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Stoker's Dracula (Marvel Illustrated)
Stoker's Dracula (Marvel Illustrated)
Bram Stoker, Roy Thomas | 2005 | Comics & Graphic Novels, Fiction & Poetry
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I remember, when I was at University, just before the turn of the Millennium, doing a course on 'film and fiction'.

Basically, read the novel and then watch the film.

Dracula was one of the set texts on that course.

As was the film 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' which, at the time, I was unaware took, shall we say, more than a few liberties with the source material.

Since then, I've never come across a faithful adaptation.

Until now, with this probably the closest I've ever coma across/read/seen.

I'm sure we all know the story as it's part and parcel of popular culture: Dracula, Transylvania, Vampire, Van Helsing ...

Worth a read if you want to stick close but see that original text translated into a visual medium (even if some of the characters did not look *quite* how I imagined them to be).
  
The Lightning Thief
The Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan | 2005 | Children, Fiction & Poetry
6
8.6 (100 Ratings)
Book Rating
Percy Jackson is a series that I've been meaning to get around to for ages. Pretty much everybody I know who have read the books absolutely adore them.

So, when I needed a few quick reads to play catch up on my reading challenge, I decided that it was a good enough time to give the series a go.

...and it's not too bad.

There was a lot about The Lightning Thief that I enjoyed. The premise was a lot of fun. I liked the humor - especially the chapter titles. I liked the translation of Olympus from ancient European culture to modern American culture. I loved that this is a kids' series that rewards children for knowing mythology - if you're familiar with Greek myths at all, you'll know almost from the start of each encounter what Percy and the group are up against.

That's also kind where I started having problems, though.

The book is essentially non-stop action. Which isn't, in itself, a bad thing. But the action plays out like a series of video game encounters. Percy and his friends will travel so far in their quest, run into someone/a monster who will (sometimes accidentally) help them get to the next step of their quest, where they'll travel a certain distance again before running into something else. Repeat throughout the entire book. There are small moments of character building, but they're squeezed in where they'll fit between action scenes.

I'm more than willing to admit that that's just me, though. I'm not exactly the book's intended audience, and I can completely see how the pacing and whatnot would appeal to kids. I did enjoy it enough to continue on in the series, though.