Dracula Unbound [Hardcover]

Brian Wilson Aldiss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1991

Two men transcend the dimension of time and save a dying world in a battle against the most elusive and deadly creatures ever to stalk the earth. Reprint. NYT.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Science fiction harbors an unfortunate subgenre wherein time travel is used to explain away the creative genius of past artists. A sample of his work might be brought to a master before "he" has created it; he might be exposed to another era and thus to events that then inspire his (now unimaginative) work. Aldiss ( Greybeard ), winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards, here sails very close to that wind. Dracula sends assassins to kill Bram Stoker before he can write his novel about vampires. Joe Bodenland hijacks a time train from the vampires and rides it to London in 1896, where he teams up with Stoker. Together they set off to save humanity from the undead, with assistance from Stoker's gardener and Bodenland's family. The writing is drab, imparting none of the excitement expected from such fertile subjects. The introduction of time travel does nothing to enhance the original vampire story. Except for Stoker, the characters lack motivation and substance enough to make them attractive to the reader. Even Lord Dracula lacks bite.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 196 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (February 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060165936
• ISBN-13: 978-0060165932
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,822,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A meandering tale that did not keep my interest, February 2, 2002

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dracula Unbound (Paperback)

The basic premise of the book is an interesting one and is similar to a theory put forward by Carl Sagan in his book, "The Dragons of Eden." In "Dragons . . ", Sagan argues that the innate fear that humans have of reptiles is a genetic remnant of the struggle for dominance that took place between reptiles and mammals millions of years ago. Aldiss explains the human fear of vampires as another relic of the development of the human species, describing vampires as a separate species, evolved from carrion eaters. While that is an interesting premise, the story line meanders too much to be consistent.
He introduces a train used by the vampires to move through time, and the humans capture it and use it to their advantage, ultimately via time loops that are not well explained. The capture of the train is simply too easy, a device this critical would be very well guarded by the vampires and they would have mounted an all-out offensive to recapture it. The ultimate bomb used to destroy the vampires exceeds the bounds of the number of "new devices" that are allowed in a science fiction tale.
I did enjoy the inclusion of Bram Stoker, the author of the original Count Dracula vampire story. The description of this man of Victorian times is without question the best part of the book.
This was not a book that kept my attention. The story meanders and the actions of the vampires in allowing the capture and possession of the time train while they are capable of sucking blood from the neck of the thief was just too much. I finished it, but this is one tale that did not excite me.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars No Attempt to Be Believable., September 20, 2006

By 

CV Rick (Minneapolis, MN, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dracula Unbound (Paperback)

Spoilers:

There is so much wrong with this book that I couldn't even begin suspending disbelief. Vampires are an ancient species of shapechanging parasites who coexisted with dinosaurs. Time travel can occur on a ghost train and that train can be hijacked by humans who just barely learned of its existence. Hudson Bay was created by a powerful nuclear weapon from the future transported to the distant past in order to annihilate the vampire species . . . bleh!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vampires through time., October 21, 2002

By 

M. A. Ramos (Florida USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dracula Unbound (Hardcover)

I read any books about vampires, and Dracula in particular. When I picked this I had no idea that it was a gothic Sci Fi book....Dracula has a time machine and knows how to use it. Some of the tale seems a stretch even for Sci Fi. But I enjoyed that Bram Stoker is in this book, a nice tribute. Good thing about the book, once you get pass the begining, the book picks up and is a fun read.