Dracul

Title: Dracul

Authors: Dacre Stoker and J. D. Barker

Publisher: Penguin Random House, 2018

Pages: 493

Genre: horror, gothic fiction

Obtained: from publisher in exchange for an honest review




Summary: Ellen Crone, the nanny of Bram Stoker when he was a child, was a strange woman.  At times she would disappear and then return, acting like nothing was out of the ordinary.  After some murders in a nearby town, Ellen disappeared for good.  Years later Ellen has been spotted by Bram's sister Matilda.  This sighting has coincided with Matilda seeing an obituary with a picture of one of the murdered victims who has not aged since his first death.  How can the same man die twice?

Thoughts: Dracul was written as the prequel to Dracula by Bram Stoker.  Dacre Stoker, the great grand nephew of Bram, teamed up with author, J.D. Barker to create this novel.  The authors used a combination of notes from the journals of Bram Stoker (which included such things as story ideas and information about vampires), and the actual history of the Stoker family, weaving both fiction and nonfiction together to construct this novel.  The result is a book written with a similar writing style to Bram Stoker, which again brings the world of Dracula to life, giving the reader more information and insight into this character.  In addition, it also brings Bram Stoker and his family to life since they are characters in the novel.  The atmosphere and pacing are much like that of Dracula (although I actually found the beginning of this book to be even more creepy), but the story is new. Although the book was 493 pages and looked long, the book did not seem too lengthy while reading it.

Dracula has always been one of my favorite books and I was very skeptical of a prequel to it, but this did not disappoint me at all.  I loved it, and I don't think it could have been done any better.  I was sucked right into the story and stayed there until the end.  This is a must read for anyone that likes the old school horror stories.  Well done!

 I now want to reread Dracula.


                                                                          


Company: Davids Tea

Tea: Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait

Obtained: purchased


Today I tried Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait tea from Davids Tea.  Did you know that, in Romania, hot teas are thought of as something to drink when you have a cold or other physical ailment, and that in a restaurant you would probably only be able to get a fruity, sweet herbal tea?  Well, this is what I read on kingofromania.com .  And isn't this the perfect color tea for a vampire novel?

Anyway, the leaves of this tea were not really leaves, but looked mostly like chunks of dried fruit, which had a strong, fruity scent.  The ingredients of this herbal tea were apple, hibiscus, raisins, carrot, yogurt bits (milk powder, sugar, maltodextrin, modified starch, citric acid), beetroot, strawberry, rhubarb, and natural and artificial flavouring.  I put about two teaspoons of tea into my teapot and poured sixteen ounces of water that had been boiled over this.  I let this brew for about five minutes.  The liquid was a stunning red and the light scent was of sweet strawberries.  The taste was a mix of sweet and tart fruits with the strawberry in the forefront.  It reminded me of strawberry rhubarb pie, maybe with whipped cream on top because it had a creamy aftertaste. If you like sweet strawberry herbal tea, I'm sure you'd like this!