Ratings776
Average rating3.9
This book is a classic. Having said that, it is important to keep in mind the following:
-Ideas put in the book are hardly compatible with today's views (religiously, familiar, even in gender matters)
-Pacing and events considered important back then may be boring or irrelevant today
-Writing style is different from modern writing
All of the above may be obvious to some but I wanted to put them as a reminder for all who read this review.
Now, even considering the points above, and having read Jules Verne, who is contemporary of Bram (yeah, different genres but still gives an idea of what was considered interesting back in late 1800s), to me this book was ok, boring at times and very entertaining at others.
I wish it wasn't as repetitive, and the foreshadowing was quite obvious (like I was screaming "Lucy is turned!", "Mina is targeted!", "He hypnotized them!") By the time the characters deducted what was happening my reaction was like "you don't saaaaay! What gave it away, like the last 50 pages or so?" Especially since they were supposed to be documenting and sharing everything around half the book forward, so they were supposed to be on the same page at all times...
I think the scene that just kept my eyes rolling was when Jonathan saw Mina paler by the day, weaker... and his deduction was that her state was due to her affliction for not being included in the men's conversation instead of what was obvious -she was attacked by Dracula... like come on... really dude?
The pacing was very slow as well, and not to mention the dialogues with some locals or seamen with weird accents that just made the whole thing completely hard to understand, let alone to follow.
So overall I rate it with πππ because it is not as bad, I still wanted to know what was going to happen and how they were going to end it all, even if at times I lost interest and will to go on. I'm glad I got through it, though, I think it was worth it, just maybe not a re-read for me.