Review #43 - Anno Dracula by Kim Newman

Details:

Title: Anno Dracula

Author: Kim Newman

Publisher: Titan Books

ISBN 13: 978-0857680839

Synopsis:

It is 1888 and Queen Victoria has remarried, taking as her new consort Vlad Tepes, 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 Charles Beauregard of the Diogenes Club 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.

Review:

This book was not my usual reading genre but I ended up really enjoying it. I decided to give it a go as it is one of my best friends favourite books. (I previously tried to read his other fave book Wizard of Earthsea but simply could not get into it and DNF'd at around page 120ish.) This one however I got on with much better. I listened to the audiobook and once I got used to the narrator I really liked it. I especially enjoyed the name drops of other literary characters like Sherlock Holmes, Jekyll and Hyde and many others some of who I had to look up. But my favourite character by far was Genevieve who is an elder vampire, her character fascinated me and left me wanting to know more about her.

I gave this book 4 stars out of 5, overall it was a strong fun read but the ending was just a little disappointing.