Did you love the story in the book Dracula by Bram Stroker? (Click here to read my review of that book.). Did you also enjoy the style of the book The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova? (Read my review of that book here.) If so, then Hambly’s book is your next read.

Readers who are familiar with the story line and characters in Stoker’s book, will have no trouble falling right into Hambly’s book. Much of the action that takes place in Dracula happens in this book too, but, from the point of view of the character Renfield, (who is Dracula’s slave in both books). Renfield is “connected” to Dracula, and also to his three wives, and as a result, is able to “watch” the events that are going on that involved the other characters, despite the fact that he, himself, is locked in a mental hospital for a big chunk of the book. It was a nice treat to “visit with” many of the characters from Stoker’s book, once again, and the viewpoint from inside Renfield’s head was an interesting twist.

Hambly includes some passages from Stoker’s book, mostly in the form of letters or journal entries that were written by one of the main characters. The inclusion of letters and journals was something that was done very well in Kostova’s book, so, if you enjoy that form of narrative, you can get a little of that here.

I would strongly advise reading Stoker’s book before you try reading Hambly’s, so you have a good idea of who all the characters are before you jump into this book. Also, it’s more fun if you know the original story, so you can see where Hambly played around with it, in my opinion. If you happen to like stories about vampires, this book will interest you. I found Hambly’s book to be easier to read than Stoker’s was, in part because I already knew the characters and had a good guess about many of the events that were going to take place. Hambly’s book is more recent, so, you don’t end up reading confusing chapters about a ship trying to navigate a storm told by three or more minor characters, all of whom are speaking with a different accent and using different slang, (which you do find in Stoker’s book). This book ends in a completely different way than Dracula does, as Renfield attempts to gain his freedom. Dracula fans will love this book.