I really should have given up on this long ago; probably the only thing that kept me going was the way it does a pretty good job of mimicking Dracula's epistolary style and the language of the time. While Dracula has a small, almost intimate plot, this is sprawling and ungainly, including a political conspiracy and a section that reads more like a zombie apocalypse than a vampire novel. There's also some pretty questionable choices made that further lower my rating.