Book Review: Dracula’s Child by J.S. Barnes
Dracula is an absolute classic, a staple of the horror genre, a key Gothic text. Even if you haven’t read the novel, you know the story, you know the characters, you’ve seen it played out so many times and read stories based off it, seen the effects Dracula has had on vampires in the 20th Century. So what more, you might ask, could be added to Dracula and the vampire mythos? How could a sequel be written to one of the foundational horror texts?
Well, if you are asking that, and if you are dubious of another tale revolving around Mina, Jonathan, Van Helsing and the rest of their small group, I promise – Dracula’s Child is a fantastic, excellent sequel, and one which takes some of the best elements for other reimagining’s, bounces off the original, and creates something refreshing yet familiar.
There are some elements in this book – outside the characters themselves – similar to the graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the TV series Penny Dreadful, and the novel Anno Dracula. But Barnes absolutely makes these characters his own.
Years after defeating Dracula, Jonathan and Mina host an anniversary dinner with their friends, and celebrate their son Quincey’s birthday. But shadows draw around the group, and something strange is happening to the family and their friends. Meanwhile, two men on a tour of Europe encounter a strange woman in the forests of Romania.
Like the original Dracula, Dracula’s Child follows an epistolary format, presented as Quincey Harper putting together various journals, articles, letters and telegrams from the time. It works well, and really helps the Gothic feel to the novel, making it feel all the more like a continuation of the original.
The other plus side to the diary-entry format is how easily it is to get inside the heads of the characters, yet when they hold some information back it still feels realistic, giving the impression of people almost too scared to confront what is actually happening. I liked how Barnes also gave much more time to Mina, and it’s always great to see her in a more active role in any Dracula story.
This is a fantastic, solid read, and if you like the original classic, I have no doubt you’ll love dipping back into this world and reuniting with these characters. Barnes has done an amazing job.
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Grade: A
Review by Elle Turpitt