Dracula: The Un-Dead-Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt

	Title: Dracula: The Un-Dead Authors: Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt Genre: Horror Format & Pages: Paperback, 389 Publication: New American Library, 2009 Source: Own Rating:

“London, 1912. A quarter of a century after Count Dracula apparently “crumbled into dust,” Quincey Harker-son of Jonathan and Mina Harker-leaves law school to pursue a career on the stage, only to stumble upon troubled production of Dracula directed and produced by Dram Stoker himself.

As the play plunges Quincey into the world of his parent’s terrible secrets, death begins to stalk the original band of heroes who defeated Dracula a quarter century ago. Could it be that the count survived and is now seeking revenge? Or is there another, far more sinister force at work whose relentless purpose is to destroy anything and anyone associated with Dracula, the most notorious vampire of all time?

Dracule the Un-Dead is the true sequel to Bram Stoker’s class novel, cowritten by his direct descendant and a well-known Dracula historian. Dracule the Un-Dead provides answers to all the questions that the original novel left unexplain, as well as new insights into the worl of iniquity and fear lurking just beneath the surface of polite Victorian England.”

I would like to begin by saying that I did some research on others reviews before writing this one. It seems that most of the negativity surrounding Dracula: The Un-Dead stems from it being the sequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Now, I have never read the original Dracula so I viewed Dracule: the Un-Dead as more of a standalone novel then a sequel. That is how this review will be written. If you have read the original, let me know what you thought of this sequel.

I found that the plot was rather interesting. It took events that I assumed happened in the original and morphed them into Bram Stoker’s work. I found this an ingenious way to be able to alter facts a bit without completely disregarding what apparently happened in the original. It allowed for more creative license and potentially an altered reading of the original piece.

The plot was also quite complex, with various points of views and events happening to the different characters involved. This really heightens the intrigue in my opinion. Is Dracula really dead? If so, how can all these things be occurring? As the reader we are aware of facts that the main characters are not, allowing us to see how things will play out in that light. While we are privy to certain facts there still is a fair amount of mystery throughout the course of the novel.

The ending was quite a surprise to me. Many facts were revealed that changes who holds the real power. Seems much more had been at stake beyond fighting vampires in London. I look forward to the next novel in the series, since I am assuming there to be one in the works due to the ending being a cliffhanger.

Overall, it was quite a good read. The intrigue kept me on the edge of my seat even though I had guessed numerous facts before they were revealed to the characters. It was more the way the facts were exposed that really entranced me. I would not recommend this to children or perhaps young adults. There are various gruesome scenes throughout the work as well as adult scenes. While they were not over the top, they are still present.