Anno Dracula

Book 1

By: Kim Newman

Narrated by: William Gaminara

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

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)

Great idea for a book, but poorly developed plot

Great idea for a book, but unfortunately a poorly developed plot. Too much time spent with conflicting female characters. Could have developed better the "parallel history" juxtaposed with great fictional characters. Not sure I'll follow the next books.

A.D.

My interpretation of this book,
? Not that bad.
5 stars for the effort.
You get a gold star

Borders on fanfic, Easter eggs over plot

I enjoyed it overall, some good world-building. But the sheer number of literary and historical references without any real depth beneath became frustrating. Many short cameos seem to be there just to be there, not because they add a smidgen of anything to the book.

A hugely rushed-feeling ending helped matters not at all. And the reader was good except for a French character who bordered on the Ren (as in friend of Stimpy) parody of Peter Lorre. Certainly will not read further parts of this series, enjoyable enough to finish this one though.

Fantastic Victoriana at its Finest

Kim Newman's meticulously researched Anno Dracula is a marvel of plotting and a love letter to the fantastical curios of Victorian fiction. While Dracula is the most extensively referenced text, characters created by Conan Doyle, Wells, Haggard, Kipling, Hodgson, Rohmer, Dickens, Wilde, and Shaw are seamlessly blended with historical figures to create a world that, more than any other attempt (e.g. Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentleman) feels like a distillation of the Victorian era, obsessed with its obsessions and more literal than the historical reality. All of that is without mentioning the wealth of vampire fiction that is drawn in. Nearly every historically appropriate vampire from literature, film, television, comic books, and folktales, no matter how trashy or obscure, finds purchase in this narrative--each a wonderfully accurate representation while still feeling like an authentic part of this narrative.

Unlike the almost overwhelming barrage of referential and nostalgia-based entertainment of the present day, the pleasures of arcana are only a small part of the narrative delight. Much like its source material, Anno Dracula is not a novel about ghoulish delight in blood and death but rather a novel about the horrors of everyday compromise. Vampirism, under Newman's disciplined hand, does not supplant the issues of class and race that so stratified Victorian society, rather it enhances them: forcing its characters to confront uncomfortable truths about their values, the source of their comfort, and their ability to find forward momentum in an age of torpor.

The novel is also beautifully melancholy. It eschews the climactic violence of most horror novels for the kind of quiet grief and creeping existential dread that follows in its wake. Newman writes a world where tragedy does not destroy so much as paralyze--a world that would have been intriguingly, perversely familiar to Ruskin, Gibbon, Arnold and other social critics of the age.

In short, in an era where most of our fantastical Victorian sensibilities are linked to the meritocratic anachronism of Steampunk--more interested in the aesthetic trappings of the century than the moral or philosophical concerns--Anno Dracula is a refreshingly authentic bit of Victoriana written as a companion to the great novels of its setting, rather than the cheap thrills of its own age.

Great book. Awesome concepts

Liked this story a lot. I will get to the rest of the series as soon as I can manage it. Great concepts and nicely drawn characters. Talented voice artist!

A Terrific Alternate-History Sequel to Dracula

If you've read Stoker's Dracula and thought to yourself, "What would have happened had Dracula won?" then this is the novel for you. Wonderful.

Brillant!

I purchased this awhile ago and just got around to listening to it. Now, I am kicking myself for waiting so long. This book is not only a brilliant reinvention of the Dracula world but also an insightful reinvention of the Jack the Ripper story. Kim Newman uses language to its ultimate potential to create a rich Victorian environment. Each character has a fullness and depth that adds to the quality of the story without losing its energy flow. The narration is also wonderful. There are quite a few characters in this story, but William Gaminara is able to give them all unique voices. This is a must-read for paranormal fans.

very well done

Any additional comments?

I thought Anno would be a nice diversion, but I found myself very enthralled by it. I wasn't expecting the combination of alternate history, vampire lore allusiveness, Jack the Ripper, and Victorian manners. If you have a knowledge of vampire lit you will pick up on the many allusions to famous stories. Sherlockiana, ditto. Ripperology, ditto. Victorian lit, ditto. Famous literary characters, historical figures blend and move together. Very entertaining.

A Look At Dracula

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes, they might like it if they like books on the history of vampires, in general or of Dracula, in particular.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I was not particularly impressed with the book...thought little about the ending.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

It was okay. Nothing exceptional. Hard to follow the accent, at times.

Did Anno Dracula inspire you to do anything?

No.

Any additional comments?

No.

Deeper and darker than you might expect

Although dragging a bit in places, this seems like an interesting new series. It's not the tongue in cheek horror-comedy I was expecting, but it's entertaining. Think of it more as an alternate history of Dracula.