Bloodline

VOYA

In 1916, Englishman John Shaw is stationed on the front lines of World War I. There is something strange but fascinating about his commanding officer Quincey Harker. After being wounded, John is sent home with fever raging. Mary Seward nurses him back to health and befriends his sister, Lily. Harker, however, arrives and seduces Lily before Mary and John discover that Harker is descended from Dracula, the fiend whom Mary's father helped to destroy years ago. Mary and John set out for Romania following Harker and Lily, hoping to catch them before they wed. In the dark, crumbling Castle Dracula, John and Lily discover horrible secrets about their lineage, and Harker wrestles with his father's sinister plan to reassert the family's control over the countryside. Reverses beset them all, and Mary finally must fight her way alone out of a castle full of vampires. Told in journal entries and letters like Stoker's Dracula, to which this book is a direct sequel, Cary's gothic romance starts slowly. Bloody scenes of war and slightly spooky incidents involving Harker on the battlefront give way to some marginally soppy romance moments before the action finally kicks in. Mary, Lily, John, and Harker share the telling of their story with little differentiation among their voices but a lot of fevered recording of events after catastrophic things have occurred. John Shaw's 180-degree character shift near the novel's end is wholly unbelievable. Those who have read Stoker's book and enjoyed it might find this one interesting. Teens will likely think that Alan Moore handled Stoker's Mina better in his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (America's Best Comics, 2003), and Elaine Bergstrom's Mina (Ace, 1994),although only for older teens, is a better sequel. VOYA CODES: 3Q 2P S (Readable without serious defects; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2005, Razorbill/Penguin Putnam, 336p., Ages 15 to 18.
—Timothy Capehart

Children's Literature

When Lily Shaw elopes with Quincy Harker, the man who had been nineteen-year-old John Shaw's battlefield commander, John and his fiance Mary Seward follow them to Romania where they discover that descendants of Count Dracula have a plan for the Shaw family: They will provide necessary fresh blood for the family line. Told in letters and journal entries, the story opens in the middle of the Great War, where Harker is a fearless warrior and Shaw is eager to join him in the carnage. Readers with a bloodlust of their own will be happy to know that after an interlude in which John recovers from an injury and Quincy and Lily fall in love, the carnage continues: sailors die aboard Harker's ship, wolves decapitate Lily's companion as they cross Transylvania, and the castle turns out to be full of vampires. John and Mary's armament—mainly holy water and communion wafers—seems pitiful in the face of such danger. However, the horror is curiously distant, removed perhaps because it is described in slightly formal language, befitting the early 20th century setting. It is hard to distinguish the individual voices, although the letters and entries are clearly labeled and the personal preoccupations are obviously different. This book is for able readers who cannot get enough of the genre. 2005, Razorbill/Penguin, Ages 13 to 18.
—Kathleen Isaacs

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-This story is an interesting blend of mystery, horror, and romance, and readers who love vampire novels will find it a refreshing twist to the classic story. Mary Seward recognizes the patient who has just been brought into the Purfleet sanatorium. It is Lt. John Shaw, who lives in the mansion near the hospital along with his sister Lily. Hoping to help him, Mary begins to read his diary, written during his tenure in the trenches in France during the Great War. John describes his encounters with a Captain Quincey Harker, a brave but "bloodthirsty" leader. Lily meets Captain Harker during one of her visits, they fall in love, and he takes her home to Romania to be married. However, Quincey is the son of Count Tepes and Mina Harker, and he has taken Lily to Dracula's Castle to fulfill the family's destiny. Lily and John are also connected to Count Tepes, as John is the son of Count Tepes and Rosemary Shaw. As the wedding day draws near, the full story of the family is revealed. Lily is faced with a dilemma-to live forever as a vampire or to end it all. Written in diary format with excerpts from each main character, this novel continues the saga of Count Dracula with a new generation. Each character is fully realized, as are the environs that surround them. Although readers know that something binds the characters together, the author maintains suspense until the end.-Jana R. Fine, Clearwater Public Library System, FL Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

What if Dracula had descendants? Cary's story begins a generation after Bram Stoker's Dracula, likewise written in diary format. John Shaw, a WWI lieutenant, is awed by Captain Quincey Harker, but when he returns home wounded to be nursed back to health by Mary Seward, he's haunted by horrifying delusions of his time with the Captain. Neither John nor Mary can prevent Harker-son of Stoker's Mina-from eloping with John's beloved sister Lily. Mary's father teaches the couple everything he remembers about his youthful battle with Dracula and sends them off to rescue Lily. It seems that Harker's not really the son of Stoker's hero Jonathan Harker, but of Dracula's descendant Count Tepes (the Romanian name for the historical Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, never used by Stoker). Much more horrifying revelations await John and Mary when they reach Transylvania and confront Harker's demonic family. Flat characterization abounds, but unexpected plot twists enliven this intriguing reinterpretation of a classic. (Fantasy. 12-16)