![]() as the world she knows is consumed by darkness.more Behind her blue eyes and sweet smile lies the calculating heart of a girl determined to stay alive no matter the cost. Sometimes we were strangers even to ourselves. For the first two thirds, I thought this book was pretty good. The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein is, essentially, a retelling of Frankenstein from the perspective of Elizabeth - an orphan taken in by the Frankenstein family and Sometimes we were strangers even to ourselves.įor the first two thirds, I thought this book was pretty good. Frankenstein is one of my favourite books, and I like it when authors give a voice - and different perspective - to a side character. ![]() But it is in the final third when this book goes from pretty good to excellent. The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein is, essentially, a retelling of Frankenstein from the perspective of Elizabeth - an orphan taken in by the Frankenstein family and later the fiancée of Victor. I think this book will work much better for those familiar with the original as it gives a lot of nods to the story. It's hard to appreciate some of the clever twists the author takes without knowing what it's based on. In this book, Elizabeth becomes an ever more complex character. ![]() And if she lingers in Victor's shadow, then that's because she knows that's where she needs to be to get what she wants. Through her eyes, the tortured genius of Victor becomes a sometimes frightening thing, and yet nothing is as terrifying as being a woman in 18th Century Europe. The stifling constraints placed on women and their ambitions are palpable as the story unfolds. It was so easy for a woman to be dismissed as whiny or silly, or worse- mad. ![]() When Victor goes missing in Ingolstadt and writes no letters, Elizabeth begins to track him down. Her investigation leads her down dark paths to charnel houses and secret laboratories. What has Victor been up to? Knowing the truth didn't take anything away from reading. In fact, it made those mysterious dark shadows all the creepier. This story largely fills in gaps in the original tale, while shedding a completely new light on it. It's smart how Kiersten White has managed to keep a lot the same, while also creating a bigger and very different-looking picture. The original Frankenstein calls into question what it really means to be a monster and, indeed, who the real monsters are. ![]()
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