Review of Dracula's Guest

[Ngozi Onyibor]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Dracula's Guest" by Amaya Tenshi.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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Grief and guilt have consumed Cammy since vampires killed her friend/roommate, Heather. The mystical nature of Heather's death made her feel unsafe in the apartment they used to share, as she feared the supernatural creatures would come after her. Hence, she thought it wise to seek refuge in the home of the man who defeated the vampires and rescued her, a decision that came with more challenges than she bargained for.

Dracula's Guest by Amaya Tenshi is a fantasy novel with a modern backdrop. It is rich in action and suspense and features many fantastical creatures with distinct characteristics and personalities. Most of all, it provides a fresh take on the Dracula/vampire lore.

The juxtaposition between Dracula's old-world views and Cammy's contemporary insights is a beautiful blend of vintage and modern, which makes for an intriguing contrast and reading experience. I utterly enjoyed following Dracula's story. His dialogues were often profound, and he had the most amusing view of modernity, which I found entertaining and thought-provoking. His views, especially his reaction to the self-service robots at a store, got me thinking about what our ancestors would think of our current society.

One area of weakness I noticed in the story is the scant attention the passing of Cammy's friend got. For an event that was an essential element of the book's plot and affected Cammy's personality, I expected a more fleshed-out explanation of what led to it rather than the crumbs of information I garnered while reading. Dracula's Guest is the first book in the series, so I hope the next installment will shed more light on the subject.

Furthermore, this is a minor pet peeve, though. However, I found the author's attempt to set their book apart somewhat unpleasant. The author did this by having one character frequently state that the information people have about his life and vampires from books and movies is incorrect. All the rebuttals did was break my immersion in the story and remind me that I was reading a fictitious book.

Despite the quibbles I mentioned, the story was entertaining. The author's note at the end of the novel was insightful, as it answered many questions I had after reading the book. However, it appears the copy of the book I read was the unedited version. I noticed multiple grammatical and punctuation errors that were highlighted in yellow. I would be glad to give the book a rating higher than 4 out of 5 stars after it undergoes professional editing.

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Dracula's Guest
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[NetMassimo]

This seems like an interesting interpretations of Dracula's story, albeit with some minor flaws and with errors I hope will be correctly by the author to prevent distractions while reading. Thank you for your great review!