Hearts of Stone (Dracula, #1)

by A J Gallant

[inlibrisveritas]

I received a complimentary copy of this book in order to review it.

Well this was certainly one of the most unique novels based around Dracula that I’ve ever read. The premise is pretty interesting and execution is really…for the lack of a better word, weird. It wasn’t what I was expecting at all, and I actually had to take a few days toward the beginning to get into the mood for such a goofy read so that I could fully enjoy it. The writing really threw me for a loop because it was really good and then suddenly there would be a really crazy comparison thrown in or an odd character to mix things up, and I’d be at a loss. At times the writing did become a bit relaxed but there was something humorous about it.

I will say that I did not like having so many characters being introduced so quickly and maintained thorough out. There was a lot of plotting and when you take into account that there are well over 10 bad guys introduced you are liable to get confused as to who is doing what. There are a ton of bad vampires in this and only a handful of good vampires, so the playing field is uneven and they waste no time in dispatching each other when the chance presents itself. I think the best thing about the characters is that it’s easy to ‘feel’ for them. Keith, a particularity gross vampire, is incredibly easy to hate…in fact he down-right grossed me out at times. Dracula is a rather funny character that is suicidal and has a very dry outlook on things, he was by far my favorite character. I couldn’t decide if I enjoyed Jenny as a character though, she was an interesting character and I loved how powerful she was but she was also really odd to read about. I think the balance of maturity versus age was off, and she was a bit awkward to read about. There is also a cute romance involved as well that gives you a bit of break from all the people eating.

As I said before it’s a rather humorous read and that actually makes it hard for me to rate. On a normal day I would not read something like this but it made me laugh and I loved the weird little twists involved.