Van Helsing by Kevin Ryan

Van Helsing by Kevin Ryan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - < 1 day

Pages - 272

Publisher - HarperCollins Entertainment

Source - ?Risi member

Blurb from Goodreads

Deep in the mountains of nineteenth-century Carpathia lies the mysterious and mythic land of Transylvania, a world where evil is ever-present, where danger rises as the sun sets, and where monsters such as Count Dracula, the Wolf Man, and Frankenstein's Monster take form and inhabit man's deepest nightmares -- terrifying legends who outlive generations, defying repeated attacks from the doomed brave souls that challenge them in their never-ending war upon the human race.

On order of a secret society, only a lone force of good stands against them -- the legendary monster hunter Van Helsing, a man revered by some and feared by many. In his ongoing battle to rid the earth of these fiendish beings, Van Helsing must now travel to Transylvania to bring down the lethally seductive, enigmatically powerful Count Dracula, and joins forces with the fearless Anna Valerious, a woman out to rid her family of a generations-old curse by defeating the vampire. But unknown to all, the immortal Dracula will stop at nothing to unleash his master plan of subverting human civilization and ruling over a world of havoc, fear, and darkness...


My Review

So this is a book of a movie and if I seen it it was a long time ago, I remember nothing from it. Hugh Jackman plays Van Helsing and I was quite happy to picture him as I read along, he works for an organisation of the Holy order that "doesn't exist". When the book opens we meet Frankenstein, Dracula and Frankenstein's monster, we quickly move on to Van Helsing. The hired gun who hunts down the unnatural and restores order somewhat to the world. As Van Helsing's story unfolds we see him come together with the small town that Dracula terrorises and come up against his deadly opponents yet.

The book is good, action from the get go, who doesn't know Frankenstein story? Well we get a wee bit more insight into it from the small chapters he features in. We also get to meet another character of old and see some fantastic battles with "good" vs evil.

Legends, family, honour, promises, bravery, murder, fighting are just some of the themes in the book. It is under 300 pages so relatively quick to sink, hence reading it in pretty much one sitting, less than a day. It has also put me in the mood to watch the movie, I would like to read more of the adventures like this, even see some of the same characters appear, a prequel? Plenty of action, characters from the old horrors I grew up with - if you take the book for what it is I think you will really enjoy it, I did, 4/5 for me this time.

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