Anno Dracula

Book 1

By: Kim Newman

Narrated by: William Gaminara

Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's 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

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)

Interesting premise, failed execution

The premise of this book contained a lot of promise, but there is no real development of the story. Everything just sort of happens, without any real development or, quite frankly, point to it. The constant "name dropping" of the author, inserting both real and fictional characters was over the top. In addition the justification for the changes to a Victorian society and the setting required to even try to make this story work fails to be believable. There are a large number of potential plot lines that begin and then either fade out or are terminated without culminating into anything. The end result is that I have the feeling the author was trying too hard to create something brilliant and never really settled on what, exactly, he was trying to do. Even the central plot of solving the "Jack the Ripper" murders really becomes secondary and fails to really develop into anything overly central to the story. To illustrate this, the characters "solve" the ripper murders and the book goes on for another 40-50 minutes.

The narrator is good and does his best with the material so I'd be willing to listen to other books that he reads, but I'm definitely not going to pursue the sequel to this book, or likely anything else Kim Newman does.

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.

Fun combo of history with famous fiction

The author did a great job combining historical figures with the prominent characters from Bram Stoker's Dracula (including Stoker himself). If the reader is not very familiar with the story of Dracula or such personages as Queen Victoria, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Jack the Ripper, the book may be less enjoyable.

The narrator was perfection. Don't be put off by the accented narrator in the clip that Audible offers - that's only the short preface.

My only complaint was the ending, which seemed to come suddenly, as if the author was tired of the whole thing. Given the excitement of the denoument, which got all my attention, there were more interesting stories to come. And then it was over.

Great Potential, Confusing Execution

Any additional comments?

I liked this book, but I'm giving it three stars. Why? Because, while the story was compelling and filled with references to Victorian literature and history reshaped by Dracula, I found it hard to follow. There are just way too many characters to keep track of. I listened to this on my iPhone, so perhaps it's easier to keep straight if you are actually reading the book, but I found myself going back several times trying to figure out which character's POV we were in and who belonged to what name (one character confusingly has two names he swaps back and forth - even in his own thoughts). I don't think it helps that the whole thing is written with a 3rd person omniscient narrator. I would also add that the story starts off kind of slowly. I found my thoughts drifting off frequently for the first hour or so of listening. Again, this may not be a problem if you are actually reading. In conclusion, I will definitely be giving the second installment of the Anno Dracula series a listen. I think the idea has a ton of potential and am hoping it will be seen through in book two.

I tried

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I love the premise of the book, but just couldn't manage to make my way through it. The performance was fine, but gave up after repeated attempts.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Would you be willing to try another one of William Gaminara’s performances?

Yes.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

A terrific premise. I'm still curious about other works by Kim Newman.

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.

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.

Could not make it 10 minutes into this story

I’d love to rate the overall story but I was unable to make it even 10 minutes into it due to the narrator’s thick accent and fast-paced reading.

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.

wonderful book

a fun read for fans of dracula, other Victorian Era public domain characters, gaslight fantasy, and English history.

Jack the Ripper meets Vlad the Impaler

With the premise of Count Dracula being married to Queen Victoria, and many other Victorian characters, real and fictional being present, I was expecting Anno Dracula to have some humour about it. Actually, it's not a funny book, and it doesn't need to be, because it's a really entertaining gothic crime mystery. The main story revolves around the pursuit of 'Jack the Ripper', with subplots revolving around relationships between the vampires and the 'warm', set in a period of change as England gets used to accepting vampires into high society, even preferring them, and making everyday decisions over whether to 'change' to get ahead in life - after all, immortality, acute senses and impressive strength can be useful.

The dark setting of Victorian London is brilliantly depicted, as are the really graphic accounts of the murders, and visceral actions of the vampires. All of this gives a wonderful filmic quality, where the vivid imagery is quite horrible, and would be a challenge for the best special effects departments. The cameos from names you recognise serve to add colour, and allow you a rye smile as names like Oscar Wilde, Jekyll and Hyde, Dr Moreau and even Bram Stoker are all given a context. Brilliantly narrated by William Gaminara, who really captured the characterisation of upper class London.

Anno Dracula

I read this book many years ago and i must say i enjoyed it even more with William ( silent witness) Gaminara narration.

It's an inventive slant on the Victorian period with many cameos from villians in that era. I so hope someone will make this into a mini series or better yet a film.

Narrator not a cretin

Well this is a hoot. What the author is doing is inherently funny, although he plays the story as a straight psychothriller - and does it very well at that, i think. I enjoyed it immensely. Other reviewers have covered the details. I mainly want to rebut one reviewer's assertion that the narrative performer is a 'cretin' for mispronouncing the heroine's name. In fact, he gets it pretty much right - said heroine is French, has a French name, written with (literally) a French accent in the book, 'Geneviève', and so 'Zhen-uh-vee-yev' is the correct pronunciation - his only misstep is to pronounce the opening 'G' as a hard 'Dj' when it would be more correctly a soft 'Zh'. I'll leave it to you to decide who the cretin might be.

Chilling, Thrilling and Blood-Spilling!

Think you know about Jack the Ripper? Kim Newman in his inimitable way weaves the dark tales of Dracula and London's first serial killer into a strange alternative thread of reality that sees the undead as social superiors, Queen Victoria married to the infamous Count and Fu Manchu in charge of the vicious underbelly of the capital's crime. Exquisite, erotic and enthralling this macabre tale is brilliantly read by William Gaminara and stands out as an unusual, shadowy and occasionally, horrifying gem. Highly recommended and hope to see the sequels added soon!

Enjoyable and gripping

What a brilliant idea. You are constantly surprised by the names that pop up from history and 19th century fiction alike and how Kim Newman weaves them into the story. It's especially good when a name crops up and you're going "where do I know that name from" then having the lightbulb moment when you realise who.

What lifts this story even higher is William Gaminara's performance. Every character has their own distinct and recognisable voice and the story delivery is brilliant. In some cases you ask yourself is it really him his voice and accent change so expertly A performance that only added to this excellent story.

Overly complicated and boring storyline

Really did not enjoy this book to the point where I gave up half way through - so forgive me if this turns into an amazing listen in the last four hours. My main issue was an overly convoluted storyline with too many characters that I struggled to develop an interest in.

A wonderful literary alternative universe

The author does a wonderful job of taking existing historical figures both real and fiction and blending them together into a gothic serial killer novel. The Victorian England in his book is a horrid vampire ruled city of darkness and blood. William Gaminara did a lovely job vocalising all the characters and mood of this first book in a series.

Just couldn't get into it - needed a good editor

Now don't get me wrong; I love the IDEA of this book. I really wanted to like it. I've just finished listening Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbvilles by the same author, and really enjoyed that. Sadly I couldn't get a hold of Anno Dracula and I got most of the way through it.

I'm actually struggling to decide why I didn't like it. The narrator didn't particularly grab me (which is never a good start) as he has quite a soft voice. But I think the main problem for was the sheer volume of characters and sub-plots you are required to follow meant that the book sort of collapsed in on itself. I wasn't entirely sure if it wanted to be a love story, or a re-imagining of the Jack the Ripper in Victorian vampire London. I think it should've stuck with the latter as this was by far the more imaginative line of the two. Some of the characters & sub plots drift in & out so quickly that you are left with a sense of lost possibilities; the idea of a prison camp on the South Downs was never really fully explored. Shame.

Very enjoyable

I bought this after Professor Moriarty and the Hound of the Durbervilles, which was excellent.
I didnt enjoy this one just as much but it is still very good and well worth the credit.
The way the story is woven in with history and fictional characters from different stories is very skillful and I would recommend this author highly.

An Excellently bloody vampire novel!

Anno Dracula by Kim Newman

Hello again to you all! It may seem odd – and it is – that I’m reviewing a vampire or horror based novel in June. But the mood struck me so why not? Anno Dracula is a famous 1992 horror and crime novel by a horror aficionado author known as Kim Newman who has won among other awards the Bram Stoker Award for Best Nonfiction work and the International Horror Guild Award for Best Novel specifically for Anno Dracula.

Kim Newman is an author I’m somewhat familiar with through slightly unusual means. I am a frequent watcher of documentaries on the history of horror as well as behind the scenes and making of featurettes on my personal collection of Universal era (1920s – 1950s) horror DVDs. On these releases and others Mr Newman is often a frequent contributor giving wider context to what the horror genre was like during the course of its development and what effect the specified film had on the development of the genre such as the 1933 James Whale production of The Invisible Man reviewed by Sgathiach for example.

The plot of Anno Dracula in simple terms is as follows: It is Victorian era London but not quite as we remember it. Grand society has changed. Queen Victoria has remarried Vlad Tepes or Count Dracula. On top of this many important figures have become vampires and there is a strong interplay between the Elder Vampires, the so called newborn vampires and the ‘warm’ humans. But there is a mad man going about town. The so called Silver Knife – or as we know him Jack The Ripper – who is going after vampire prostitutes. It is the task of Charles Beauregard – an agent of The Diogenes Club – and Geneviève Dieudonné an interested vampire to hunt down Silver Knife and stop the murders. But what effect will the murders have on the relationship between the vampires and the warm? Who can truly be trusted in this new environment? And just what was Charles’s designated mission?

Anno Dracula was a pleasant surprise! I went in expecting a slightly modernised take on Bram Stoker’s original classic or some kind of traditional horror tale – which I definitely got – but it was also interspersed with an entertaining mix of a gothic crime novel and the slow change as England both upper and lower class begins to accept vampirism and vampires – even preferring them in some cases – and the grim and rather gruesome effects this has on Victorian society. It’s also quite fun to hear names ranging from fictional figures from the famous to the obscure like Mycroft Holmes, Inspector Lestrade, Count Orlok and Barnabas Collins and historical counterparts such as Oscar Wilde, Elizabeth Báthory, Alessandro Cagliostro and Marie Corelli all being named and having various levels of involvement with the story.

On top of this the depictions of the murders are wonderfully vivid and disturbing. The kind of thing I’d expect from Hammer Horror at their best! So if the story sounds like your kind of thing? Then join the children of the night! It does feel unusually lewd at points (fitting for a genre with Le Fanu’s Carmilla in its heritage) but it is extremely entertaining for fans of horror. I also have to say that the wide variety of characters are well developed with Geneviève being my personal favourite but for various reasons I feel this is the kind of plot where I shouldn’t go into detail on the characters and it is better for readers and listeners to go in as close to blind as possible.

I do have a couple of issues however. Firstly at points the level of detail in the writing does get to a point where I start to lose focus about what exactly is supposed to be going on at this exact moment in time or who is doing what. When this happened one of two things would usually happen: Either I would zone out entirely and then refocus during the next scene when it became apparent we were following a different character out of the various POV characters and figure out what happened in the previous scene by context clues. Or during the next scene the new POV would directly address the events of the previous scene. Usually by either disparaging the previous focus character or becoming curious about them in some way. My second issue is something that might not be a problem for that many people. If you are aware of a decent selection of Mr Newman’s frequent literary and historical references, it can either be entertaining or annoying depending on your mood when you are trying to focus on the story but the sheer number of references ends up distracting you. Despite my few issues with Mr Newman’s writing I still found the story very worthwhile and a good read. Now for the audio side of things.

The audiobook edition of Anno Dracula is narrated by William Gaminara who does a fine job. He is able to give the various characters distinct voices and excellently captures that London society voice that is prevalent throughout the novel and capturing the dark mood throughout the tale. His best performances definitely being the three mains of Geneviève, Charles and Dr Seward. Gaminara is an engaging narrator taking an already very good story and making it even more grippingly gothic! I’d be more than happy to hear from him again.

In conclusion Anno Dracula is a gothic crime story well worth its excellent reputation for fans of horror and gruesome details. Should you enjoy it, it is the first of a several book series by Newman that has quite the bite to it! Especially compared to its successors and copycats. I look forward to returning to my readers soon. This adventure in ink, parchment and blood has been rather fun.


Sayonara!

Nephrite