Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White

16 reviews

lochnessvhs's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Child abuse

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.

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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

kianacynthia's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child death, Violence, Animal death, Blood, and Murder

apestforwrens's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-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

4.25

If you want “girlboss Frankenstein” this isn’t the book you want. If you want “Rebecca and Frankenstein had a weird kid” this is that book. It’s a really interesting take on the original that pays homage to both the story and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Slow burn for a fascinating character journey

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Sexism

Minor: Excrement

It’s a gothic horror/thriller. This book contains genre typical violence, ethics, and actions

white_dragon_tea's review

dark funny hopeful reflective tense 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Body horror, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Animal death, and Forced institutionalization

louisegraveyard's review

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Misogyny, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

mythian's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty

des_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Gore

saeruh's review against another edition

3.5

    This was an enjoyable retelling of Frankenstein where Victor is clearly a deranged sociopath who wishes to be an all powerful god. I liked the flashbacks to Elizabeth’s childhood where you could really see how fucked up Victor was from the start. It was also written a very similar style to Shelley’s original writing which I quite liked. 
    There was just some things I think this book really lacked. Firstly for being a book trying to tell Elizabeth’s story/life rather than the original story’s main character, Victor, I still found that much of the book revolved around him which makes sense since he’s the villain of this one (and also the original Frankenstein but that’s a whole other point). I really wanted to get to know Elizabeth much more in-depthly. I also did not like the ending, I felt like leaving how Elizabeth survives Victor up to the reader’s imagination was lazy. I also felt like much more of the horror aspects could have been featured in this.
    However somethings I did like were how funny Mary was in the few chapters (it was a nice dissolving of tensions) and the family/companionship bond formed between Elizabeth, Mary, and Adam by the story’s end. I did really like Elizabeth and her tenacity, I just wish we maybe saw more of her not thinking of Victor and his family.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Medical content, and Forced institutionalization