ALA Booklist (Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2005)

The journal entries of Captain Quincey Harker, Lieutenant John Shaw, Lily Shaw, and Mary Seward tell a tale of vampiric connection by shared bloodline. John Shaw is a World War I communications officer in the trenches under Harker's command. A large and striking man, Harker demonstrates exceptional strength, an iron will, and a terrifying battlefield bloodlust. Despite John's growing reservations about Harker's ethics and perhaps even his sanity, he finds he cannot rid himself of his captain, even when sent home to convalesce after being gravely wounded. Harker, who joins him not long after, takes a decided interest in John's sister, Lily. When Lily is enticed from her home to become Harker's bride in Transylvania, John and Mary (John's nurse/fiancee), realize that this will not be a wedding sanctioned by God and set out to stop it. With the exception of time frame and journal format, there's little that's new here, and following a moody and leisurely buildup, the ending feels rushed. Still, a solid vampire story is always compelling, and this eminently readable book will find fans.

Voice of Youth Advocates

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.-Timothy Capehart.

Horn Book (Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 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.

Kirkus Reviews

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. (Fantasy. 12-16)

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-This story is an interesting blend of mystery, horror, and romance, and readers who love vampire novels will find it a refreshing twist to the classic story. Mary Seward recognizes the patient who has just been brought into the Purfleet sanatorium. It is Lt. John Shaw, who lives in the mansion near the hospital along with his sister Lily. Hoping to help him, Mary begins to read his diary, written during his tenure in the trenches in France during the Great War. John describes his encounters with a Captain Quincey Harker, a brave but "bloodthirsty" leader. Lily meets Captain Harker during one of her visits, they fall in love, and he takes her home to Romania to be married. However, Quincey is the son of Count Tepes and Mina Harker, and he has taken Lily to Dracula's Castle to fulfill the family's destiny. Lily and John are also connected to Count Tepes, as John is the son of Count Tepes and Rosemary Shaw. As the wedding day draws near, the full story of the family is revealed. Lily is faced with a dilemma-to live forever as a vampire or to end it all. Written in diary format with excerpts from each main character, this novel continues the saga of Count Dracula with a new generation. Each character is fully realized, as are the environs that surround them. Although readers know that something binds the characters together, the author maintains suspense until the end.-Jana R. Fine, Clearwater Public Library System, FL Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.