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ahoyitsjoy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Excellent "women's rights and women's wrongs" book. I loved White's version of Elizabeth. She was such an interesting and sympathetic character, compared to her existence as a stereotype in the original.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Child death, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Death of parent, Gun violence, Violence, Sexism, and Gore
Minor: Vomit
jomarie's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This book did not deliver on the promises of the back cover blurb. I wanted to see what growing up was like for Elizabeth, wanted the tension that came with Victor being sent away for school and coming back amid tragedy that he helped cause. The flashbacks were as close as we got, but they came in only when Elizabeth was reminiscing on a specific memory.
While Elizabeth was positioned as being a master manipulator, it had a desperate edge to it that didn’t strike the right cord for me. In the beginning, I couldn’t tell if Elizabeth truly wanted to be with Victor or if she just was compelled due to her station - and I don’t think I was supposed to question that. Victor retained his dramatic pick-me tendencies from the original story, but with a more sinister, psychotic edge which was the best combination of original text and innovation by White in the whole novel.
In fact, the one plus this reimagining has over the original text is that it had much more of the gothic, creepy vibes I expected from a story about reanimating the dead. Although, if I hadn’t read Frankenstein right before, then I’m not sure I would have enjoyed this book since everyone’s travel across Europe would have seemed overly random.
The final nail in the coffin for me was the ending. There was promise when the author changed Elizabeth’s end from the original text, even if I didn’t love the implication that Victor wrote a fictitious version of events that became The Modern Prometheus (put some respect on Mary Shelley’s name). Still, it was a chance for the author to get creative. Elizabeth’s final confrontation, however, felt a bit rushed and out of the blue, and then the literal last page went back on her characterization for the back half of the book. My opinion of the book plummeted from ‘fine’ to ‘annoying’.
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein is just one of those stories where the premise is better than the actual plot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Forced institutionalization, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Blood, Death, Mental illness, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pregnancy and Murder
yukirarin's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.75
Mixed feelings about this book. I like how we as the readers are able to pick apart how abusive the relationship between Elizabeth and Victor is long before Elizabeth ever realises it. Elizabeth herself also kind of feels trapped in societal expectations of her and has learnt to work these expectations of herself to her advantage, reflecting how I sometimes feel as a woman living in the 21st century, especially in a male dominated workplace. She comes across as unlikeable but also very aware of her social position, how precarious her standing is.
However, while I did enjoy a lot of aspects of this book, I'm a little disappointed that I felt that the monster was never really fleshed out enough. He was around for awhile, but not enough for us to become attached or know much about his personality. The ending of this book also came across as rushed, like the author didn't really know what to do now that she's deviated this far from the original work.Having the entire ending be just because "everyone else is away so now I'm going to take advantage while you're alone" feels like a big cop out. In the end we don't even get to have a satisfying fight with all our characters for an ending.
Overall an okay retelling, not my favourite book ever, just okay.
However, while I did enjoy a lot of aspects of this book, I'm a little disappointed that I felt that the monster was never really fleshed out enough. He was around for awhile, but not enough for us to become attached or know much about his personality. The ending of this book also came across as rushed, like the author didn't really know what to do now that she's deviated this far from the original work.
Overall an okay retelling, not my favourite book ever, just okay.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Gore
andrikkk's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Classism, Deadnaming, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexism, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Drug use
caidyn's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
After reading a good portion of her books, I decided to retry this one since I remember not liking it. While it's not my favorite book by her, it's still a solid read. I more enjoyed the revision of how Victor usually is seen. I never liked him in the original Frankenstein, so I enjoyed how this one definitely twisted his character and made him very different. I do wish there had been more with the monster up until the end, and I also felt that there were some elements that could have been left out or modified a little, but it was still a good and fast read!
Original review
This review can also be found on my blog!
DNF at 61%
I’m not listing any content warnings because I didn’t catch any. Not that I’m doubting there are some, just that I was so. bored. that I didn’t make any mental note of them like I usually do.
And, I’m not joking when I say that I was SO. BORED.
I got 15 pages away from 200 and nothing had happened. There was stuff going on, but it was just a flat retelling of Frankenstein while I thought that it was going to maybe present more to the table, especially from this new perspective.
Alas.
I love Frankenstein. It’s a great gothic story, even if it drags. But, this book felt like it was so much following the same story and hinting at something with Victor — aka, the creator of the monster — without anything going on. I started spacing out who characters were, which got me lost since the story is mainly about the characters.
And the characters weren’t interesting. I found Elizabeth boring. Justine was just one dimensional. Victor was never on the page despite the story being focused around him. Henry who? And who were the little kids they were supposedly taking care of when they were at the house?
Comparing this to And I Darken, I think that this is just White’s style as an author. A lot of exposition leading up to no real payoff. I mean, I was nearly 100 pages from the end and there was nothing interesting going on.
I guess that White isn’t my kind of author and, from now on, I’ll likely be staying far away despite the hype. Two different books had the same problem for me. Safe to say I’m off this fan train.
Original review
This review can also be found on my blog!
DNF at 61%
I’m not listing any content warnings because I didn’t catch any. Not that I’m doubting there are some, just that I was so. bored. that I didn’t make any mental note of them like I usually do.
And, I’m not joking when I say that I was SO. BORED.
I got 15 pages away from 200 and nothing had happened. There was stuff going on, but it was just a flat retelling of Frankenstein while I thought that it was going to maybe present more to the table, especially from this new perspective.
Alas.
I love Frankenstein. It’s a great gothic story, even if it drags. But, this book felt like it was so much following the same story and hinting at something with Victor — aka, the creator of the monster — without anything going on. I started spacing out who characters were, which got me lost since the story is mainly about the characters.
And the characters weren’t interesting. I found Elizabeth boring. Justine was just one dimensional. Victor was never on the page despite the story being focused around him. Henry who? And who were the little kids they were supposedly taking care of when they were at the house?
Comparing this to And I Darken, I think that this is just White’s style as an author. A lot of exposition leading up to no real payoff. I mean, I was nearly 100 pages from the end and there was nothing interesting going on.
I guess that White isn’t my kind of author and, from now on, I’ll likely be staying far away despite the hype. Two different books had the same problem for me. Safe to say I’m off this fan train.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship
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