Tag: dark fiction

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Dracula; Here’s What I Think So Far. What Are Your Thoughts?

Hello Readers,

***Spoiler Alert***

So, Dracula has started on Netflix. I’m 3 episodes in already and they run for around an hour each, so they cover a fair bit of ground. Episode 1 got off to a great start with me. It really came across like Bram Stokers Dracula. The make-up/effects are pretty good and it starts close to the original story, but as it got further into the episode it started to go a little down hill for me. Episode 2 again starts pretty well and then dwindles some. And don’t get me started on episode 3.

In my opinion the series tries to be both scary and funny, but doesn’t quite pull either off. I find Agatha Van Helsing really annoying (but to give full disclosure, my better half – AKA “My Amazing Woman” – really likes Van Helsing’s character). And that’s not all I don’t like… The vampire tropes are confused, the story jumps into the future, and apparently all a known deadly vampire needs to be released into the human-smorgasbord-of-a-world, is a good lawyer. No arguments. That’s it. Bon appetite!

I wanted this show to be truly dark and scary, I wanted to love it, I wanted it to be great, but in fact I find I have an ambivalent relationship with it. Sometimes I like it and sometimes I don’t. It isn’t awesome, but it isn’t that bad that I won’t watch it. There are some great scenes in it. It just isn’t what I wanted it to be.

So what do you think? Feel free to comment below.

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

Or if you’d rather read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, you can purchase yourself a copy from the links below (P.S. There are so many versions out there I will leave it up to you to pick which one is for you):

Amazon.com.au
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Kobo

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The Witcher. What Do You Think?

Hello Readers,

I must admit that I am a big fan of Grimdark/Dark Fiction and I am also bit of a movie lover. So it is no surprise that I have long awaited the release of the Witcher series on Netflix. The computer game was highly regarded and raved about by many back in the day. I have yet to read the book, but it has high reviews and a relatively small amount of disappointed readers. As for the series… That has been compared to Game Of Thrones. I’m not sure I would put them on the same level, but one thing is for sure, there seems to be a lot of mixed feelings about the TV adaptation.

In my opinion it is slow to get started, but the more I watch it the better it gets. I really didn’t start to enjoy it much until episode 3, and after finishing the 1st season, I certainly would not liken it to G.O.T. It is nowhere near on the same level for me. If I had to make a comparison, I would compare it to the TV series Hercules or Xena. To be honest, I find Geralt’s character quite boring, but I think this is because the series portrays him to be void of emotions (and I am not sure if this is how the book portrays him). I find some issues around this as he clearly displays feelings for other characters, such as Yennefer. What Geralt lacks is made up for in the character of the bard, Jaskier. He can be annoying, but he’s funny and brings that little extra something to the show. I also like Yennefer’s character, she is likeable, but she has her own personal issues and a darkside to her that makes her very interesting to me.

Watching this series has prompted me to add the book to my ‘To Read’ list, and if you are after a copy of your own, you can purchase it from the following links:

Amazon.com.au
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon
Kobo

Anyway, overall I enjoy the show and will continue to watch through the next season when it comes out. If you have watched the show yourself, I’d love to know what you think of it. Just post your comments below.

Happy Reading!

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

If you liked this post please share it with your friends on social media.

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