I love Dracula, and this book not only evoked the same style and mood as the original, it also answered several questions I had and even some questions I didn't realize I had. I highly recommend this to others who enjoy traditional horror.
Thanks to NetGalley and to the author for letting me read this fantastic story

I'm a fan of Dracula the novel as well as the popular movie rendition of it staring Winona, Keanu, Anthony.
This book goes quite well with those two so if you enjoyed them you will definitely like this book of Renfield.
The book of Renfield is exactly that - the life of Renfield according to his own confessional account as told to Dr. Seward during his time in the asylum. It also contains the Doctors version of the story from his notes. I really enjoyed learning of Renfield's entire upbringing before his beginnings with the Count. It gives so much detail into the mind of this poor soul and what he was dealt with in life and his wants to just be loved. This is 75% about Renfield's life and Dr. Seward's relationship with his patient. The other 25 involves the other characters that are well known already and their interactions with Renfield and the Dr.
I fully recommend this book and plan to find a physical copy to put alongside my Dracula book. If you really like Dracula I suggest you give this one a read. It's worthy of the 5 stars.
I'd like to thank the Author for this fascinating tale. The publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a ebook arc.

I’m like a lot of other reviewers, as I’m obsessed with the Dracula story and will read just about any spin off book. I had a hard time finishing this one though. It just didn’t grab my interest. It also felt like it took a loooong time describing his early years, then raced over his later years with really improbable events.

I did like the idea of melding the new story with the previously published diaries. I also liked the forward as a call back to the old tradition of claiming your book is papers you found/an ancestor’s journal. Really ties it in to the Victorian time.

In the end, the book left a lot of questions—more than it answered. Why was Renfield chosen in the first place? Who exactly was Milady? But I guess that also fits in with all the plot holes and questions the original left!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my review.

This book weaves text from the original Dracula in with original notes by Doctor Seward and Renfield telling the story of his own life and how he became a servant of the vampire. I picked it up after watching the recent movie, which combines characters from the original book (which I haven't reread in decades)...so I was reading about the wrong Renfield, if that makes any sense at all. It was an enjoyable read for the most part, but some sections absolutely dragged and the introduction and the author's notes at the end were downright tiresome. I'm apparently not enough of a Dracula fan to thoroughly enjoy this.

Whoever said this was alone to Bram Stokers writing was absolutely right. The characters, plot, and setting kept me intrigued. Thank for for the opportunity to review.

Any book about Dracula I am going to love. And this one was no exception. This one was great. I don’t understand why there isn’t more

A wonderful addition to the vampire literary canon and to the Dracula mythos. I read this when it first came out in 2005 and my opinion hasn’t changed a bit. It’s a wonderful novel about regular people facing an unimaginable horror. Highly recommended.

The Book of Renfield is a collection of the long-lost private diaries, professional journals, and wax-cylinder recordings that comprise Dr. Seward's obsessive study of Renfield.

This was really interesting. I'm a huge Dracula fan and I really like what this brought to the mythos.

Creepy, this book scuttles up your spine and right into the gray matter of your brain. Once it latches on you can't stop reading. As a fan of horror, especially the older horror, I can say that this easily will become a favorite of many who love the genre. Gothic and folklorish with a clever twisting like a knife to the gut. Loved it!

I really enjoyed this story of Renfield which gives life to an age-old character many found interesting and mysterious. A supporting character rarely gets this much attention in any story, but sometimes, one will peek out of the tale and stay within our thoughts long after “the end.”

The author did a fantastic job of giving us a character who starts off weak and pitiful, who builds himself into something larger but reminds us when we reach too far for the wrong reasons without healing the demon festering for attention, we only nurture a beast slithering in the waters of our psyche.

There were some areas that seemed to drag a little slower but overall, this is a beautifully crafted story matching the style of the original Dracula with painstaking accuracy and attention to detail. I’m excited and proud to add it on the shelf beside Bram Stoker.

This book was fantastic! I did not want it to end, and it took me completely into Stoker’s world. Tim Lucas brought Renfield to life with his storytelling. Thank you!

A fun and spooky read that's great for the Halloween season. The author has a great writing voice that is very easy to get attached to. The story never got boring and I found myself always wanting to turn the next page.

Lucas apes Stoker’s style pretty well (I’ll forgive the odd Americanism because frankly, it’s my problem for reading so much 19th C lit). And to give this book its due, it’s very difficult to do something new as a direct spin off of that much beloved classic, Dracula, because if ever there was a story that has been done over and over again, that would be the one. I’m obviously a fan of the original and can’t pass up a supplementary volume, so when something doesn’t quite hit, it’s on me. In the original, Jack Seward is just an ok character as far as I’m concerned so it was a delight to find that Lucas’ treatment of him re-engaged my interest. And perhaps it’s because Seward isn’t standing next to so many much more interesting characters. I genuinely devoured Jack’s segments with great enjoyment. Where the book fell down for me, was Renfield’s chapters. I got halfway through the book and realised that I wasn’t interested in Renfield’s story at all. He is a pitiable creature in Dracula but here he was just dull. I really didn’t care. Unfortunately since the book focuses on his story, that did put a damper on my enjoyment. I had minor niggles like Mina being thoroughly sidelined and Jonathan Harker somehow being shown to be a far stronger character than he ever was in Dracula (seriously, how does anyone read him that way? He’s a nonce). But my real issue was that I didn’t find the actual central plot interesting and only wanted to read the framing narrative. Clearly that’s a me problem so don’t be put off if you’re a Dracula fan, but in the end this just didn’t really land for me.

As a devoted Dracula fan, I approached this book with a mix of excitement and caution, as it was written more than 200 years after the events, from the perspective of R.M. Renfield, one of my favorite supporting characters. Having the privilege of an advance viewing, I immersed myself in the world skillfully brought back to life by Tim Lucas. I was doubly thrilled to also experience the perspective of Doctor Jack Seward, whom I've always believed to be underrated and misunderstood.

Lucas masterfully captures the depth of emotion present in the original Dracula, and his writing flows with such finesse that it might have given Stoker himself cause for concern about his own work being overshadowed. The sections written in Doctor Seward's voice are so eloquent and reflective of the scientific mentality of the time that one might easily believe they were reading a firsthand account. Seward's character is expanded and given the spotlight he rightly deserves, correcting what I felt was a slight from Stoker.

While Renfield's story veers away from what little we know about him from Dracula's text, Lucas offers a fresh and somewhat imaginative perspective on this character. Through his skilled writing, Renfield comes to life, and his interactions with Seward and unique personality make the events he recounts feel vivid and real. I appreciated that the book did not dwell excessively on rehashing Dracula, as such retrospectives often tend to do, but rather focused on giving depth to the characters' backgrounds.

The Book of Renfield is perfect for fans of classic horror. I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Dracula's familiar, Renfield and how he came to be. His story is tragically sad but there is a dark beauty to it.

I read Dracula for the first time in 2016. I wasn't expecting to be so scared by it. There are scenes that unnerve the reader so deeply. The Book of Renfield had a very similar effect on me. Hearing the ravings of a "madman" that is warning of his Master's arrival and the horrible things he has done and seen. The writing allowed me to perfectly envision a hospital room full of decaying insects and dried sugar.

I felt for Renfield hearing his sad upbringing and finding out that he finally made a "friend" but one devoted to darkness and death. I think it would be interesting to read this alongside Dracula and be able to follow the timeline of events and really get the full story.

I flocked to the cinemas to see Renfield starring Nicholas Holt and NIcholas Cage. I think they did a great job adding humor to the familiar's plight and who doesn't want to see Nicholas Cage as Dracula. I definitely recommend checking it out if you enjoy Dracula, Renfield but want some lightness added to the story.

Thank you NetGalley, Tim Lucas, and Riverdale Avenue Books for the opportunity to read The Book of Renfield. I have written this review voluntarily.

I haven’t read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, so my knowledge of Renfield has been from the many movies I have seen. This book filled out some background and revealed a man more intelligent than how he has been portrayed in the films, but also very vulnerable and seriously damaged by his experiences. Written as a series of notes made by Dr Seward (of the Carfax asylum) and transcriptions of Renfields interviews, this seems to accurately reflect the style of the late 1800’s and indeed, includes some passages taken directly from the original book (printed in bold).
I did find this a little heavy going at times as Renfields life, as narrated by himself, was so tortured. I’m not sure what to make of the section supposedly written by Dr Seward’s descendant that intimates that Bram Stoker stole the ‘true’ story. There is also quite a long section by Tim Lucas about the protracted attempts to get the Book of Renfield published - I guess this was useful as the current iteration has gone through some revisions.

Overall, an interesting take on what was a relatively minor character that has encouraged me to read Dracula.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for this e-book.

This being my first review on Netgallery, I can only hope to be able to do the author justice, without spoiling the story.

Being an avid fan of Dracula, I was very interested, and more than a little wary, about wading into an account written more than 200 years after, from the presumed perspective of one of my favorite supporting characters, R.M. Renfield. Being fortunate enough to receive an advance viewing, I delved deeply into the world resurrected by Tim Lucas, being doubly thrilled to see the perspective of another personal favorite, the (in my opinion) often underrated and at times ill-perceived Doctor Jack Seward.
Tim Lucas is able to recreate the depth of feeling evident throughout the pages of the original Dracula with uncanny success, his meter and cadence something that would have granted Stoker concern that his manuscript might have been overshadowed by its release. The pages written in Doctor Seward's hand are so articulately expressed, and so measured in the scientific mentality of the time period, that one might actually believe he were reading a firsthand account. And I cannot speak highly enough of the expansion and growth of Seward as a character, fleshing him out as a whole and appropriate protagonist where I have always felt Stoker had somewhat slighted him.
Renfield's story itself, while veering away from that little which we know of the character from Dracula's text, offers a fresh, if somewhat fanciful new perspective on the character himself. Again, Lucas' ability to make a character seem flesh and blood with only the tools of type and time makes Renfield shine, and throughout various points, his interactions with Seward, and expressions of personality made it seem like I was in the room with him as he recalled the events which had shaped him. I was doubly impressed that little of the text was spent rehashing Dracula - a concern with any form of retrospective writing that are based on classics - and more about who he was beforehand, again gifting greater depth to an already powerful character.
When I finished, and especially after reading the author's Afterward, which detailed the difficult path to publication for this novel, I was elated to have been able to enjoy its triumph. Highly, Highly recommended; Tim Lucas has been added to my list of authors to watch.

As a lover of Dracula this was a must read. The writing is so much like Stokers it was an amazing job. I love getting to look at Renfields story! This was very very good!
I just reviewed The Book of Renfield by Tim Lucas. #TheBookofRenfield #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

I took time to read Dracula for the first time before starting this one and I'm very glad I did. This made it much easier to connect with these expanded versions of Dr Seward and poor Renfield. Like so many have pointed out, Lucas is excellent at capturing the style of Stoker. I very much enjoyed the way the events of Dracula were weaved into this book while still letting this novel be its own thing.

A closer look into the heart of John Seward and the mind of Renfield is something I didn't know I wanted. Unfortunately, I had to drag myself through much of the biblical verses, religious rants and woe-is-me monologuing that got more bloated as Renfield got older. Not to say these hold no value, just that it felt like such a contrast from the tale unfolding and that I knew was coming.

There are additions to love though. The way Renfield is humanized, how he sees Mina, the look at Dracula's treatment of his minion and being given insight into Dr Seward's flaws were all enough to keep me going.

Overall, I am pleased with this book but not wowed. It's worth a read for sure, I personally just wish the fat had been trimmed a little because it grew awfully repetitive.

Felt unnecessarily embellished to sound like Stoker. Couldn’t get past this and so found the book not enjoyable