11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Inconsistent (some spoilers), January 21, 2007
This review is from: Renfield: Slave of Dracula (Hardcover)
Some of the earlier reviews some it up: the story is slight compared to the original Stoker novel and compared to Hambly's other work. It compares well to many of the host of truly embarrassing vampire novels that throng the shelves today, but that's to be expected of Hambly, a novelist with a gift for imagining truly and seeing with her own eyes. The narrator is neither truly sympathetic--a madman already, he's now made a murderer by Hambly--nor truly monstrous in the best vampire tradition. It's foreshadowed that Renfield's not going to get back together with his family, but we don't feel for him enough to care much. And Rensfield's decisions--if the point is to make us feel he had no other choice, that he's a tragic victim, we just don't get that. If he really loathes his vampire existence so much, would he be heading off to India with the Bride of Dracula, and would the last line of the book be an ecstatic anticipation of new and yummy insect life? Would he relinquish his staking plans so comfortably? If the point is to show us a self-deluded madman who can make any selfish or brutal choice seem justifiable, and perhaps to draw connections between Renfield and contemporary figures who do the same thing, then it's better done in ateen novel about date rape, from the rapist's point of view. If the point is to comment on the narrow choices of Victorian women (given Rensfield's reason for his murders), that theme comes and goes in a manner almost waffling. The book's not "bad"--Hambly doesn't do bad--but it really is...inconsistent.
What I'd really love to know is how this came to be: was Hambly re-reading Dracula one night and got obsessed? Was she pondering Renfield's rather odd motives and decided to craft some for him? Did her publisher suggest doing more with the vampire-prone audience? I don't suppose I'll ever know, but I surely am curious.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Way below Barbara Hambly's other works, October 23, 2006
This review is from: Renfield: Slave of Dracula (Hardcover)
I pre-ordered the book as soon as it was announced on the basis of Ms Hambly's previous vampire books. What a disspointment that one was! The only thing "for" the book is the original point of view from the servant's eyes, not the vampire, and that's all. The language is good as should be expected but the characters are barely there, their actions not always following any logic (even twisted one) and the plot is simply weak. The overall impression was boring, boring and boring. If you want to have great pleasure with Hambly's vampire books, read her 2 Don Ysidro ones - they have all that Renfield lacks.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Twist On A Classic Character!, September 10, 2007
This review is from: Renfield: Slave of Dracula (Hardcover)
I went into this book not expecting too much to be honest. I knew that it was a spin-off of Dracula focusing on Renfield, of course, and imagined it to be some sort of horrific, crazed lunatic badly done insult to Bram Stoker that I would read anyway just for fun. I couldn't have been more wrong! It was a wonderful book!
Renfield: Slave of Dracula is written with the utmost respect for Bram Stoker's original work. Barbara Hambly did a remarkable job with this book. The book's main focus is, of course, the character of Renfield, resident of Dr. Seward's asylum who consumes life in the form of spiders and flies in the hopes of strengthening his own. Renfield comes to have visions and meetings with Dracula and quite literally becomes a slave of the mind to him calling him "Master."
Hambly retells Bram Stoker's tale through the eye's of Renfield with this book and takes absolutely no liberties with Stoker's original story, which made me so happy! She certainly adds things that "weren't seen" in Stoker's original so that she does have her own novel, but when dealing with his own story, she changes nothing. The story is told through journal's written by Renfield from his cell that often start with an insect count, i.e.: "20 May 7 flies, 3 spiders", letters from Renfield to his wife and child, original passages from Stoker's Dracula, and through a third person narrative.
Hambly has also worked in an incredible story involving the three vampire women that live in Dracula's castle that I loved. I'm not going to talk about it too much because I don't want to give much away, but one of the women by the name of Nomie was actually quite a beautiful character and one that I sympathized with quite a bit.
There is one huge twist in the middle of the book that really makes this one her own. She picks up Renfield's story where Stoker ended it and I'm sure you can guess the basics of how she may have been able to do that. But I'll say no more, which really kills me because this is where we find out all kinds of cool stuff about Renfield. But of course it's all stuff that Hambly made up, not Stoker...but she really did a great job with it.
Overall, I really, really enjoyed this book. It was handled perfectly. I was very leary about this one and in the wrong hands it could've been a travesty. But you can tell that Hambly has the utmost respect for Bram Stoker. What she has added to the character of Renfield fits well with what we knew of him from Dracula and the story that she creates is a fascinating one! Highly recommended for fans of this character!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
