I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
In Dracula, Lucy Westerna is more of a prop than a character. Much like the first girl in a horror movie who dies because she’s had sex or was otherwise naughty, Lucy is the foil against which Mina’s purity is compared, and of course since she’s the “bad” one she dies. In Lucy Undying, we get Lucy’s story of what happened as well as the aftermath in her undead life.
I stayed up until midnight to finish Lucy Undying. That’s one of the highest compliments I can give a novel. The story progresses through three different points of view: Lucy’s secret diary from 1890 detailing the original tale of her death from her perspective, Lucy now telling a therapist what happened to her after dying, and Iris, the scion of an MLM empire on the run from the inheritance she doesn’t want. I thought all three were intriguing and, while the pacing was a bit slow in some areas, I felt like the story was engaging and consistently moving forward.
White’s writing is as vivid and evocative as the incredible cover art for this book. She’s brutal when necessary, languid and sexy without being lurid, and she does a great end-of-chapter cliffhanger. I laughed at a few of the witticisms and enjoyed that even the side characters had some sort of background or motivation: no one was sidelined the way Lucy was in the original story. Lucy Undying is told from a decidedly protective-feminist slant, which resolved some of the massive issues I’ve always had reading Dracula. I also appreciated the character development and growth Lucy experienced, interestingly long after she was killed.
I saw the big twist coming, but I wasn’t upset about that at all and the last 25% of the book (after the big twist, which I would’ve expected closer to the end) was full of interesting surprises. I enjoyed Lucy Undying and highly recommend it, but not for the folk who hate fanfiction or can’t get past the “that’s not cannon in the original” mindset. It was a fun and interesting read with plenty of twists, a bit of sapphic romance, and smidge of gothic-style horror.
No Pithy Phrase 