Dracula is one of those books that feel pointless to review; it's a classic, everyone's familiar with the story (whether they've read it or not), and I doubt that my thoughts on this work are going to influence another reader much on whether they'll pick it up or not.

I'm going to tell you a few of my thoughts anyways, because what else am I here for?

Dracula is such an influential tale that I'm willing to comfortably assume horror and paranormal fantasy as a whole would be vastly different (and lacking) without its existence. Not only is there the obvious—the vampires, of course!—but there's also the heavy focus on good versus evil and the capabilities of a group of people who are motivated by nothing so much as their love and affections for one another.

I joked to my spouse at one point that this book is primarily a bunch of people arguing over who will die for the other first, but seriously, let Dracula be a timeless reminder to us all that we can stride bravely into the darkest of terrors without hesitation when we do so for love. It truly is the most powerful emotion, and Bram understood that vividly.

(Case in point: Jonathan Harker's shift from kindhearted, gentle Englishman obsessing over his newfound love of spice to a feral knife-wielding madman who will take down anyone and anything standing between him and his end goal of protecting his wife? Beautiful. Jonathan and Mina Harker are my heroes.)

It isn't a perfect read by any means... but I had a really damn good time reading this story and I fully understand why, to this day, readers all over the world uphold it as necessary reading for horror and vampire lovers alike.