Anno Dracula

[indiana_j]

Anno Dracula is enjoyable so far but seems far too pleased with itself.  After all, Newman did manage to fit in 90+ fictional characters from something like 70+ sources (ranging from Dracula to Salem's Lot), plus 30+ historical figures, on top of any original characters.  It just seems a little bit too much, too full of itself and far too pleased with its own cleverness.

Overall, it does detract from the novel - every time I see a name, I pause to see what book / story they're from or if they're a historical figure or original.  And it seems that there's a shit ton of names popping up every few pages!

When it gets away from that, it's fun and I'll probably get the others (in eBook format this time; I could knock someone unconscious with this physical copy) but, damn, is it really necessary to stuff that much 'cleverness' into one book?

Comments

[indiana-j.livejournal.com]

*sputters a little bit* I have a hard enough time dealing with Game of Thrones where there's a character glossary for the original characters but one to keep up with all the 'honorable mentions' ... *head desk*

o.O Yeah, that's a bit - much, really. And, yes, I've found that the slip ins take away so much from the pacing of the story that it outweighs some of the fun ones that do fit in.

[calliopes_pen]

Just went back to check--the annotations telling all the characters in The Bloody Red Baron goes from page 551, through 563, with another two pages worth of acknowledgements. Plus another 18 pages of notes that follow that. I think this is just something he's compelled to do, at this point.

I read a novel of his starring Sebastian Moran from the Holmes stories, and while there aren't as many cameos wandering through as the Dracula books, it's still a lot.

[indiana-j.livejournal.com]

Aw, hell, we're actually reading fanfiction, aren't we?