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Anno Dracula

Book 1

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Anno Dracula

By: Kim Newman
Narrated by: William Gaminara
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Summary

With the versatile voice talent of William Gaminara, acclaimed novelist Kim Newman explores the darkest depths of a reinvented Victorian London. It is 1888, and Queen Victoria has remarried, taking as her new consort the Wallachian Prince infamously known as Count Dracula. Peppered with familiar characters from Victorian history and fiction, the novel tells the story of vampire Geneviève Dieudonné and British spy Charles Beauregard as they strive to solve the mystery of the Ripper murders.

Anno Dracula is a rich and panoramic tale, combining horror, politics, mystery, and romance to create a unique and compelling alternate history.

©1992 Kim Newman (P)2011 Audible Ltd Fantasy Historical Horror Mystery Scary Funny
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Critic reviews

"Kim Newman's Anno Dracula is back in print, and we must celebrate. It was the first mash-up of literature, history and vampires, and now, in a world in which vampires are everywhere, it's still the best, and its bite is just as sharp. Compulsory reading, commentary, and mindgame: glorious." (Neil Gaiman)
" Anno Dracula couldn't be more fun if Bram Stoker had scripted it for Hammer. It's a beautifully constructed Gothic epic that knocks almost every other vampire novel out for the count." (Christopher Fowler)
"Bloody excellent. Kim Newman has exsanguinated the best of fact and fiction and created a vivid vampirous Victorian world uniquely his own. This clever, delicious extravaganza - Hammer horror meets True (Blue) Blood - is just the tonic for the year of a Royal Wedding." (Stephen Volk)
" Anno Dracula is the smart, hip Year Zero of the vampire genre's ongoing revolution." (Paul McAuley)
"A tour de force which succeeds brilliantly." ( The Times, London)
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The story is great, if slightly rambling, but the whole thing is somewhat ruined by the reader not being able to pronounce one of the main character's name. I spent much of the book wanting to yell 'it's pronounced Jen-uh-veeve you utter cretin'. Still, that aside it was a good book.

Great story, annoying narrator

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This book took a while to grow on me, but when it did I really enjoyed it! What sold it to me in the end was the character Genevieve, who is very well-written. I found myself listening just to find out more about her! It took a good 1/3 of the book for me to untangle all of the characters and work out that she was a lead, though.

I found the numerous character names a bit confusing - especially in an audiobook, where you can't flick back through the pages to work out where you've seen the name before. This was made worse by the fact that the characters were half of the time referred to by their first names, and the other half by their surnames, so it wasn't clear which first name matched which surname. There were two characters, Art and Jack (I'm not sure how their surnames are spelled, I've only heard them spoken) that I got mixed up for the entirety of the book. I wasn't even sure if they were separate people or the same person, a lot of the time. Having finished the book, I'm still not sure who each of them was!

The narrative takes a long time to settle down - it spent a lot of time jumping between the characters' perspectives. As a result, I took ages establishing how they all knew each other (and whether or not they were the same person who was spoken about previously), and I also took ages identifying the plot, which got a bit lost as first among the varied details of these characters' lives. Eventually, however, a narrative emerged, and it became clear who the main characters were - which made it easier to relate to their journey, as it became obvious what their aspirations were, their histories and their motivations. Up until that point I'd not had anyone to root for, so had just been trying to keep up with what was going on, rather than having been enjoying the ride!

Very good, but a confusing number of characters!

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This is an interesting exploration of how the book Dracula may have continued if Van Helsing's efforts had failed, and the what implications of profligate vampirism might have been on the London of the era.



As in the best traditions of modern takes on the monster genre, the vampire is used effectively to magnify the obsessions, fears and power struggles of Victorian society. Humanity and inhumanity are displayed by vampire and 'warm' alike.



There is plenty of action as well, and the story proceeds at a good pace. The narrative details make sense and work together to give the reader the strong feeling that events are building towards some inevitable confrontation.



Many fictional personae of the era appear or are mentioned, and part of the fun of the book is in spotting them and enjoying Newman's treatment of how these lives might have been affected by this alternate history.



The book is very well read and each character's dialogue distinctive.

An old theme well treated

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I do enjoy a book that gives a good feel for the setting and world within which it occurs and this book does that.
The idea behind the story is great to begin with but don't expect a classic horror style for this book, it is very much a modern style of story despite it being set in the past.
The characters are likable and interesting, the amount of detail about supporting characters is enough without being too much and although it does seem to lose its focus towards the end it is well thought out and well structured to deliver an enjoyable story in an interesting reimagining of the world.
The narration was very good, the accents fine and the pacing of the reading suited the situation therefore it is an easy to listen to solid recording of the book.

Solid Enjoyable Fantasy Horror

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Great story with lots of 'name dropping' which I liked. smashing ending. narrator good very good.

Great story

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