This was a lot more fun than I expected, to be honest. I recently picked up A Dowry of Blood and thought, probably I should be aware of what happens in Dracula first. After all it is a retelling AFAIK.

Everyone knows some variation of the story of Dracula. I’ve seen many movies, but I actually shouldn’t be surprised to favour the book over them all. With one important caveat: it is written in the form of ostensibly found objects, usually epistolary. This really, really pushes the bounds of a conceit as the story goes on. However. If you’re willing to suspend disbelief and enjoy a character and creature such as Dracula, maybe that’s not that huge an ask of most people. I am a reader that really wants diegetic devices and consistency in the story by the fiction, as established, to be a concern, so it did bother me sometimes.

Other than that, I really liked the prose, the actual plot beats, and how different the characters I “know” from other variations of the story. Particularly Van Helsing, who is far less macho and kind. And the women, who I think exercise more agency in this than I’ve seen before. Probably the biggest welcome surprise in consuming it.

It is still not something I get behind at a macro thematic standpoint. When you get granular about it I think this is pretty conservative and boils down to new ideas, foreign beliefs, cultures, and people bad—tradition and puritanical notions good. It is also, though, dripping with atmosphere, eroticism, gothic fundamentals, and perhaps overwritten, but very evocative language. It’s an absolute romp.