Anno Dracula’s wacky premise instantly attracted me: it follows an alternative ending to Stoker’s Dracula in which Van Helsing & co. are defeated by Dracula, who then goes off to marry Queen Victoria. Thus emerges a reign of terror, as the Prince Consort rules Britain with an iron fist. The Queen and most aristocracy become vampires and so, it is fashionable (if not necessary) for people everywhere to embrace the dark kiss themselves. Amongst the chaos, a peculiar Jack the Ripper comes into the spotlight for slaying vampire prostitutes. And so we follow Charles Beauregard of the Diogenes Club, and an elder vampire, Geneviève Dieudonné, as they strive to solve the Ripper murders.

All these, peppered with references to all other notable people of the era (Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, Bram Stoker, Sherlock Holmes, etc.), made for a promising read.

The novel collapsed under its own weight

Even though the beginning lured me right in with allusions to Romanian history and lore, the rest of the novel collapsed under its own weight. In fact, my biggest criticism is more of a personal preference and thus not really a criticism: I would’ve preferred if the plot focused on Dracula and court intrigues. Instead, this major element driving the story wasn’t even a plot line in itself, but rather something passively happening in the background.

But here comes the spiel: I would’ve never contested Newman’s choice to write a story about Jack the Ripper. This is what Anno Dracula acted as but again, failed to deliver. The reader finds out within the first few pages of the book who the Ripper is, and the moments leading up to the big reveal lack suspension to the point where I wasn’t sure if it even happened. In fact, the Ripper is a McGuffin, a device through which the protagonists meet and ultimately fall in love – a romance staler than the vampires of this novel.

It lacked tension and, ultimately, purpose

It lacked tension and, ultimately, purpose. I hardly understood why Charles and Geneviève even needed to be at the crime scene, given that they’d only witness the aftermath, shrug and engage in some steamy Victorian flirting. They never brought anything new to the table, seeing that we know who the actual Ripper is. If anything, it’s frustrating to watch them be so oblivious to the evidence. (Spoiler ahead) And, in the end, the smart Charles realises that Jack the Ripper has all along been a guy named (you guessed it) Jack.

Cool.

So far we have a missed opportunity to write about Dracula as king of England, and a failed attempt at writing a murder-mystery about Jack the Ripper, all in favour of an underwhelming love story between a vampire and a human. Don’t even get me started on how she is 400+ years old, but looks 16. I don’t even know which one’s more disturbing, given that Charles is middle-aged at best. However, this is a tale as old as time – when it comes to vampire romances, a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief is necessary!

Fun easter-eggs, but with no real substance

Lastly, I found the guest appearances of various historical and fictional characters extremely entertaining… at first. Such as when Vlad Țepeș, a raging homophobe, targets Oscar Wilde and the rest of his arty crew. But soon enough, I came to realise that all these mentions of 19th century writers and artists and politicians read as superficial fan fiction – at best fun easter-eggs, but with no real substance. It feels like a way for the writer to name-drop a few famous individuals to accentuate the Victorian decor. This has quite the opposite effect – the atmosphere passes as synthetic and disingenuous.

An averagely ok book

Are there any good things about this book? Everything I’ve mentioned doesn’t make for a bad book. Anno Dracula is averagely ok. The premise is imaginative, be it not exploited to its fullest, and the pompous Victorian-esque writing style is amusing. I appreciated the historical accuracy of Dracula’s back story. It’s well-researched and put together by what I sense is a blatant connoisseur of vampire lore. If anything, this is the loose string that carried me to the end. So I can’t fully recommend this book, but it was still a decently entertaining read.

A lot of Victoriana and steampunk buffs seem to love it, so go into it at your own risk!