use of such keeps readers on their toes and invested in the story.
Overall Dracula is not a super scary book, but there are chilling moments. If you are looking for a horror classic Dracula is for you.
I listened to a free audiobook from LibriVox, but I have read great things about the verisons on Audible.
Should you read Dracula?
Yes. Dracula is a classic piece of horror any horror lover and or vampire lover needs to read. I highly recommend listening to an Audiobook to get the most out of this classic story.
Have you read Dracula or do you want to? Tell me below!
Lit Lemon Books 
If you like vampire stories, you might enjoy “The Historian” by Elizabeth Kostova. It is a historical fiction based on Vlad the Impaler, the original Dracula.
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I am going to look that up right now! Thanks!
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Great review! I also listened to a Librivox version of it while I was cleaning and enjoyed it so much. The book really lends itself very well for an audiobook. Now I wonder if we had the same version… Which one did you listen to?
Btw: talking gothic novels, there is also a good version of Frankenstein on Librivox, also very enjoyable.
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I listened to the dramatic reading version 2, it would be cool if it were the same one! I am def going to check our Frankenstein. I was listen to the Tarzan series but I became upset with the cliffhangers.😂😂 I’ll probably pick that back up soon.
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Ooh I haven’t heard of the Tarzan book. Might have to check that one out!
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Yes! The first one is Tarzan of the Apes. According to wikipedia there are 24 main books, lol that is a little too much Tarzan for me. I am only going to read the first four.
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I actually just wrapped up rereading this a week or so ago and completely agree with you. I love the comparison of reading the letters to scrolling through one’s new feed haha. Dracula has become so influential and I agree it is more creepy than downright scary. I’m sure listening to it was a wonderful experience, but I’ve only ever read it in print. Great post!
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I’m a sucker for vampire fiction, so it was a matter of time before I backtracked to one of the firsts. I’ve been thinking about making a post or two about what came before Dracula, we’ll see.
I love listening to the classics, not everyday you get to hear people interact/tell their story in dated diction.
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