I've had a galley of this book sitting on my shelf for years. Every time I considered giving it away I held on thinking I really would like to read it--now I finally did and it was worth hanging on to it. There's not a lot here about Dracula in art. It's really more at the end of the book that it gives an overview of the many many vampire stories that we're still familiar with today. Most of the book is about the actual vampire Vlad Tepes, the Impaler, Dracula. I didn't know that much about him, and to say he led an interesting life is an understatement. He certainly gives his fictional counterpart a run for his money in terms of being larger than life--and often terrifying. I really enjoyed everything I learned about the world he lived in and his place in it.

But I'm certainly glad I never had to live as one of his subjects, much less go to one of his parties.