Kathleen Isaacs (Children's Literature)
When Lily Shaw elopes with Quincy Harker, the man who had been nineteen-year-old John Shaw’s battlefield commander, John and his fiancé Mary Seward follow them to Romania where they discover that descendants of Count Dracula have a plan for the Shaw family: They will provide necessary fresh blood for the family line. Told in letters and journal entries, the story opens in the middle of the Great War, where Harker is a fearless warrior and Shaw is eager to join him in the carnage. Readers with a bloodlust of their own will be happy to know that after an interlude in which John recovers from an injury and Quincy and Lily fall in love, the carnage continues: sailors die aboard Harker’s ship, wolves decapitate Lily’s companion as they cross Transylvania, and the castle turns out to be full of vampires. John and Mary’s armament--mainly holy water and communion wafers--seems pitiful in the face of such danger. However, the horror is curiously distant, removed perhaps because it is described in slightly formal language, befitting the early 20th century setting. It is hard to distinguish the individual voices, although the letters and entries are clearly labeled and the personal preoccupations are obviously different. This book is for able readers who cannot get enough of the genre. 2005, Razorbill/Penguin, $16.99. Ages 13 to 18.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2005 (Vol. 73, No. 13))
What if Dracula had descendants? Cary's story begins a generation after Bram Stoker's Dracula, likewise written in diary format. John Shaw, a WWI lieutenant, is awed by Captain Quincey Harker, but when he returns home wounded to be nursed back to health by Mary Seward, he's haunted by horrifying delusions of his time with the Captain. Neither John nor Mary can prevent Harker-son of Stoker's Mina-from eloping with John's beloved sister Lily. Mary's father teaches the couple everything he remembers about his youthful battle with Dracula and sends them off to rescue Lily. It seems that Harker's not really the son of Stoker's hero Jonathan Harker, but of Dracula's descendant Count Tepes (the Romanian name for the historical Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, never used by Stoker). Much more horrifying revelations await John and Mary when they reach Transylvania and confront Harker's demonic family. Flat characterization abounds, but unexpected plot twists enliven this intriguing reinterpretation of a classic. 2005, Razorbill/Penguin, 336p, $16.99. Category: Fantasy. Ages 12 to 16. © 2005 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Rosemary Knapp (Library Media Connection, February 2006)
Set during World War I, Lt. John Shaw clings to his sanity in England after seeing the blood-thirsty actions of his captain, Quincey Harker, in the trenches of France. Mary Seward reads Shaw's journal and nurses him back to health. Charismatic Harker seduces Shaw's sister Lily, and lures her to Romania to be married. Realizing Harker is a vampire, Shaw and Mary pursue. The obligatory gore is not excessive but the story lacks pizzazz. The journal format is hard for the reader to accept. How can one compose such an entry when in the thick of a vampire chase? Teen readers will prefer vampire selections by such authors as Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. Additional Selection. 2005, Penguin Putnam, 288pp., $16.99 hc. Ages 14 up.

Timnah Card (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October 2005 (Vol. 59, No. 2))
The horrors of trench warfare in World War I are the opening backdrop for the maniacal killing sprees of Captain Quincey Harker, the latest scion of the house of Dracul. Newly arrived Lieutenant John Shaw witnesses it all (and writes it in his journal) before going mad and being sent to a sanatorium in his English hometown, where he falls for Mary Seward, a lovely young nurse. During John’s brief lunatic ravings before he is restored to full sanity, Mary reads his journal--and a good thing, too, since Captain Harker himself soon descends upon their little town, ingratiating himself with Lily, John’s delicately nurtured sister. John and Mary fail to stop Lily from eloping with Captain Harker to the family castle in Transylvania; however, Mary’s father, having aided Van Helsing to dispatch Count Dracula some thirty-five years previously, has an old leather bag full of stakes, crucifixes, holy wafers, and garlic all ready to go. Pages from Van Helsing’s journal enlighten John and Mary as they travel by ship and carriage to rescue Lily from her demonic fiancé. The story, told in journals and letters, employs a flowery style that lends itself well to the characters’ histrionic vapors and bosom-heaving. Lily records in her journal every detail of her sexy encounters with Harker, yet she fails to realize that her lover has punctured and not penetrated her. At the other extreme, sultry vampiress Mina offers readers a titillating glimpse into sadistic, homosexual, and orgiastic bloodsucking. All the characters are thin as cardboard, and the convoluted plot is highly improbable, but together they result in an undeniably erotic melodrama. In spite of (or perhaps because of) this novel’s tempestuous superficiality, fans of gothic fiction in general and Van Helsing in particular will want to get their hands on this latest incarnation of the Dracula mythos. Review Code: Ad -- Additional book of acceptable quality for collections needing more material in the area. (c) Copyright 2005, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2005, Razorbill, 324p, $16.99. Grades 9-12.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2006)
During World War I, nineteen-year-old John Shaw is sent home after witnessing the demonic battlefield bloodlust of Quincy Harker, an enticingly enigmatic descendant of Dracula. Harker follows John home and romances his sister. Told through letters and journals that withhold Harker's perspective until the end, Bloodline thrives on deliberate pacing and intelligent twists despite some jarring last-minute character additions. Category: Older Fiction. 2005, Penguin/Razorbill, 324pp, 16.99. Ages 12 to 14. Rating: 4: Recommended, with minor flaws.

Jessica L. Crone (The Kutztown University Book Review, Spring 2006)
The harshness of WWI is compounded greatly for English Lieutenant John Shaw when he is under the command of "bloodthirsty" Captain Quincey Harker, a descendant of Count Dracula. Shaw returns home ill, only to wake to find his sister in love with his Captain, who has been living at Shaw's home. As the characters intertwine, the reader comes to learn how only you can choose your own destiny. The story, written in diary form, allows the reader into the mind of each character, showing a record of events just moments after they occur. The ending twist is perfect and leaves readers aching for more. Students will love the Count Dracula of a new generation, hopefully enticing them to grab the original and be horrified again and again. Category: Mystery, Horror, Fiction. 2005, Penguin Group, $16.99. Ages 15 to 18.

Timothy Capehart (VOYA, August 2005 (Vol. 28, No. 3))
In 1916, Englishman John Shaw is stationed on the front lines of World War I. There is something strange but fascinating about his commanding officer Quincey Harker. After being wounded, John is sent home with fever raging. Mary Seward nurses him back to health and befriends his sister, Lily. Harker, however, arrives and seduces Lily before Mary and John discover that Harker is descended from Dracula, the fiend whom Mary's father helped to destroy years ago. Mary and John set out for Romania following Harker and Lily, hoping to catch them before they wed. In the dark, crumbling Castle Dracula, John and Lily discover horrible secrets about their lineage, and Harker wrestles with his father's sinister plan to reassert the family's control over the countryside. Reverses beset them all, and Mary finally must fight her way alone out of a castle full of vampires. Told in journal entries and letters like Stoker's Dracula, to which this book is a direct sequel, Cary's gothic romance starts slowly. Bloody scenes of war and slightly spooky incidents involving Harker on the battlefront give way to some marginally soppy romance moments before the action finally kicks in. Mary, Lily, John, and Harker share the telling of their story with little differentiation among their voices but a lot of fevered recording of events after catastrophic things have occurred. John Shaw's 180-degree character shift near the novel's end is wholly unbelievable. Those who have read Stoker's book and enjoyed it might find this one interesting. Teens will likely think that Alan Moore handled Stoker's Mina better in his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (America's Best Comics, 2003), and Elaine Bergstrom's Mina (Ace, 1994), although only for older teens, is a better sequel. VOYA CODES: 3Q 2P S (Readable without serious defects; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2005, Razorbill/Penguin Putnam, 336p., $16.99. Ages 15 to 18.