" This was so very close to 4 stars, but the meandering plotting held it back. I realize that I am imposing my own modern expectations of pace and style, so that said, Dracula is a fantastically energized novel once it kicks into gear. Bram Stoker really does a great job of synthesizing and building on the existing vampire mythology of his era, making his famed vampire extremely familiar to a modern audience (although he has way more animal control powers than I previously recalled). Stoker makes some great choices, primary of which is Dracula remains mysterious and elusive for the entire novel's length. I believe his only dialogue is in the beginning when Jonathan Harker visits Castle Dracula. This is great, it keeps the character far spookier and unknowable than he usually is in most film adaptations (although Christopher Lee gets pretty dang close with his silent ferocious characterization of the novel quite well). I also thought the choice to make the novel entirely composed of found documents extremely interesting, especially when we got the occasional overlapping accounts. Very nifty.
My beef with the book is it is way too repetitive, especially in the various scenes with Lucy & Mina getting bit by Dracula, as well as all of the business with Renfield in the asylum. It feels like we see carbon copy scenes over and over with next to no progression. Again, this might be more of my own preference, but I am suspecting that I really prefer 19th Century short form writing (think Doyle's Sherlock Holmes tales), which have less time for this glacial pacing. Also, I was a bit let down by the finale; the chase was exciting, but the actual defeat of Drac was a bit underwhelming.
Misgivings aside, I really do recommend this to anyone wanting to get a taste of formative vampire literature. I think it is pretty accessible for folks who usually don't read literature this old as well. "
— Bryson, 1/12/2014