Reviews

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White

dembury's review

5.0

Closer to a 4.5 because of a very rushed ending, but nevertheless I truly enjoyed reading this. "The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein" is visceral and doesn't shy away from the ugly parts of human nature and madness. This story does a marvelous job of bringing the OG Frankenstein story back to life (lol) but in a fresh way- I think Mary Shelley herself would love this book!

mercedes's review

dark

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

 I wasn't sure what I was going to make of this considering that it's a retelling of a classic, and a young adult retelling at that. Retellings and adaptations of Frankenstein are overdone at this point, which is understandable because it's a solid classic and one that lives in the public consciousness more than perhaps any other. But The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein was a nice surprise.

This was insanely readable. At points it was obvious that it was written by a 21st century author, but at other points I completely forgot that fact and found myself fully immersed within the early 19th century setting. The concept of retelling the story from Elizabeth's point of view was an interesting one, and I enjoyed what Kiersten White did with the characters and the story. The twists were great and certainly added to how enjoyable this book is to read.

Maybe the best thing that came out of me reading this was that it made me want to reread Frankenstein, which will likely be the next book I pick up 

goodem9199's review

5.0

Goht damn, y’all. This was flippin’ amazing. So upset I’m done with this one. Totally immersed in the story, setting, characters. Creepy, feminist, dark and ridiculously good.

chiara_campo's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

kid_vampire's review against another edition

• 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

3.75

lirabelle's review

5.0

Amazing! Simply amazing!

avasisx's review

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. Definitely one of my favourite books ever

maraels's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

oddmariposabooks's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

verustek's review

3.5

I feel a little torn about the rating for this book because there is so much about it that I liked. I think it's a really interesting character study of Elizabeth, exploring how she chose to move through the world in order to survive. It has interesting explorations and commentary on feminist topics, and I really liked the ending and thought the writing was overall strong. However, there's just something about the experience of reading it that didn't fully jive with me, perhaps because of the pacing. There were points when I found myself feeling really bored and almost dnfing, or listening at two times speed to get to the end faster. Overall I'm still happy I read it though, because it was quite thought-provoking