The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR "Inescapably compelling." --VICTORIA SCHWAB, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie Larue "A masterful and monstrous retelling." --STEPHANIE GARBER, #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Caraval and Legendary
A stunning and dark reimagining of Frankenstein told from the point-of-view of Elizabeth Lavenza, who is taken in by the Frankenstein family. Elizabeth Lavenza hasn't had a proper meal in weeks. Her thin arms are covered with bruises from her "caregiver," and she is on the verge of being thrown into the streets . . . until she is brought to the home of Victor Frankenstein, an unsmiling, solitary boy who has everything--except a friend. Victor is her escape from misery. Elizabeth does everything she can to make herself indispensable--and it works. She is taken in by the Frankenstein family and rewarded with a warm bed, delicious food, and dresses of the finest silk. Soon she and Victor are inseparable. But her new life comes at a price. As the years pass, Elizabeth's survival depends on managing Victor's dangerous temper and entertaining his every whim, no matter how depraved. Behind her blue eyes and sweet smile lies the calculating heart of a girl determined to stay alive no matter the cost . . . as the world she knows is consumed by darkness. **Ebook exclusive: the full text of Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN**
AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR "Inescapably compelling." --VICTORIA SCHWAB, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie Larue "A masterful and monstrous retelling." --STEPHANIE GARBER, #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Caraval and Legendary
A stunning and dark reimagining of Frankenstein told from the point-of-view of Elizabeth Lavenza, who is taken in by the Frankenstein family. Elizabeth Lavenza hasn't had a proper meal in weeks. Her thin arms are covered with bruises from her "caregiver," and she is on the verge of being thrown into the streets . . . until she is brought to the home of Victor Frankenstein, an unsmiling, solitary boy who has everything--except a friend. Victor is her escape from misery. Elizabeth does everything she can to make herself indispensable--and it works. She is taken in by the Frankenstein family and rewarded with a warm bed, delicious food, and dresses of the finest silk. Soon she and Victor are inseparable. But her new life comes at a price. As the years pass, Elizabeth's survival depends on managing Victor's dangerous temper and entertaining his every whim, no matter how depraved. Behind her blue eyes and sweet smile lies the calculating heart of a girl determined to stay alive no matter the cost . . . as the world she knows is consumed by darkness. **Ebook exclusive: the full text of Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN**
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
I don't understand why Elizabeth likes Victor so much.
He's a lot of work. I would have smucked him one.
He's a lot of work. I would have smucked him one.
Getting into this, I was expecting darkness and especially some sort of "dark descent" of Elizabeth, but was severely disappointed.
Firstly, this book was so boring. It all dragged on, was filled with entirely too much description and lacked a premium dialogue. I found my self-skipping lines and paragraphs because I was done reading about some carriage when I really wanted the characters to have a good conversation. It was about 70 pages in when something finally sped up the pace, but then it dropped again for another 80 or so pages. There were really three events that changed the pace but then it would go back to slow.
Elizabeth came off too whiny and overly-confident. I was expecting a really great feminist type character who knew she deserved more, but all I got was an obsessed girl who complained way too much. Her obsession over Victor rubbed me the wrong way. I understood her reasoning for acting this way toward him when they were kids, but at this point, she's a woman and should obviously know that she has many other options than being with the Frankensteins.
Victor was hardly on the pages, as this isn't his story again, but I would have liked a bit more connection. He was written as if he was just a whiny little boy with anger issues and we didn't really get to delve deeper into his mind. While I get that this isn't about him, I wish Elizabeth took more time to figure him out. Instead, she blindly followed and did things she knew she shouldn't--just for his sake. Victor also came off more like a murdering sociopath than a man with an idea to create people from the dead.
Justine, one of the characters, lacked dimension. She was that overly nice, smiling person with a shyness that can put us all to shame. I liked her at a few points, but she was lack-luster and felt like an afterthought.
Henry? I don't know, he was added for some reason but didn't really seem to matter. All characters, it seems, besides Elizabeth and Victor, didn't really matter.
The epilogue was not needed. It ended perfectly, had a darkness to it and everything but the epilogue ruined it for me.
The abusive relationship aspect was done quite well. It definitely showed how Victor had reins on Elizabeth and used that to his advantage.
The cover is gorgeous. With that and the depth of the abusive relationship aspect, it brought my stars from 1 to 2.
I don't recommend this book. I think it could have been better and darker, actually. I appreciate the wordage and vivid details of certain scenes, but this book didn't get to me like I thought it would.
Firstly, this book was so boring. It all dragged on, was filled with entirely too much description and lacked a premium dialogue. I found my self-skipping lines and paragraphs because I was done reading about some carriage when I really wanted the characters to have a good conversation. It was about 70 pages in when something finally sped up the pace, but then it dropped again for another 80 or so pages. There were really three events that changed the pace but then it would go back to slow.
Elizabeth came off too whiny and overly-confident. I was expecting a really great feminist type character who knew she deserved more, but all I got was an obsessed girl who complained way too much. Her obsession over Victor rubbed me the wrong way. I understood her reasoning for acting this way toward him when they were kids, but at this point, she's a woman and should obviously know that she has many other options than being with the Frankensteins.
Victor was hardly on the pages, as this isn't his story again, but I would have liked a bit more connection. He was written as if he was just a whiny little boy with anger issues and we didn't really get to delve deeper into his mind. While I get that this isn't about him, I wish Elizabeth took more time to figure him out. Instead, she blindly followed and did things she knew she shouldn't--just for his sake. Victor also came off more like a murdering sociopath than a man with an idea to create people from the dead.
Justine, one of the characters, lacked dimension. She was that overly nice, smiling person with a shyness that can put us all to shame. I liked her at a few points, but she was lack-luster and felt like an afterthought.
Henry? I don't know, he was added for some reason but didn't really seem to matter. All characters, it seems, besides Elizabeth and Victor, didn't really matter.
The epilogue was not needed. It ended perfectly, had a darkness to it and everything but the epilogue ruined it for me.
The abusive relationship aspect was done quite well. It definitely showed how Victor had reins on Elizabeth and used that to his advantage.
The cover is gorgeous. With that and the depth of the abusive relationship aspect, it brought my stars from 1 to 2.
I don't recommend this book. I think it could have been better and darker, actually. I appreciate the wordage and vivid details of certain scenes, but this book didn't get to me like I thought it would.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.