(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I’m not sure when or where I first found it out, but I remember learning somewhere that Bram Stoker’s Dracula was likely at least inspired by Vlad the Impaler.
I already knew bits and pieces about Vlad – probably the most obvious things, really. This book did contain more interesting information about the real-life Dracula, but I felt that it was somewhere in between a factual, non-fiction book and a historical fiction novella.
The author did a good job of showcasing Dracula’s brutal side, but not so much how he could have been considered a hero. I was a bit surprised at the sudden mention of his wife and son – they hadn’t been mentioned so much before, so I had very little idea of what they were like with Dracula.
I did think there was a lot of opinion in this book, such as the author’s comments on how Dracula would have felt about certain things.
It was interesting to see the quotes taken from sources and I felt the use of footnotes worked really well in this book. I also like the illustrations at the end of the book.
At least one of the other books by this author looks like one I’d be interested in reading at a later date. This book was intriguing and violent and there was clearly a large amount of research that had gone into it.
Ink of Blood 