Customer Reviews
"For the dead travel fast" - By: B. Chandler, 05 Oct 2007 
Surprisingly "Denn die Toten reiten schnell" or "For the dead travel fast" is more than an opening line to this tale of lovein the dangerous moon light. After watching several Drac movies & a few Nosferatu's, I pretty much though I had a handle on the genera. Little did I know what a wonderful world of mystery & suspense that Bram Stoker opened up for me.
The story is told mostly third party though the papers, diaries, & phonograph recordings (on wax calendars) of those people involvein a tale so bizarre that it almost defies belief. The general story line is that of a Count that plans to move to a more urban setting (from Borgo Pass to London) where there is a richer diet. There he finds succulent women; something he can sing his teeth in. Unfortunately for him a gang of ruffians (including a real-estate agent, asylum director, Texas cowboy & an Old Dutch abnormal psychologist) is out to detour his nocturnal munching. They think they have Drac on the run but with a wing & a prayer he is always one step ahead.
Of more value to the reader is the rich prose chosen by Stoker as he describes the morals & technology of the time. We have to come to grips with or decide if we can perform the rituals that are required to eliminate vampires verses the impropriety of opening graves & staking loved ones. The powersin the book differ from the movie versionsin that they are more of persuasion & capabilities to manipulate the local weather. At one point the Dutch Dr. Van Helsing, is so overwhelmed by a beautiful vampire layingin the grave that he almost for gets why he is there & may become vamp chow.
Allin all the story is morein the cunning chase. And the question as to will they succeed or will Dracula triumph. Remember "For the dead travel fast."
Glad to have read about Vlad - By: Geoffrey Webb, 15 Jul 2007 Seen the movie, watched the Hammer films, enjoyed Buffy. But what is the story at the source of all these spin-offs ? This is nothing like reading those terrible Dickens books at school, it is gripping, interesting & unputdownable. The fact that I have seen probably a hundred stories based on Dracula did not detract from the original at all. Read it at midnight if you dare....
A great edition of a classic - By: R. Pentreath, 05 Feb 2007 
My vampiric interest stems from watching all those Hammer Horror films that always seemed to be on television when I was a child. Dracula was one of those books that I always intended to get around to one day & now I am really glad to have read it. The story is so much better than any of the hundreds of movies it spawned. Written entirely as letters & diary entries of the principle characters, telegrams & newspaper cuttings this book never drops off the pace from Harkers trip to Transylvania to the final chapter when the last of many surprises is that the Count does not actually die from a stake through the heart!, it really is "unputdownable". Should you be tempted to curl up with this splendid piece of horror I recommend this edition as it is one of those volumes that is perfectly designed from the blood red dust jacket to the size & qualtiy of the book itself. A great edition of a classic book.
Scarily good! - By: Kay Scarlet, 18 Sep 2006 I started reading this unsure of what to expect...and had finished it within 3 days, as I was unable to put it down! It goes almost straight into the story & the action starts immediately. It is also interesting that the book is written completelyin letters, journal entries & so forth. The characters are interesting, especially the count himself, & it seems quite real at times (I found myself closing all my windows & checking my room for vampires).
My only complaint was that I found that the book ended quite abruptly...the story was excellent & it prepared me for a huge, wonderful ending...and then never presented it. The book ended awfully suddenlyin comparison to the rest of the book which was excellent.
HOWEVER despite this, I still recommend this as its a great read & the book looks great with the red cover. Recommended :)
