Lily Wight

Updated 16/10/2015

The Bloody Red Baron (1995) is the second novel in Kim Newman’s superlative and ever-expanding Anno Dracula series. Newman continues to weave effortlessly both history and fiction to conjure a world in which Dracula – formerly wed to Queen Victoria – has joined forces with The Kaiser to bring terror to Europe.

The shift in time and tone may surprise some readers expecting more of the first book’s Victorian gothic. Book two is a World War I novel that successfully captures the tropes of military fiction whilst broadening its appeal with genre-mashing wit and just the right amount of girl power so you won’t miss those smog bound cobbled streets whatsoever.

A running theme of genetic experimentation and weird science ensures that the series becomes increasingly pertinent and there is plenty of action too…