Really, really, REALLY bad. The story goes on and on and on and ON until you run out of ons, well past the point where one would rationally resolve it (i.e., where the mystery of The Lady is concluded). Most of the going on relates to Stoker gushing in embarrassing and tedious detail about the perfections of the hero of the story. He's so tall and manly, perfect in his form, which will be described for you over and over! He's so brave! Let me tell you how brave! He has never even known fear! And...

A dry and dull read.

When my friend gave me this book, we expected it to be fairly bad. After all, everyone has heard of 'Dracula', but who has heard of 'The Lady in the Shroud'? I'm glad I decided to give it a shot. It's an unconventional romance novel, set against a Gothic backdrop.

This was bad. Really bad. I gave up about half way through as I couldn’t deal with the endless military descriptions and uninteresting plot/characters. Stoker clearly couldn’t decide what the intention of this novel was and it’s clear why it isn’t better known. Even the eponymous Lady of the title wasn’t enough to interest me to read further. AVOID. Read Dracula instead and don’t bother with this.

Despite gaining literary immortality as the author of Dracula, Bram Stoker was not a very good writer. Like his famous creation, he sucked.He opened this genuinely terrible novel by detailing a dry and difficult genealogy, most of which bore no significance to what followed. Not content with that, he followed it up with the reading of a lengthy will, quoted in full with all its tortuous legalise. Any reader would be forgiven for bailing out right there and then. I certainly should have.Rupert St...

This book combines all of the major themes of Dracula (vampirism, separation, the occult, the chase, American benevolence, etc) in a much more succinct and readable novel. Great book and a good page-turner.

I liked this one. I had a hard time getting past the whole hovering airplane thing.

When all is said and done, this is a rotten book. The scenario was promising: a young man unexpectedly inherits a great fortune with the codicil that he must inhabit an ancient castle in a wild country in eastern Europe, which he does, becoming caught up in the struggles of a primitive and besieged nation while receiving nocturnal visits from a beautiful girl dressed in only in a damp shroud. But it's so badly written. The narrative structure in particular is a mess. It's told through letters an...

Beautiful! A story full of love, courage and most of all dignity! My mind is full of gratitude for the author and his work. If only the books nowadays were written this way...

This is another one I started reading, as a kid, at somebody else's house and didn't get a chance to finish. But I've made up my mind I need to go back and finish it one of these days! I've gone back and forth on that decision; about four years ago, I relegated it to my started-not-finished shelf, because of a couple of negative Goodreads reviews. Subsequent experience, though, has taught me that reviews can be very subjective; I don't always agree with people's conclusions or share their tastes...

I read this book to see if Stoker, the author of Dracula, had written a hidden pearl. Whatever it is should stay hidden. The first third of the book is a set-up for a scary story that left me puzzled with how it would end. Then it took another path which was totally different that basically was about how the English can civilize the world. His views of women as wanting nothing more than to honor their man would get a knee to the groin if tried as a line in a singles apart.The book was of some in...

This book is only 234 pages long... and that's about a 100 pages too long. Though some parts are interesting and have Stoker's gift for describing the exotic and the eerie, far too much of the novel focuses on the military and political life of Rupert, the hero, who is as flat a piece of tall, dark and English as you can get. The titular lady is more interesting but gets much less stage time, and while there are amusing bits about Rupert's obnoxious cousin, the thirty pages spent on a coronation...

A truly dreadful book in so many ways - theatrical, sentimental, nonsensical, militaristic, imperialist, patronising (to women and to the peoples of the Balkans) and often leaden.Beyond being one for Bram Stoker completists - and the early promise of creepy thrills is nothing but a fraud designed to inveigle the reader of the 1900s into a conservative political tract - why bother?Two reasons make this worth the read (though only for the dedicated): the psychological insight into the fantasy worl...

A gothic tale of mystery and adventure, horror and romance, sci-fi and politics.Unexpectedly coming into a huge inheritance, Rupert Sent Leger finally decides to settle from his life of adventure, moving to an expansive property nestled in the Land of the Blue Mountains, an independent country in the heart of the Balkans.During the night, Rupert is visited by a mysterious and beautiful lady, one whom he comes to believe is undead. As these nighttime encounters continue, Rupert finds himself enam...

Only gave it two stars cause there was way to much extra and useless descriptions, the story got interesting and then seemed to change directions which made me no longer interested. A scary story this was not. It’s rather boring and misleading to be honest. I have one more Bram Stoker book to go in my to read shelf and I really hope this is good. So far the best book of his is Dracula.

Awhile ago I read the Lair of the white wyrm by stoker and the sexism was SOOO bad it put me off reading anything else by him for ages. But I thought I'd give him one more try as I already had a copy of this book and I really liked the Jewel of the seven stars. The only explanation for this book I can think of is that he got paid by the word. It was so bizarre. It started with a nice haunting little tale of a ghost seen at sea. Then came an incredibly boring section with lawyers as someone's wil...

It actually very well, but only up until the mystery of the lady of the shroud was revealed. What followed was a litany of how perfect Rupert is, how beautiful the queen is, and so on. And from then on, it's one tedious read.

Less Gothic horror, more Gothic romance, with a dusting of Ruritanian adventure sprinkled on top. Personally, I would have preferred more of Stoker' take on Anthony Hope's Prisoner of Zenda scenario but this was a good story nonetheless.The romance is atmospheric, creepy and intimate, if at times somewhat overwrought. The adventure is set in the milieu of pre-First World War Balkan politics and I would have enjoyed more of this and a little less of the "Bloofer Lady" wandering about the midnight...

The first three quarters of the book was quite gothic, a phantom lady dressed in a shroud, castles, underground crypts, everything that makes for a decent gothic novels. Then it turns into a fairly decent adventure story. Then books7 and 8 occur which only an true fan of Stoker would plow onward.I subtracted a star for this as I'm not sure why it was needed. Look at me slamming a novel that is still in print for more than a hundred years. While reading I couldn't help thinking of Anthony Hope's

Just finished this one tonight. Quite good - I had no idea where it was going and I guess I let my imagination take me off sometimes but the plot is great with twists here and there to keep you reading. The end drags out a bit but overall a worthwhile read :-)