Customer Reviews

Mina The Dracula Story Continues

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Let me just get the nitpicky stuff out of the way first: Lucy Westenra, not Lucy Westerna. Silly things like this (aka lack of attention to detail)are irritating & the author should have caught it.

More seriously, though, Marie Kiraly has taken an interesting story, with real questions about race, ethnicity and the changing world of industrial Europe (not to mention a great villain in Dracula), and changed it into a whiny, uninteresting story of adultery. She took chracters that had substance in Stoker's hands and destroyed them. Ultimately, I found that the story was not worth the time it took to slog through it.

This novel is an interesting take on the Dracula story. It presents the climax of Bram Stoker's overrated novel from Mina Harker's point of view and shows us what happened to her and the other characters afterward. It turns out that, with the blood of Dracula flowing in her veins, Mina has far more sympathy for the Count and his minions than was hinted at in Stoker's novel. Furthermore, all is not quiet at Castle Dracula despite the destruction of the famous vampire...

Stoker's original novel was overlong and frequently dull. The characters were one-dimensional stalwart men and fainting damsels. Author Ellen Bergstrom has filled out these characters and added a feminist perspective, not to mention a healthy dose of sex. Purists may shudder at her approach, but I found it to be an interesting take on a novel that really doesn't deserve to be treated as sacrosanct and untouchable.

As my title succinctly puts it, this book is garbage. It is without a doubt a desecration of a classic. If you are going to write a sequel to or "borrow" characters form a classic, you must tread lightly. In this case the author tap-danced over Dracula.

First there are some gross contradictions to the original. Everything from how/who dispatched Dracula to Mina's baby.

Unfortunately that's not the worst of it. All the original characters are re-written.....for the worse. Jonathan becomes a greedy workaholic, Van Helsing a neurotic old kook and Dr. Seward somehow doubts the existence of vampires (after Dracula??). By far the worst character is that of the title character - Mina! No longer is she the virtuous, intelligent and strong woman of Stoker's making. She becomes a lying, duplicitous, slutty, selfish, and otherwise despicable alcoholic whiner.

Ultimately this book fails to deliver. Both as a sequel to the great novel Dracula, or as a book on it's own. If it was the latter, it would have a few merits, but not enough to warrant more than two stars by any stretch of the imagination.

My recommendation: Skip this one!!

Having followed the exploits of Mina Harker in Alan Moore's "The League of Extraordinary Gentlement" it was interesting to read a different extrapolation of what happened to her after "Dracula." Obviously, this book focuses more on the original cast without bringing a host of other supernatural beings into the story. My complaint, like so many others, is that the retroactive overlaying of so much eroticism onto the original novel. There was some, but it was subtle and implied. Stoker was not writing soft porn. However, Marie Kiraly is--and without the benefit of the Count himself. You know what? This book would have worked a lot better if the story had not involved the title character. How's that for ironic?

Will the 1990s fascination with romanticizing blood-sucking monsters ever end? First, their was Francis Ford Coppola's bastardization, insultingly titled "Bram Stoker's DRACULA," when it had less to do with Stoker than even the Lugosi film of 1931! Now, this MINA: THE DRACULA STORY CONTINUES comes along to further desecrate Stoker's masterpiece. Where are the bats, the mists, the wolves, the deeds of horror and bloodlust? If you want some mushy romance novel, then this is fine. If you want a true sequel to DRACULA that's a gothic horror story in the tradition of Stoker, then THIS AIN'T IT!! (Note: This review was of the original, Sept. 1994 release under the pseudonym Marie Kiraly.)

There have been some pretty lame attempts to write sequels to Bram Stoker's classic DRACULA, but this is one that borders on blasphemy! It reeks of Anne Ricean sub-par eroticism and Fred Saberhagen's ill-advised revisionism, as well as just being a bad story. It's a shame that Stoker's novel was never officially copyrighted in the U.S., and that the international copyrights have all lapsed. At least then the Count would be safe from well-meaning clods and talentless hacks like Bergstrom. You want good DRACULA pastiches? Check out Kim Newman's ANNO DRACULA books and stories, or Jeanne Kalogridis' DIARIES OF THE FAMILY DRACUL trilogy.

I enjoyed Mina from the first word to the last. I have read and enjoyed Elaine's writing from the first Vampire novel to Mina and am looking forward to her new book, 'Blood to Blood' and intend to pick it up in the very new future. Elaine's writing is so realistic that I find myself actually walking the streets longing for the touch of the Vampire Lord himself. Please keep up the good work and continue to write as I look forward to each and every novel.

An excellent read and sequel! Bergstrom tells the story mainly from Mina's point of view, and she captures her voice so perfectly that on the first page the reader is immediately drawn into the world one remembers from Stoker's classic. The author also recreates the sound and feel of the original Dracula, while adding her own exciting elements to the mix. Some of the characters from the classic are here and new ones introduced. Also, a mystery is added that keeps the reader turning the pages until the very end to find the answer. This book is very hard to put down, so count on losing at least one night's sleep.

I loved this book. Dracula was a novel I first read as a young teen and enjoyed, both the plot and the writing. Ms. Bergstrom did an incredible job of keeping the continuity and the tone of Stoker's novel and writing a ripping story into the bargain. I enjoyed her exploration of the inner struggle of the woman at once seduced by the Vampire's mesmerising pull and repulsed by the evil inherent in his nature. For anyone who loves Stoker's novel this is a total delight!

Horrible. Plodding. Poorly written. Verbose. That's the best way to describe this novel. Quite possibly the worst vampire novel I've ever read, and that's taking into account some real clunkers that I've read over the years.

The writer should feel ashamed for writing such a poor sequel to possibly the greatest horror and certainly greatest vampire novel of all time.