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Dracula tells the tale of a sinister Transylvanian aristocrat who seeks to retain his youth and strength by feeding off human blood. The author, Bram Stoker, a young Victorian theater professional, was probably inspired by the strange epidemic of vampirism that occurred in remote parts of Eastern Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. These stories were recounted by travelers who later arrived in England and other parts of Western Europe. Stoker initially meant the tale to be written as a play in which he wanted Sir Henry Irving, a leading Victorian actor, to play the role of the malevolent Count Dracula. However, as circumstances would have it, Irving never played the part and Stoker's story finally took the form of a novel. The book, published in 1897, is constructed in a very interesting format. The story is told via a set of letters, diary entries, ship's logs and newspaper reports. It begins with the journey of a young lawyer, Jonathan Harker, who is traveling to Transylvania on his legal firm's business, to finalize the transfer of a property in England to an East European aristocrat, Count Dracula. Harker is initially charmed by the suave and debonair count's hospitality, but gradually comes to realize Dracula's malevolent intentions. The plot takes up the tale of various other people in the story – Harker's fiancée Mina, her friend Lucy, a former suitor Dr Seward and his teacher, Professor Van Helsing. A host of other characters adds to the twists and turns in the narrative. Dracula represents the dawn of Gothic horror fiction in the contemporary era and its earliest reviews called it “blood-curdling” though it didn't receive much commercial success. However, it really caught the public imagination with its American publication in 1899, and in the 20th century, when film and television versions began to appear. Today, Dracula-theme tours are one of the hottest attractions in countries like Romania in Eastern Europe and studies have uncovered the historical figures who actually existed behind the fictional character of the evil count. A great read for a dark and gloomy night. Just make sure your windows are tightly shut!
Yup that's interesting....but some unique features must be there...spooky must be shown in our eyes
Yup that's interesting....but some unique features must be there...spooky must be shown in our eyes
The story was well read. However, I felt Van Helsing needs to be re-recorded. It felt like he was reading it for the first time.
Great story...tried to follow it in the book...one of the female readers often sounded as though she was talking in a muffled way making it difficult to follow. Otherwise well read by others.
Also “Jonathan Harker” sounds like he has a Frog in his throat. Just saying.
Absolutely loved this book, loved all the voices except for Dr Seward’s voice, goodness me it drove me half insane. it wasn’t the actors fault, it was just ill-matched. The casting was not perfect.
It took me several attempts to give this a listen, but this is a fairly good or an almost great reading of Dracula. Unfortunately, it begins with the worst reader as Jonathan Harker, who I can only assume is unfamiliar with human speech. A very unnatural cadence and terrible with accents.The other readers are quite good and give a real depth to their characters, and make pushing through the Jon Harker chapters worth it. The accents for Dr. Seward and Van Helsing aren't always great, but they do an excellent job of conveying themselves. Nina Harker's reader easily performs the best with great accents, clear pronunciation and seems to never have an issue in her chapters. I particularly enjoyed her reading as Nina quoting other characters.
This is such a great story and the reading of 'Dr Seward' is absolutely awful, it ruins the experience for the listener. I tried to persist and deal with it but it's like dragging nails across a blackboard. This book needs to be re-read again.
I've always loved the story and I was pleasantly surprised by the audiobook. All narrators did an awesome job. The only small critique I have is that Jonathan Harker's voice sounded much louder than the others, which meant I had to turn the volume down every time he was reading. (but that's okay) Thank you for this audiobook!
Great story beautifully read, especially Mena Harker. I initially had trouble with Dr Seward's voice but its worth persevering - his style grew on me & towards the climax of the book his reading really injects genuine suspense. Well worth a listen :)
This was my first experience with the full story of Dracula, as written by Bram Stoker. I can honestly say I loved it. I wish more audiobooks were done this way, with a voice fore each character. I know it took some coordination to make this happen, and it turned out great. I have listened to this audiobook 4 times total, and it never gets old. Each reader does a great job fleshing out their character, in my opinion. And I can't recommend this enough!
This is very very good .thank you
it's great book,like it
Quite brilliant readers, wonderful voices, very thoughtfully done.
we have to tell that was a good book
I love the story Dracula, but reader in the beginning messes it up for me. I can't get past the reader's voice, and i can barely understand the reader. I wish someone would reread this story. I really love the story.
Really nice audiobook. But I agree that some other reader should have been chosen for Dr. Seward. Prof. Van Helsing sounds amazing!
All the readers were completely great--Elizabeth Klett is my favorite narrator on this site, and she is, characteristically, wonderful as Mina.
Very good work by all the readers; however i wish they would have chosen a different reader for Seward (who speaks more than anyone else in the book). He does a great job in reading, but his voice is just a little disturbing. He sounds just like the teacher in "Clueless" and that's the only face I could see while he was reading. I can see the Yoda thing, though.
I also agree that the voice of Dr. Seward DOES sound like Yoda.
This is a good audiobook, however, some of the narrators are hard to listen to (Dr. Seward and Jonathan Harker).
I agree, this is read well by all narrators.
This is a great story and I have listened to this reading over and over. I don't understand the negative comments about MB and Denis Sayers. They both did a great job; really getting the character and atmosphere just right and I thank them both (and all readers) for giving up their time to read this story which has given me a lot of pleasure. Well done all - thank you. To anyone who hasn't listened, do yourself a favor and download it now.
I was surprised by how much i enjoyed this book, and ALL readers - well done! I disagree with those saying the reader for Dr Seward and Van Helsing sound like Yoda, while vaguely similar in tone, i thought he did a great job of conveying the emotion and persona of the characters and gravitas of the situations. Ditto for MB, who cast a wonderfully somber and chilling tone in Harker's journals. Recommended to all!
Dennis Sayers reading Dr. Seward annoyed me to no end! I love this book, my favorite of all time! The narrators were wonderful but Dr. Seward and Van Helsing's voice were just the worst! YODA is all I could think about...waiting for him to say to Harker that Dracula was his father!
It was a great book but it needs a few tweaks.
To the reader of Ms. Nina, you have a fantastic reading voice, and read aloud as if not reading from a book. Out of the other character reading I have heard in this book and others, you should read for more books! Please read for more books!
Big hand to all the voice actors on this one, keeping each voice the same the whole way through. I must add MB was fantastic! Start of the book was by far my favorite and MB did a fine job of making the setting feel like you were really in Transylvania, speaking with both a ghastly yet formal tone with appropriate character emotion. Didn't make a difference to me if she played a male she spoke with fear in her voice just as Harker would have. All voices were great and MB kept me reading.
The use of different narrators to read each character (even though Dracula is not a play) was a risky move, and it worked very well. I have to admit I did not enjoy the story itself nearly as much as I was expecting, as I was disappointed by the use of a what seemed to be a few cheap literary devices. However, I'm sure that more discerning critics than myself would disagree.
The reader MB spoiled the whole recording. Apart from this I enjoyed it very much. Thanks for this book. 3 stars only because of the distracting voice of MB. I apologize to the specific reader in advance but I had to point it out!
Very enjoyable book with the help of many gifted narrators.
Anyone else think Dr. Seward and Van Helsing sounded like Yoda?
Aside from the apparently universally disliked voice acting of MB (though beggars can't be choosers, if I didn't have speech disfluency that would make my reading even more disliked I would volunteer myself to reread) this was rather stupendously done.
Thank you for this amazing book. Terrific readers ! Hats off.
I think this is an excellent book. Though I too have a problem with Harker. The voice is too feminine and sounds wet like the reader's mouth is full of saliva.
It's testament to Bram Stoker's writing that despite creating a genre of it's own that has been remixed umpteenth times, this book never fails to bore nor sound too familiar. The voice acting is excellent. The standout is the reader who plays Dr Seward. He is the main narrator and also does very good voice impressions for multiple characters.
A very nice audiobook. in fact, one of the best ones i've listened to.
My first ever audio-book reading! I have been wanting to read this for such a long time and have taken to listening to this at work. The voice acting is really good for all but Johnathan Harker. There was a foreboding sense of dread that even Dracula could not match when it was made apparent that I would have to listen to that individual cast member again. Great read and a dark, interesting insight on Vampires. Will certainly recommend this to anyone inclined to listen.
Undoubtedly, this is fantastic! My national language is Portuguese, I have been listening to these book for six months, and I have never found such a wonderful reader, the voice is excellent, fabulous reader!
Excellent reading - best audio book I've listened to so far. The different readers do such a good job.
Does the guy who plays van helsing even speak english?
I love the fact that each narrative voice has its own reader-- it really makes this story come to life. I've caught myself glancing at the screen expecting to see images of the story they are telling. There are a few readers that are less good (they are volunteers, after all, right?), but overall this is a wonderful listen. This book was a treat to listen to and had me wondering the whole time what would happen next.
This is a nice book and a must read I have done it 7 times and now the audio book and am must say it is not bad at all.
The readers tone of voice made it difficult to listen to the book in noisy places.
I highly recommend this book. Excellent and very addicting.
Obviously, this is a classic. There's no doubting that. The reader however, made it difficult for me to continue listening. While I have much appreciation for the volunteers who read these books, a classic such as this should be treated as such.