Lucy Undying

A Dracula Novel

By: Kiersten White

Narrated by: Mx. Nicky Endres, Linda Jones, Elizabeth Knowelden, Billie Fulford-Brown, Kiersten White, Jeremy Carlisle Parker

A vampire escapes the thrall of Dracula and embarks on her own search for self-discovery and true love in this epic and seductive gothic fantasy from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hide.

“Fiercely empowering and gloriously vengeful.”—Heather Walter, award-winning author of Malice

Her name was written in the pages of someone else’s story: Lucy Westenra was one of Dracula’s first victims.

But her death was only the beginning. Lucy rose from the grave a vampire and has spent her immortal life trying to escape from Dracula’s clutches—and trying to discover who she really is and what she truly wants.

Her undead life takes an unexpected turn in twenty-first-century London, when she meets another woman, Iris, who is also yearning to break free from her past. Iris’s family has built a health empire based on a sinister secret, and they’ll do anything to stay in power.

Lucy has long believed she would never love again. Yet she finds herself compelled by the charming Iris while Iris is equally mesmerized by the confident and glamorous Lucy. But their intense connection and blossoming love is threatened by outside forces. Iris’s mother won’t let go of her without a fight, and Lucy’s past still has fangs: Dracula is on the prowl once more.

Lucy Westenra has been a tragically murdered teen, a lonesome adventurer, and a fearsome hunter, but happiness has always eluded her. Can she find the strength to destroy Dracula once and for all, or will her heart once again be her undoing?

©2024 Kiersten White (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Fiercely empowering and gloriously vengeful . . . Kiersten White gives us a Dracula retelling that not only topples the vampire king from his throne but shows us who should have been sitting there the whole time.”—Heather Walter, award-winning author of Malice

“White has crafted a gothic-tinged tale as deep and dark as grave dirt and as lush as spilled blood.”—Ava Reid, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lady Macbeth

“Brimming with White’s signature wit and razor-sharp prose, Lucy Undying is a gothic masterpiece. I adored absolutely everything about this book.”—Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows

I cried for Lucy it was a beautiful book

Although I didn’t think the horror part was particularly scary I enjoyed the story as a whole

phenomenal

I absolutely loved this!! I loved the book but I loved the audiobook even more!!! I always loved lucy and thought she got a raw deal in dracula. this was perfect!!!

Amazing retelling

I did not notice that this was based off a classic novel and i really wish that there was a slice of life sequel between lucy and iris

Lucy's lovestory

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel by Kiersten White in exchange for an honest review. This was such a a great book. I love the Dracula story and have enjoyed different interpretations over the years, but this beat them all. Who knew I've been craving a story told from Lucy's point of view and that she was in love with Mina? I highly recommend this story.

Why invent a fictional Utah based cult when we have a perfectly evil cult that runs the state?

Title is tongue in cheek, I loved the novel. Awesome character development, love the kind teasing of the original Dracula but maintains a good reference of it. And of course it's very very queer.

Loved it!

Stoker would be proud!

Wonderfully written tale of one of Stokers little used characters. Well narrated and a new author added to my list.

It's just amazing and will leave you feeling satisfied

The three pronged story is really good to keep everything interesting while giving a lot of information, without being boring and too expository. I love vampires and this story was just perfect. it's my first introduction to the author's books and I can't wait to read more!!

A Tale of Love Across Time

It is at once retelling, fanfiction(in the best sorts of ways), expansion of a character and a love letter to that character all at once, that is also a journey into growing as a person into a more complete you, by collecting everything and everyone that has been you, and letting them be a part of your own story

It is a tale of seeking love, learning of love, learning to love, and seeing what love can be interpreted as by the many viewpoints that there are

The story's pacing feels steady and inevitable, a steady stream growing into a river, tangled plots told from different eras tied together by one of the protagonists and her journey through her own immortality and her process of coming to terms with living.

The other protagonist meanwhile is walking a tightrope as a path to escape holding to the thin path she believes to be the only available to her

A good number of cleverly played twists and turns pull everything together, keeping intrigue building as you try to decipher where the trail is going to go

The story bounces from family drama, supernatural horror, murder mystery, historical adventures, tales of war and thoughts on how it impacts the average person, to a gripping and touching love story between two damaged people who nonetheless live their lives (and unlives), hope within them

It is a delight, truly

ehhh

Passively talking down on Bram Strokers work is just wild. Did not live up to what I thought, liked some of the plot twists. Was not impressed with making Dracula seem like a dummy. nice cover. just not what I was hoping for.

Would be good if the novel Dracula didn't exist

This book would be good if Bram Stoker's Dracula didn't exist. I get that the author didn't like parts of Stoker's book but to demonize every character in Stoker's novel just to push this narrative is absolutely absurd. This author basically made all of the protagonists in Stoker's novel sound like pompous jerks, while making Lucy this righteous character all because the author wanted her to "have a girlfriend". She also made it sound like most the heterosexuals in this book and basically all of the protagonists in Stoker's novel, can't be trusted. That the only people to be trusted are in the LGBTQ community. (Side Note: I 100% support the LGBTQ community. One of my best and good friends is a lesbian who read/listened to this book along with me and she even found this book off-putting. And my son, who is a gay man, found the treatment of the characters in Stoker's novel of this author repugnant).

I will say that the performance by the narrators were good. And, like what I said before, this book would be good if Bram Stoker's Dracula didn't exist. It's even absurd to call this "A Dracula Novel" when all you're going to do is defecate on almost all of his characters just to enshrine one. Not worth the credit.