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anyaemilie 's review for:
The Route of Ice and Salt
by José Luis Zárate
4.5 stars
Definitely a strange and interesting novella. If you haven't read Dracula, or aren't familiar with the story, it probably won't make much sense, but it's an interesting addition to the original novel. It explores homosexual subtext from Bram Stoker's novel and puts it on the page. It's a kind of reimagining of what Dracula and vampirism stands for without having to be too subtle about it like you had to be in the 1800's (although that's not for sure, as is addressed in the afterword).
I enjoyed the intro, prologue and afterword because they added some necessary context to the story as well. This was originally published in 1998 in Mexico, so this book has gone through a translation into English as well as being published now in 2020, so the context is important.
I wasn't a huge fan of the original Dracula (it was too long, and sometimes I got bogged down by the language. Also absolutely HATED how Van Helsing spoke because clearly Stoker didn't know any actual Dutch people), but The Route of Ice & Salt is definitely a worthwhile addition to the vast Dracula canon.
Just a note: I went into this not knowing much about it, and there is a lot of explicit sexual description, as well as violence and gore (I mean, that should be a given since Dracula is involved). There is also a rather gruesome murder of a gay man described, so be aware of that if that's something that bothers you.
Definitely a strange and interesting novella. If you haven't read Dracula, or aren't familiar with the story, it probably won't make much sense, but it's an interesting addition to the original novel. It explores homosexual subtext from Bram Stoker's novel and puts it on the page. It's a kind of reimagining of what Dracula and vampirism stands for without having to be too subtle about it like you had to be in the 1800's (although that's not for sure, as is addressed in the afterword).
I enjoyed the intro, prologue and afterword because they added some necessary context to the story as well. This was originally published in 1998 in Mexico, so this book has gone through a translation into English as well as being published now in 2020, so the context is important.
I wasn't a huge fan of the original Dracula (it was too long, and sometimes I got bogged down by the language. Also absolutely HATED how Van Helsing spoke because clearly Stoker didn't know any actual Dutch people), but The Route of Ice & Salt is definitely a worthwhile addition to the vast Dracula canon.
Just a note: I went into this not knowing much about it, and there is a lot of explicit sexual description, as well as violence and gore (I mean, that should be a given since Dracula is involved). There is also a rather gruesome murder of a gay man described, so be aware of that if that's something that bothers you.