iDRAKULA
Bekka Black
Published: Oct. 2010 (Sourcebooks Fire)
Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon
Rating (out of 5): 3 stars
As the title suggests, iDRAKULA is an adaptation of the gothic lit classic Dracula. For those of you who have only watched the movie with Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves and Winona Rider, the original work (which you should read) relies heavily on correspondence between main characters Jonathan Harker and Mina Murrows. With iDRAKULA Bekka Black has translated the emotions and plot from the original into the way teenagers today would handle the same situation: namely via text messages and emails.
If you’re familiar with the original story, then iDRAKULA is a ton of fun. Cleverly devised, the text message book captures the mindset of conveying much through brevity. Seeing lines like “Renfield went nuts. No details.” made us laugh because it’s oddly accurate.
The only drawback here is that you do lose the nuances of the original Dracula tale, particularly the sexuality and blood lust aspects. However, as this one is certainly for the younger set, that’s probably not a big deal. The book definitely keeps its focus on the ferocity of vampires, and it’s hard not to dig that.
To mirror the brevity of the book, we’ll get to the point: iDRAKULA is a remarkably fun read for any fan of Dracula. We could see it as a great companion piece to teens reading Bram Stoker’s original piece. It’s a very quick read at 150 pages of text messages, emails and web browser images. It took only an hour to read, but we had a blast doing so.
Sexual content: Kissing, references to sex
I am going to read Dracula this month and then I think I will pick this up. Sounds good, thanks!
Great review! This one looks like a ton of fun!
This cover looks like a lot of fun. I have to be honest and say that I have not read the original Dracula but maybe I should read that one and then follow it up with this one?!
This one looks great! I want it!!! 😀
actually i read the book and i gotta say it is one of my favorites now!!!!!!!