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katharina90's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.0
Uncomfortable and cringey. Not just problematic but also poorly written with unlikeable characters and terrible dialogue. I came very close to DNF'ing but I'm stubborn.
Can't for the life of me figure out how any of this got approved, but I suspect it's yet another novel where readers are just not bothered by sexual violence and breeches of consent as long as they're being committed by a female character. Disturbing.
Also not sure why the author chose to write this pseudo-historical fiction in which not a single character acts appropriately for the Georgian setting. Just do a modern retelling then?
Can't for the life of me figure out how any of this got approved, but I suspect it's yet another novel where readers are just not bothered by sexual violence and breeches of consent as long as they're being committed by a female character. Disturbing.
Also not sure why the author chose to write this pseudo-historical fiction in which not a single character acts appropriately for the Georgian setting. Just do a modern retelling then?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Body shaming, Sexism, Sexual assault, Classism, and Death
Minor: Stalking, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
Theft/sale and mutilation of corpses. Complete disregard for consent. Objectification of bodies. Dehumanization and human chattel/pet vibes.angelfireeast24's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Terminal illness, Stalking, Sexism, Misogyny, Grief, Classism, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Death, and Death of parent
dianaschmidty's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Grief, Blood, Car accident, Classism, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Confinement
Minor: Infertility
debussy's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Words cannot really describe how weird this book is at the outset. It begins with Angelika and Victor Frankenstein perusing a morgue, looking for test subjects for their experiment: bring a dead man back to life. For Victor, this is to one-up his crazy scientist nemesis, but for Angelika it's to create the perfect husband. You see, she scares away all of her suitors, because even though she is rich and beautiful she is deeply, deeply weird. Like the book, which, I cannot stress this enough, is weird.
A few penis jokes later, Angelika and Victor have their test subjects. They mix and match their body parts. Angelika gives her dude a new, sportier penis. Then presto-chango and they have reanimated men running around. Immediately Angelika starts calling her subject her "love," and Victor's runs off into the woods. Angelika is dismayed that her test subject does not immediately love her in return. It's just so, so weird.
Eventually, Angelika's dude is named Will. Will has no memory of who he is, and she's further dismayed that he's more interested in figuring out more about his past than he is in boinking her. It's...so weird! I...okay. Focus. Will and Angelika eventually come to an agreement that they have to figure out his past if he's to ever have a future, especially with her. As a very, very weird historical sci-fi novel this sort of works. As a romance, it doesn't really. Never does Will actually seem all that interested in Angelika aside from his, um, member showing her affection. Will is not actually there for the romance much of the time--he's an amnesiac who discovers that he likes gardening and hiring help for his weirdo hosts. While Angelika does come into her own, growing as a person and realizing that the whole world does not exist merely to bring her pleasure, the book never really convinces me that Will is actually interested in being in a romantic novel. The relationship, when it does eventually form, is hampered by the beginning where when you get right down to it, Will is completely stripped of his autonomy and his anatomy for the whims of a person who is obviously crazy. It just reads more like Stockholm Syndrome than it reads sexy, especially as Will can't really seem to decide if he wants her or not. It goes back and forth with no rhyme or reason. Angelika has a steady character progression, but Will just never gets there for me. It made the romance super strange and unsatisfying.
There is also a religious twist that kind of comes out of nowhere, deus ex machina-like. I have no idea what to make of that.
Ultimately, I give this all sorts of points for being brave enough to be this bonkers, but I don't think the premise really ever works to deliver the romance it was promising. Will was just too flat, too pieced together (haha), and too ambivalent about his situation too much of the time. The writing is lovely, but the rest is just a big fat question mark.
A few penis jokes later, Angelika and Victor have their test subjects. They mix and match their body parts. Angelika gives her dude a new, sportier penis. Then presto-chango and they have reanimated men running around. Immediately Angelika starts calling her subject her "love," and Victor's runs off into the woods. Angelika is dismayed that her test subject does not immediately love her in return. It's just so, so weird.
Eventually, Angelika's dude is named Will. Will has no memory of who he is, and she's further dismayed that he's more interested in figuring out more about his past than he is in boinking her. It's...so weird! I...okay. Focus. Will and Angelika eventually come to an agreement that they have to figure out his past if he's to ever have a future, especially with her. As a very, very weird historical sci-fi novel this sort of works. As a romance, it doesn't really. Never does Will actually seem all that interested in Angelika aside from his, um, member showing her affection. Will is not actually there for the romance much of the time--he's an amnesiac who discovers that he likes gardening and hiring help for his weirdo hosts. While Angelika does come into her own, growing as a person and realizing that the whole world does not exist merely to bring her pleasure, the book never really convinces me that Will is actually interested in being in a romantic novel. The relationship, when it does eventually form, is hampered by the beginning where when you get right down to it, Will is completely stripped of his autonomy and his anatomy for the whims of a person who is obviously crazy. It just reads more like Stockholm Syndrome than it reads sexy, especially as Will can't really seem to decide if he wants her or not. It goes back and forth with no rhyme or reason. Angelika has a steady character progression, but Will just never gets there for me. It made the romance super strange and unsatisfying.
There is also a religious twist that kind of comes out of nowhere, deus ex machina-like. I have no idea what to make of that.
Ultimately, I give this all sorts of points for being brave enough to be this bonkers, but I don't think the premise really ever works to deliver the romance it was promising. Will was just too flat, too pieced together (haha), and too ambivalent about his situation too much of the time. The writing is lovely, but the rest is just a big fat question mark.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Classism, Death, Medical content, and Body horror
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