Dracula Unbound (1991)

What a disappointment! I was really looking forward to reading my first Brian Aldiss - one of the 'masters' of science fiction - book. It sucked!

The characters and dialogue was flat and annoying. The imagery, with possibly the exception of the first description of the time train and the torture of Alwyn, below par for a school essay by a twelve year old. The science highly contrived. The time travel paradoxes were what you might expect from a 1950's pulp SF novel.

I doubt that I would ever read another Brian Aldiss novel, and am flabbergasted that my favourite author, Gene Wolfe lists him as a favourite, ( )

When two coffins are found below the K/T line aging them to 65 million years in the past Joe Bodenland gets involved. Add in a time machine, vampires, Count Dracula, and Bram Stoker as a character and you have got the workings over a clever and exciting novel.

I really enjoyed this story. Brian Aldiss is a master at blending science and fantasy into an epic tale through 65 million years of history. First book of his I have read but will definetely be looking for more. Perhaps the previous Frankenstein Unbound. ( )

How does one describe a novel that combines time travel, hazardous waste disposal, alternate theories of evolution, Bram Stoker, ghosts and vampires? I don't know, either. But that, in a nutshell, is this book. ( )

Normally I enjoy books about a) vampires, b) time travel and c)time travel paradox. But I have to say that I did not enjoy this one very much until a few pages just before the end when it seemed like the author got his act back together and got on track. I said to my husband that this is probably one of the worst books I've ever read, and yet I felt compelled to finish it. Why? No clue.

here's a brief look, no spoilers:
According to this book, vampires (which are definitely real here) are the evolutionary descendants of very simplistic carrion-eater life forms. Events (which I won't go into here, it would spoil the story for anyone who wants to read it), help further the evolution of the vampires along through millenia. I could actually totally have lived with that notion (fresh premise, actually; always looking for that) except that it took FOREVER through all of the winding around plot wise for us to get there. Aldiss sets his story first in the desert of Texas, where an archaeological dig reveals 2 rather human skeletons which are found below the K-T boundary, meaning that they seemingly co-existed with the dinosaurs. That was a rocking discovery indeed. As the group of main characters are pondering this, they witness a mysterious phenomenon of light in the desert sky, and attempt to capture it. This is when all of the "fun" begins.

I will say that this novel involves time travel, and one of the joys of reading this (perhaps the only one) was that the author placed Bram Stoker in the novel -- those parts were really good and made the book much more palatable.

My advice: unless you're a true, die-hard fan of stories about vampires flying through space and time on ghost trains, skip it. ( )

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. ( )