The Lair of the White Worm / The Lady of the Shroud

by Bram Stoker

Here are two great, neglected horror novels by Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, together in one volume for the first time. It is a double treat for lovers of blood-curdling fantasy fiction.

The Lady of the Shroud, published here in its full and unabridged form, is a fascinating and engrossing concoction of a vampire tale, Ruritanian adventure story and science fiction romance. The novel fully demonstrates the breadth and ingenuity of Stoker's imagination.

The spine-chilling The Lair of the White Worm features a monstrous worm secreted for thousands of years in a bottomless well and able to metamorphose into a seductive woman of a reptilian beauty who survives on her victim's life blood. The novel contains some of Stoker's most graphic and grisly moments of horror.

Genres: Horror, Classics, Gothic, Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Vampires

448 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2010

About the author

Irish-born Abraham Stoker, known as Bram, of Britain wrote the gothic horror novel Dracula (1897).

The feminist Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornely Stoker at 15 Marino crescent, then as now called "the crescent," in Fairview, a coastal suburb of Dublin, Ireland, bore this third of seven children. The parents, members of church of Ireland, attended the parish church of Saint John the Baptist, located on Seafield road west in Clontarf with their baptized children.

Stoker, an invalid, started school at the age of seven years in 1854, when he made a complete and astounding recovery. Of this time, Stoker wrote, "I was naturally thoughtful, and the leisure of long illness gave opportunity for many thoughts which were fruitful according to their kind in later years."

After his recovery, he, a normal young man, even excelled as a university athlete at Trinity college, Dublin form 1864 to 1870 and graduated with honors in mathematics. He served as auditor of the college historical society and as president of the university philosophical society with his first paper on "Sensationalism in Fiction and Society."

In 1876, while employed as a civil servant in Dublin, Stoker wrote a non-fiction book (The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland, published 1879) and theatre reviews for The Dublin Mail, a newspaper partly owned by fellow horror writer J. Sheridan Le Fanu. His interest in theatre led to a lifelong friendship with the English actor Henry Irving. He also wrote stories, and in 1872 "The Crystal Cup" was published by the London Society, followed by "The Chain of Destiny" in four parts in The Shamrock.

In 1878 Stoker married Florence Balcombe, a celebrated beauty whose former suitor was Oscar Wilde. The couple moved to London, where Stoker became business manager (at first as acting-manager) of Irving's Lyceum Theatre, a post he held for 27 years. The collaboration with Irving was very important for Stoker and through him he became involved in London's high society, where he met, among other notables, James McNeil Whistler, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the course of Irving's tours, Stoker got the chance to travel around the world.

The Stokers had one son, Irving Noel, who was born on December 31, 1879.

People cremated the body of Bram Stoker and placed his ashes placed in a display urn at Golders green crematorium. After death of Irving Noel Stoker in 1961, people added his ashes to that urn. Despite the original plan to keep ashes of his parents together, after death, people scattered ashes of Florence Stoker at the gardens of rest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker

Reviews

[F.D. Gross · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Lair of the White Worm turned out to be more of a gothic mystery more than anything. Although it had its moments of suspense and one liners that make you pause and go “uh huh...” it was a glorious read despite its format of “telling” rather than “showing.” It is a period piece. I rather do prefer a little more action then this descriptive tale of gothic architecture and forests (even though its usually my forte). But that’s just it, this story was a super gothic, almost mega. I will not compare it to the level of Dracula, but I will say it had some similar elements of Frankenstein. A stone tower/castle, a flying kite with electricity, Diana’s Grove and the wrym hole deep in the earth. This melodramatic romance borderlined between romantic fantasies and bizarre love triangles. Coupled with some suspenseful moments involving mongooses (mongeese?) and witch doctors, and you get some genuine conflict. Even though the reader is under the pretense that this story is one of Bram’s most “goriffic” works (horror and gore), there wasn’t much shown until the end in the way of intriguing plot lines, and this was one of the few times you are actually shown anything in the form of action. There is tons of speculative explaining in the narrative throughout the entire novella type story, which for some may bore, but I found them entriguing nonetheless as long as I was in the “mood” for drawn out descriptions and banter. The way the story ended seemed unfinished, for it stopped ubruptly and left me saying to myself “uh-huh”. 3 out of 5 stars for this one.

Moving on, after finishing The Lady of the Shroud after a somewhat long break for me to allow reflection, written by Bram Stoker, which I learned to be one of his final works before his death, seems to have been more satisfying than White Worm. More specifically, in the parts where the actual meeting of the lady in the shroud took place; she is a mysterious woman who suddenly shows up on Rupert Sent Leger’s back door step who seems to possess the qualities of a vampire or worse, a ghost. In a way, it reminded me of scenes from Dracula when Lucy ran through the gardens in loose flowing garments, or in relation to this story, “a shroud.” In the manifestation of its beginning and ending in The Lady of the Shroud, which turned out to be long logs of journal entries relating to wills left behind by Roger Melton and later on, the birth of a nation, the story came around excitedly when the parts where “the Lady” came around. And by god, it took a while, so much to the point where I was mulling pages to see if some sort of plot thickening would endure. The book itself overall lent itself toward an immense gothic tale of romance and mystery without a doubt. There was plenty of it (as long as you are willing to read on and plow through the hours of disposition and “telling”. But regardless of this oversight, the story truly was the embodiedment of so many ideas and concepts of love, war, adversity, honor, mystery, under dog, black sheep, and bravery, that it felt like an epic saga So much material unfolded among the pages in such a short amount of time! A history on the birth of the Balkan empire. This might have killed the story some, but I will say this, the descriptions of Vissarion castle are truly worth the read, even if that’s all you read. Some of the finest gothic nature in writing I’ve seen in a long while. Things such as stained marble of various colors and the interior stone work of rooms and balconies. I will say this, that the first chapter of the book, the Will of Roger Melton could have been done without. It read like a document with plauses and causes. An actual will and testament of Roger Melton. I know in a way it was necessary to have this in there for backstory purposes, but oh the dullness. The integrity of sticking to diary and journal entry format is evident. However, as mentioned earlier, the story gets under way after the fact and the entire middle section is fantastic. But then, as the beginning fell short, so did the ending, and a long ending it was, falling into a somewhat of a historical denouement. The reoccuring theme was the lady of The Shroud and she portrayed symbolism on many fronts. I say, if you like classical literature and have the time to read, which most folks don’t have, read it. There is so much to learn about the empire of the air.
I give this particular story a 3.5 out 5 stars.

My closing remarks, although both stories portrayed elements of mystery and the macabre, the overall execution of the stories could have been told a little less and shown a little more. The lady of the Shroud, to me , was it’s redeeming quality. Averaging out the two, my overall rating is 3.25.

F. D. Gross
Grelldragon@hotmail.com

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

The worst book I've read for a long time and proof that Stoker was a one hit wonder. The first story is far too short to develop any narrative interest and the supernatural elements were overdone and ridiculous. The second story was far too long and dispensed with the supernatural and any kind of intrigue less than half way through. You expect problematic attitudes in stories of this vintage but even by the standards of the day Stoker is appalling. Avoid.

[Beluosus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Holy sexism, Batman!

[Herb · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stop right there!

Are you in the market for a novel (term used loosely), that’s rich in racism, sexism and all the other related -isms? To the point where it makes Lovecraft look like an open-minded and accepting gentleman? Well, do I have a book for you. Don’t you worry, even if you manage to get past that, the story is dreadfully tedious. Nothing ever happens and if by some miracle it does, it is either insane, convoluted or drags on to make absolutely sure you are not by any chance having fun. Some refer to this absolute masterpiece (term used loosely) as “Gothic mystery novel”. The real mystery of this novel is where the plot disappeared to.

I would say the following is a spoiler, but there really isn’t much to spoil.

The characters, giants of literature they are, make Ronald McDonald look like he was written by Shakespeare. Mimi does not know much about anything, barely does anything and when she has an opinion, she chooses not to have it (reasons mentioned above). Sir Nathanial is old and knows things he really shouldn’t, which is handily explained by him being a diplomatist and the book will make sure to remind you of that fact every few paragraphs in any chapter he appears in. This is great if you enjoy getting blackout drunk or eating leaded paint while reading as you will never forget. The main character is there to be there as he is there to be there very effectively.

I would rate this book 4 diplomatists out of 3 Andrew Tates.

Now for the Lady of the Shroud.

I would describe the pace of this story to be: dead crawl – full speed – give up completely – ram it into an orphanage. It makes Waiting for Godot look like a high-octane action movie. My suggestion for reading this rather exceptional story would be to take the “book one”, rip it out, throw it in the trash, you don’t need it. After that take a good look at the remainder of the book and promptly toss it after it. The main redeeming feature is that it stands next to the Lair of the White Worm for comparison.

It delivers about the same reading enjoyment as the White Worm only at twice the length, so you are getting a bargain for your suffering. I would elaborate on the story, but since the author did not feel that was important, neither will I.

Sometimes you may discover a half-forgotten literary gem with books like these and this is not it, it does however offer an unforgettable experience. I would say it truly is one of the books ever written, but it is not worth even that.

I would recommend it to everyone.

[Kirstin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Lair of the White Worm was a re-read for me, is decent at best, and riddled with horrifyingly racist bullshit. Plus this Wordsworth edition literally put an earthworm on the cover, and didn't catch spelling/typesetting typos.
The Lady of the Shroud is probably the most eclectic story ever. This is the unabriged version, and once you tuck in, it's easy to see why his editors paired down Stoker's original version. The first bit of the story is so dry, so boring and pretty much unnecessary that I was nearly brought to tears. Then the narrative, in solid Stoker style, takes off in the form of diary and letter entries, and gets the reader amped for a classic gothic novel featuring a vampire or wraith. Suddenly, after an admittedly great reveal, the story turns nationalist fairy tale, which is how it plays itself out. I forced myself to get through it, and it just wasn't my cup of tea.

[Saskia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't read this if you're expecting decent horror. The Lair of the White Worm would be sort of enjoyable if not for the blatant racism and sexism. The Lady of the Shroud started out promising but became very boring very fast. The last hundred pages were almost unreadably tedious.

[MatuzzaPislelo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Giving birth would have been easier.

[Lucy Froggatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is a book that needs a re-read just to understand what is happening! Be warned full of sexism and racism typical of the time of writing!!

[Alicea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes you come across a lesser known work by a famous author (especially if they're famous for one work only) and it's astonishing just how different it is from their crowning achievement. This is what happened when I came across two books by Bram Stoker which were collected into one volume. Bram Stoker's name is nearly synonymous with vampire because of Dracula but that was not the only book that he wrote. The introduction to the two books discusses how Dracula eclipsed his later (and earlier) writings and he goes on at length about Stoker's merits as a writer. I give all of this background because if I hadn't already read Dracula then I would be very hard-pressed to do so after reading The Lair of the White Worm and The Lady of the Shroud. It's not that they were the worst books I had ever read but there wasn't anything noteworthy about them and truly it took me far longer to plod through them than I would have liked.

In brief, The Lair of the White Worm focuses on a young man named Adam Salton who discovers that he has a relative outside of his native Australia who very much wants to meet him. After arriving, he is drawn into a supernatural melodrama which concerns virtually everyone in the neighborhood. As the title of the book suggests, there is a myth concerning a giant white worm which was thought to once be a dragon that terrorized the land. Myth states that the lair may still house the creature but by this time it may have evolved into a more human shape. Adam and his co-conspirators are charged with discovering if the myth is indeed factual and if so then to destroy the creature before it causes irreversible damage. There's romance (much sped up), intrigue, racial slurs (addressed in the introduction which didn't help), and Drama. Yes, I said Drama. If this was supposed to leave me quaking in my boots then it utterly failed. I didn't find this in the least frightening. However, I did find it incredibly predictable. I'd give it a 4/10 and that's probably being generous.

The second book in the collection, The Lady of the Shroud, was somewhat better. For one thing, it was slightly less predictable than The Lair of the White Worm. There were definitely more twists and turns so the danger that the characters faced seemed more ramped up and exciting. There were a few things working against it though. For example, the two main characters were completely without flaws which kept me from fully immersing myself in the story. A giant of a man who is good at every single thing that he does? A woman with stars in her eyes (I am not paraphrasing. This was the description of her eyes every single time.) who merely by a look conveys every emotion that imparts grace and goodness? Besides that, it was most definitely too long. I am convinced that the story could have been told in a much more concise manner. By dragging things out, my interest was eventually strained and I was looking ahead to see how many pages I had left until the end. And that was not in the "oh no I'm nearly finished whatever will I do with my time now?!" kind of way either. I'd say this was probably a 5.5/10.

[S.R. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have now read 4 books by Bram Stoker: Dracula, The Jewel of the Seven Stars, Lady of the Shroud, and Lair of the White Worm.

I adore Dracula. Jewel of the Seven Stars was pretty great. Lady of the Shroud was a bit boring.

But Lair of the White Worm was a good story that was ruined by the use of racist tropes and language in a good portion of the book.

I understand that this was written at another time but it is still disconcerting to come across the N-word over and over in the text from multiple characters out of the blue.

This is probably my mistake for reading an unabridged version. Perhaps the abridged version cuts out those sections (which to be honest didn't add much of anything to the overall story).

The basic premise is a good one and this would have gotten a much higher rating if not for all the n-words. I will not be re-visiting this book ever.

[Claire O'Brien · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only read The Lair of the White Worm, and NOT The Lady of the Shroud, as I am researching The Lambton Worm for a piece of work that I am doing. As expected from Bram Stoker it's an accomplished horror story but it is woefully racist which relegates it to a 1 star review from me and is clear why it is a largely ignored and has never been faithfully adapted to a film (Ken Russell's interesting adaptation thankfully doesn't include any of that).

[Dolf Wagenaar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ruim 15 jaar geleden heb ik voor het laatst Dracula gelezen, en ik vond het (toen) steeds een erg goed boek. In 2010 heeft Wordsworth twee andere werken van Bram Stoker opnieuw uitgegeven met een introductie door David Stuart Davies. Opvallend aan deze dubbeluitgave is enerzijds dat de uitgever een disclaimer vooraan in het boek heeft geplaatst waarin staat dat ‘views displayed in this book, particularly on racial issues, are regarded as unacceptable today’, maar dat de lezer het ook in de tijd moet kunnen zien (d.w.z. rond 1907). Toch heeft de redacteur woorden aangepast ‘that we feel would give particular offence’. Het tweede dat opvalt is dat de uitgever ervoor heeft gekozen de complete versie van ‘The Lady of the Shroud’ uit te geven en niet de in Stokers tijd vaker verkozen verkorte variant: ‘It is all here in its bizarre glory. A rare treat indeed.’
Het eerste boek, ‘The Lair of the White Worm’ is volgens de introductie het op één na meest bekende/geliefde werk van Bram Stoker, al valt het in het niet bij de populariteit en kwaliteit van ‘Dracula’. Ik vond het werk vreemd, onsamenhangend en eigenlijk op alle fronten (stijl, plot, spanning…) behoorlijk zwak. Daarbij komt het - en in dit geval ongetwijfeld Stokers - racisme in dit boek inderdaad duidelijk naar voren, maar het is ook niet verstoken van een flinke dosis misogynie. Een pluspunt zijn de beschrijvingen van het mooie landschap en de gothic sfeer van verval en voorbije tijden die deze oproepen.
Het tweede boek, ‘The Lady of the Shroud’ begint met een lang, taai hoofdstuk over een erfenis en het hele juridische circus eromheen. Saai, maar oké, het past op zich in een gothic novel. Daarna volgen vier hoofdstukken die soms langdradig zijn, maar ook vol zitten met mooie gothic beeldende scènes en… [spoiler!] een vampier, die echter aan het einde van dit gedeelte gewoon een verklede levende vrouw blijkt te zijn. (En zo eindigt het bovennatuurlijke, gothic element van het verhaal.) Daarna volgt een hoofdstuk met de – zoals dat tegenwoordig heet – ‘bossfight’. Daarna had het mooi afgesloten kunnen zijn, maar – o, ramp! – er volgen maar liefst nog drie hoofdstukken waarin Stoker zich totaal overlevert aan zijn natte droom over mannelijk, Westers imperialisme vol imponerend wapengezwaai, vrouwonvriendelijke woorden uit de mond van de ‘koningin’, Brits imperialisme, misplaatst exotisme, geld- en machtsgeilheid, uiterlijke ‘showing off’ met vlaggen, wapens, buigende onderdanen, elitarisme, het belang van ‘goede’ afkomst (wat eigenlijk al vanaf het begin een rol speelde), et cetera, et cetera. Het was een ware martelgang om het (anno 2021) te lezen. Maar een dergelijk boek zal zelfs in ‘zijn tijd’ voor velen als conservatief en nationalistisch moeten zijn beschouwd.
Voor mensen met een cultuurwetenschappelijke en -historische belangstelling, is dit boek zeker waardevol om te lezen (en in die zin vond ik het ook niet erg het boek te hebben gelezen). Voor fans van Dracula: laat dit boek met een grote boog aan je voorbijgaan. 'A rare treat indeed'...

[Azizul Hakim · Rating 4 out of 5]

ব্রেম স্টোকারের লেখা সর্বশেষ উপন্যাস দ্যা ল্যায়ার অব দ্যা হোয়াইট ওর্ম [The Lair Of The White Worm] প্রকাশিত হয় তার মৃত্যুর এক বছর আগে ১৯১১ সালে।

সময়টা ১৮৬০ সাল। ইংলেন্ডে থাকা রিচার্ড স্যালটন অস্ট্রেলিয়ায় থাকা তার গ্রেন্ডসন এডাম স্যালটনের সাথে যোগাযোগ করে। বংশের সর্বশেষ পুরুষের কাছে অনুরোধ করে সে যেন ইংল্যান্ডে চলে আসে। এডাম স্যালটন তার গ্রান্ডফাদারের ইচ্ছানুযায়ী চলে আসে ইংল্যান্ডের ডার্বিশায়ারের লেসারহিলে। রিচার্ড স্যালটনের বন্ধু স্যার ন্যাথানিয়েল দ্যা সেলিসের সঙ্গে ভালো সম্পর্ক গড়ে উঠে এডাম স্যালটনের।

এডগার ক্যাসওয়াল তাদের নতুন প্রতিবেশী, যে কিনা লেসারহিলের পাশেই কাস্ট্রা রেগিস বা রয়েল ক্যাম্পের ল্যান্ডলর্ড। নতুন প্রতিবেশীর আগমন উপলক্ষে ক্যাস্ট্রা রেগিসে উৎসব হয়, যেখানে উপস্থিত ছিল লিলা ওয়াটফোর্ড ও তার হাফ-বার্মিজ কাজিন মিমি উয়াটফোর্ড। এডাম স্যালটন, স্যার ন্যাথানিয়াল ও রিচার্ড স্যালটন'ও উপস্থিত ছিল ঐ উৎসবে।

এদিকে ডায়ানা'স গ্রুভের মালকীন লেডি অ্যারেভেলা মার্চের হাসবেন্ড আত্নহত্যা করে মারা গেছে অতি সম্প্রতি। প্রচুর ধার-দেনা চেপে আছে তার ঘাড়ে। এসব থেকে উদ্ধারের একমাত্র পন্থা ভদ্রমহিলার নতুন হাসবেন্ড খোঁজা। লেডি অ্যারেভেলে মার্চ ঠিক করলেন এডগার ক্যাসওয়ালকে তার হাসবেন্ড করবেন।যে-ই ভাবা সেই কাজ, লেগে পড়লেন ভদ্রমহিলা এডগার ক্যাসওায়াকে পটাতে। কিন্তু তাদের মধ্যকার বিপত্তি ঘটায় লিলা ওয়াটফোর্ড। এডগার ক্যাসওয়ালের পছন্দ হয়ে যায় মেয়েটিকে। কিন্তু, এডগার সোজা' পথে কোনো কিছু আদায় করত না। ক্যাসওয়াল বংশের প্রত্যেকের-ই অদ্ভূত সম্মোহনী ক্ষমতা আছে। যে সন্মোহনী ক্ষমতার প্রভাব খাটাতে যায় লীলা ওয়াটফোর্ডের উপর।

এডাম স্যালটনের লীলা ওয়াটফোর্ড'কে খুব পছন্দ হয়ে যায়। এডগার ক্যাসওয়ালের অমন লোলুপ দৃষ্টি আড়াল হয়নি এডামে'র। একই দিনে এডাম স্যালটন এবং এডগার ক্যাসওয়াল উভই যায় লীলা ওয়াটফোর্ডের বাড়িতে তার সাথে দেখা করতে। এডগার লীলা'কে সম্মোহিত করার জন্য কাজে লেগে পড়ে। কিন্তু, বিপত্তি ঘটে লীলার হাফ বার্মিজ কাজিন মিমি ওয়াটফোর্ডের কারনে। সে একে একে বিপর্যস্ত করে সমস্ত সম্মোহনী শক্তি। মিমির সাথে যোগ দেয় এডাম স্যালটন।

অপরদিকে ডায়ানা'স গ্রুভের মালকীন লেডি অ্যারেভেলা মার্চ ক্রমশ মরিয়া হয়ে উঠছিল। সে ছক কষে, এডগারের সঙ্গ দেওয়ার। সম্ভ্রান্ত এই ভদ্র মহিলার চলা ফেরা যেন কিছুটা অদ্ভূত।

হাঁটা পথে এডামের দেখা হয়ে যায় লেডি অ্যারেভেলার সঙ্গে। এডামের সাপ মারার উদ্দেশ্যে সদ্য কেনা বেজিটা হামলে পড়ে ভদ্র মহিলার উপর।

কী কারনে হামলে পড়ল বেজিটা লেডি অ্যারেভেলার উপর? একের পর এক অতি আশ্চার্য ঘটনা ঘটতে থাকে ডায়ানা'স গ্রুভ, ক্যাস্ট্রার রেগিসকে কেন্দ্র করে। কেন ঘটছে এসব? রহস্য উদঘাটনে, লীলা ওয়াটফোর্ডকে বাঁচাতে লড়াই করছে এডাম স্যালটন সেই সাথে তাকে সাহায্য করছে স্যার ন্যাথানিয়্যাল।

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I flew through The Lair of the White Worm. I loved the fact that I felt like I was being “told” this dark, gothic story. Like it was a tale, told time and time again, growing in mystery with each telling. It would go down well, sitting around a campfire as darkness falls. Loved the characters and the imagery.

The Lady of the Shroud started brilliantly. Again, as with White Worm, it’s steeped in gothic imagery. This is a predecessor to Stoker’s, Dracula, and I could see that with “The Lady”, he was heading towards its greatness. But, I’m afraid, this story started to become quite a chore once I’d hit the half-way mark. I understand the plot/angle. I loved the characters, but the to-ing and fro-ing between Rupert’s journal entries, newspaper pieces, Will readings, log book entries et al, was hard to keep up with. I found I had to keep going back to the start of each entry, just to remind myself who was telling. It all got a bit too difficult.

I’m glad I read it, just to see how Stoker develops and improves in Dracula, but, after two months of investment, I’m also glad to finally have finished it.

[Lena D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

So successful was Bram Stocker's Dracula, it is easy to forget that he did write other books. These are two stories written after Dracula. In the Lair of the White Worm a huge snake hides in a bottomless well and metamorphises into a seductive woman dressed in white feeding off her victims in the English countryside. I could not but help recall Keats - Lamia - She was a Gordian shape of dazzling hue. But this giant monster does not in an instant disappear.
In the Lady of the Shroud Bram touches on the familiar Vampire story. But the tale develops into something more complex. Bram seems to have at one stage second sight. As the King and Queen form an invincible army, five years before the outbreak of WW1. On page 431, "The flight of aeroplanes was a memorable sight. It helped to make history. Henceforth no nation with an eye for either defence or attack can hope for success without the mastery of the air." Lines written less then a year after the Wright Brothers made their successful flights. And 30 years before the Battle of Britain.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lair of the White Worm - 2.5
Would have been 3.5 but the amount of racism and misogyny (even when taken in the context of the time) was deeply uncomfortable to read.
Otherwise this book shone most when characters were following each other around Diana's Grove, or Castra Regis. Which they did a lot.
And for some reason I kept imagining Caswell as looking rather like Poe. Which became more alarming when his brow furrowed to concentrate on his mesmerism.
The book suffered from being either too long or too short - there wasn't enough time to really get to know or care about the characters, or to get really scared or shocked by the worm. However, there were several parts that seemed unnecessary, especially in the middle of the book, which is why it might have worked better as an 80 novella or a short story.

[Becca Marie Kocsis]

I’m not giving this a star rating because I didn’t finish White Wyrm. Way too much just gross racist language/characterization/etc. I refused with about 2 hours left

Lady of the Shroud started out so promising but it lost the plot. While not *quite* a white savior tale but it’s pretty close. A cool British guy saves a whole ass vaguely Eastern European country = boring. Subplot where cool British guy maybe falls in love with undead lady = the thing I was interested in. And I lost interest when I found out she was not only NOT undead but was also essentially the princess of the vaguely Eastern European country that everyone loves/respects. Reads like a weird male hero fantasy.

Dracula was so good. These to stories were. Not

[Maik Civeira · Rating 1 out of 5]

El segundo peor libro que leí este año. "Lady of the Shroud" es un poco mejor, le pondría dos estrellas. Pero "White Worm" es tan malo que no hay ni por dónde abordarlo. Es una historia absurda, sin pies ni cabeza, y para colmo, racista y misógina. "Lady of the Shroud" habría funcionado como relato breve, pero Stoker le pone tanta paja que resulta mortalmente aburrida. Y para colmo, colonialista.

Si les divierten las reseñas negativas, tengo en mi blog una muy detallada, con todo y spoilers, para que vean lo ridículas que son estas noveluchas:
https://www.maikciveira.com/2020/12/p...

[em sky-walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall 2.5
Lair of the white worm: liked this one for the most part

Lady of the shroud: waaaay too long. The first chunk of this book slapped. It had all the makings of a great gothic novel. I was having a grand old time. Then the last bit of it turned into some kind of imperialist political fantasy where his self insert saved the day and united everyone, etc etc. Ugh.

[Suzanne Sheldon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Dracula, so I was intrigued to read something else by Bram Stoker. I liked the gothic elements of the Lair of the White Worm but found some of the plot odd. I found the Lady of the Shroud intriguing but far too detailed and complicated. It just seemed hard work to read for me personally.

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

L'air of the White Worm is a solid Gothic tale, but Lady if the Shroud can't decide if it's a Gothic romance or a revolutionary thriller and doesn't do either one well. 3.5 for white worm, 1.5 for Lady.

[Ezequiel · Rating 1 out of 5]

took me way longer than it should have to finish because of how tedious it was to read. truly awful in every aspect. i dreaded every mention of ulanga because of the vitriolic racism he was subjected to at every single moment.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Lair of the White Worm was not my favorite of the two.

[Alvi Rahman Shovon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t like that much!

[Julio Bonilla]

Mimi’s heartbeat heavily. Just before leaving the turret-chamber she had a shock which she could not shake off.

[Pielgrzym Ołówkowy · Rating 1 out of 5]

H.P. Lovecraft summed it up by stating that the central idea was a good one but poorly executed.

[Lucas Maddox · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly think people should read it just for how bad it is. Some times something can be so bad it's good. Eat your heart out Lovecraft.

[cypher · Rating 4 out of 5]

2 novels, picked this for halloween month, and it worked ok for me, atmospheric enough...although i can see that other reviews seem to be negative...i would not say it was that bad.

[William Prystauk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, a disappointment. Deus ex Machina stories always derail me. Regardless, the book did have its moments, though few. Once again, however, we are given insight into the time period, and it's amazing to realize how different conversing, as well as storytelling, was in 1911. The worse element was the Wordsworth edition itself. It not only came with a ludicrous disclaimer about language and tolerances of a different time, but after this warning, the publisher announced that it had taken a step to censor the work so as not to be offensive. That act was horrendous, and I will never purchase material from this publisher again.

[Yuki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. I read half of The Lair of the White Worm when taking cold medicine. I felt thick-headed and took frequent naps, and for a few hours my illness was matched by the surreal and hallucinatory feel of the writing. I waited in vain for something interesting to happen. By the mid-mark Stoker's repeated descriptions of the African servant Oolanga as subhuman and savage became beyond tolerable. I could not possibly finish this sober. "Neglected" novel? Deservedly so.