Tomes of Shadowstalking

Welcome to the land of shadows, where evil is the greatest power, where nightfall marks the birth of terror, where your very soul is at risk. Join me as I investigate worlds filled with black magic and dark souls and encounter the monsters rule these wicked places.

This review does not represent the opinions of the general public. It reflects my personal thoughts and opinions on the book.

That said, on to the review!

Something strange is happening at the Grand Canyon. In one particular offshoot called the Deep Canyon, time seems to be going haywire...or is it that someone or something is manipulating it? Detective Joe Keogh and some colleagues are on the scene searching for a missing girl, and Mr. Strangeways--Dracula under another name--suddenly appears with news that a nosferatu is involved...and something else. No doubt one vampire can handle another one, but what about the strange sentient offspring of the Great Unconformity? Can the centuries-old Dracula triumph against a threat that exists outside of time?

There isn't a whole lot going on relating to Dracula PVH (pre-Van Helsing), which meant me losing some interest. However, the author makes up for it in part by taking the reader back into prehistory when mammoths roamed the plains, giant bears roamed the South, and the Grand Canyon wasn't quite so grand yet. Learning something about the past is usually interesting...and it was...but I still wish the author had incorporated Dracula's past into the text more.

The part about the Great Unconformity producing some sort of sentient aspect of itself really threw me. This was somewhat harder to swallow than all the Arthurian lore that appeared in earlier books. Magic I can deal with: it has some basic rules, and considering that we're talking about a vampire here, it's almost expected, so the Arthurian inclusions weren't too difficult to understand. This thing about a particular layer of strata being so strange as to directly affect time is not so easy to comprehend, let alone accept. Still, if you're a fan, you can force yourself to undergo a "willing suspension of disbelief" and read on. I'm a fan, so I suspended my disbelief and went on. Hope you do, too. Fortunately, the next book isn't so difficult to accept.

It's hard to tell if Dracula's trying to save the world again or not. The strange sentient creature is a threat, I guess, but it's easier for me to accept if I consider that D's just helping because a vampire's involved, and that thing is coincidentally involved in the whole mess. Yes, that's easier.

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