When one thinks of a true Gothic novel, what comes to mind?
What about the best vampire to ever stalk the streets in search of blood? What
about the most bad-ass vampire hunter to wield a stake and mallet? The answer
to all these questions is, of course, the novel Dracula. With so much in Bram Stoker’s masterpiece to love, why did
he never write more in the Dracula mythos? I do believe Kate Cary thought the
same thing and, to rectify the situation, she sat down and penned the fabulous Bloodline, the unofficial sequel to Dracula.
Bloodline is a
continuation of the Dracula mythology with the story of Quincy Harker: a
charming, rogue British army officer who has been leading a secret life because
he’s a vampire. He seduces an innocent girl by the name of Lily and, when he
takes her back to his family’s castle in Transylvania,
he lures her older brother to save her. This, in turn, is all part of a much
bigger plot involving the cursed bloodline of Dracula.
The author of Bloodline
(and its sequel Bloodline Reckoning)
is Kate Cary who has also written for the series Warriors under the pen name of Erin Hunter. She’s a fairly unknown
author but it hardly matters: she has an elegant and intelligent style that hard
to put down once you start: especially with the Bloodline series.
Bloodline has some
very interesting characters: some new and some homage to the original Dracula
story. Until the last part of the novel though, there are only four characters
that you need concern yourself with. John Shaw is the kind-hearted, older
brother of Lily Shaw, who is the innocent and naïve soul that Quincy Harker,
the charming vampire, has seduced to become his vampire bride. Along for the
ride is Mary Seward, a nurse that fell in love with John and wishes to help him
save his sister from a grisly undeath.
Of these four characters though, Quincy and Mary are the most fleshed out. No
disrespect to John and Lily Shaw, but John spends the first half of the book
raving mad from his experiences in the First World War, and Lily is just such a
weak human being her character is washed out by the more commanding Quincy, who
she spends most of the book with.
Bloodline has some
great locations within its three hundred and fifty pages. It begins with one of
my favourite locations: the trenches of war torn France. The picture of war is
painted beautifully with the mud, the vermin, the violence, and gore of the
First World War. Moving from the trenches of France
is a war hospital in England
that used to be an asylum and a gloomy old manor where Lily lives. When Quincy meets her at this gloomy manor, they make their way
across Europe before arriving at the imposing and dark castle that Quincy calls his
childhood home. They’re great locations that, without over imposing, showcase
the characters wonderfully.
Bloodline is a
great book written around what could have been a really lacklustre topic. I
mean a sequel to Dracula? Who needs
that? As it turns out, I needed a sequel to Dracula no matter how non-sequitur
it may seem! The characters are genuine, the writing is poignant and on tone,
and the locations paint a grim and gothic façade that really bring this
unofficial sequel of Dracula to life.
My final thoughts on Bloodline
are that this is a great take on the Dracula mythology. It gives us characters
that are human, even when they’re vampires and the writing is vivid and
powerful as first person diary entries are a great homage to the original Dracula
novel. Plus there’s some steamy lesbian vampire sex! Plus being set in World
War One is always a big draw for drama, violence, and good ol’ fashioned
vampire gore–none of that Twilight ‘I only eat animals’ garbage! All added up
and Bloodline gets high marks from
me!
No comments:
Post a Comment