The Jewel of Seven Stars is a flawed yet compelling book by Stoker. I have found stoker creates interesting female characters, especially for the era in which he lived. They are often educated brave and profoundly forward thinking and at other times (or in other characters) in need of saving.

The plot involves a man in a trance after a mysterious attack which seems to be linked to the Egyptian artifacts he has spent his life studying. As in Dracula, Stoker is interested in the themes of death and immortality.

It is worth finding a version with the ending Stoker originally wrote and the happier ending on which his publishers insisted. The happier ending feels slapped on and contradicts earlier sections of the last chapter. ( )

If you read it, I urge you to make sure you read the ORIGINAL version, not the shoddy "updated" 1912 happy ending version (sounds dirty, doesn't it?) because that version just sucks. And it deletes a great chapter meditating on the power of pagan gods vs. the Christian god.

This is a mystery novel with horror elements thrown in. And by horror, I mean mummies. And Egyptology (very in vogue when this was written). It begins when our hero, Malcolm Ross, receives a message from a Miss Margaret Trelawney stating that her father has just fallen ill. He, being rather entranced by Margaret after a recent meeting, rushes over and takes charge of the situation. The police and a doctor are sent for but no explanation can be found. Trelawney's lawyer is also sent for and he specifies that none of the Egyptian artifacts in the room are to be moved. Odd that. So it's pretty obvious they've got something to do with Trelawney's condition. Naturally the rest of the novel is not only concerned with discovering Trewlaney's condition but with what led to it and the ramifications of what happened on his trips to Egypt. (Really, that's not a spoiler.) And really interesting questions are brought up during the course of all of it, provided of course, you read the correct edition. I quite liked it. ( )

Stoker's mummy story: It's bad, very bad indeed -- but then Bram Stoker was never a great writer. Regardless, it's worth keeping simply for that downright lurid cover! ( )

The novel begins as a conventional mystery. An eminent Egyptologist, Mr. Trelawney, is found comatose on the floor of his bed chamber by his daughter Margaret. She sends for her friend, barrister Malcolm Ross, who is the chronicler of the story. Along with a doctor and a detective from Scotland Yard, they sit in vigil awaiting his return to consciousness. After three nights a colleague of Mr. Trelawney appears at the house and starts to shed light on the curious circumstances. Mr. Trelawney awakens and reveals that several years back they found the tomb of the Egyptian Queen Tera. She had discovered a way to defy the gods and come back from the dead. From here the story turns into a horror novel with the characters delving into the dark mysteries of the orient which culminates in the “great experiment” in the last chapter.

This was a frustrating novel to read. The beginning is slow but the mystery of the comatose character was interesting enough to keep me reading. The pace picks up with the story of finding the tomb. I also enjoyed reading about the Egyptian religious and death practices. Then the pace slowed again until the characters leave for Cornwall to perform the “great experiment.”

The volume I read had both endings; the 1903 dark ending and the 1912 happy ending. The former is better and makes more sense. This printing also had chapter sixteen intact. The chapter does nothing to enhance the plot. I can see why it was expunged in the 1912 edition. ( )

A good old fashioned supernatural adventure. Like Dracula it loses a star for too much discussion in the middle and an anti-climactic ending, but it's still very enjoyable. ( )