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A review by samanthampg
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White
3.0
TW: Animal abuse, death of a child, general blood & gore
*VAGUE SPOILERS AHEAD*
For most of my reading I was planning on giving this book at least four stars because I was really enjoying it. I loved the dark, twisted, co-dependency that Elizabeth and Victor had with each other. Not because it was a healthy, good relationship that everybody should aspire too but because it was so brutally isolating and incomprehensible to those around them. Nobody else truly understood the nature of their bond, and that shit gets me every time.
The reason that I ended up changing my rating for this book is because I was met with a predictable ending that left me disappointed. I know that the author was trying to showcase that Elizabeth was more than 'Victor's Elizabeth' and that she belonged to herself, nobody else, but I think that she leaned one direction when I wanted her to learn another. Not saying that it was a bad book, others might enjoy an ending wrapped up with a bow, but I wanted it to be darker.
I think it was Elizabeth's unhinged behaviour from the very beginning that made me hope for a different wrap up to the story. She was a manipulative, building burning, compulsive liar who knew the atrocities that Victor was capable of and protected him despite it. So when it came time for her to realize the horror of her situation, she's suddenly more righteous than she's been her entire life? I just didn't buy it.
Now I know my opinion means very little and this author has actually written a whole ass novel while I just let all my concepts sit in a computer document, BUT I think the story would've been more interesting, and less predictable, if Elizabeth and Victor had both fallen into the madness. I think Victor's possessive nature of Elizabeth was something she believed she could only defeat in death, but I don't think that's true. Once she realized the whole story, saw the things that Victor had always kept from her - then she could do what she did best and MANIPULATE HIM. Even till the very end of the novel Elizabeth could so easily wrap him around her little finger. No matter if her last name was Frankenstein or not, and I think that could have both been equally compelling and empowering for her character.
But I am an unhinged female character supporter first and human second.
I digress, if you're looking for a romance novel this is not going to end the way you want it to. As a whole, interesting story that caught my attention for the first 3/4's of it. I liked the authors writing style, but I would've made some different narrative choices had I written the book.
*VAGUE SPOILERS AHEAD*
For most of my reading I was planning on giving this book at least four stars because I was really enjoying it. I loved the dark, twisted, co-dependency that Elizabeth and Victor had with each other. Not because it was a healthy, good relationship that everybody should aspire too but because it was so brutally isolating and incomprehensible to those around them. Nobody else truly understood the nature of their bond, and that shit gets me every time.
The reason that I ended up changing my rating for this book is because I was met with a predictable ending that left me disappointed. I know that the author was trying to showcase that Elizabeth was more than 'Victor's Elizabeth' and that she belonged to herself, nobody else, but I think that she leaned one direction when I wanted her to learn another. Not saying that it was a bad book, others might enjoy an ending wrapped up with a bow, but I wanted it to be darker.
I think it was Elizabeth's unhinged behaviour from the very beginning that made me hope for a different wrap up to the story. She was a manipulative, building burning, compulsive liar who knew the atrocities that Victor was capable of and protected him despite it. So when it came time for her to realize the horror of her situation, she's suddenly more righteous than she's been her entire life? I just didn't buy it.
Now I know my opinion means very little and this author has actually written a whole ass novel while I just let all my concepts sit in a computer document, BUT I think the story would've been more interesting, and less predictable, if Elizabeth and Victor had both fallen into the madness. I think Victor's possessive nature of Elizabeth was something she believed she could only defeat in death, but I don't think that's true. Once she realized the whole story, saw the things that Victor had always kept from her - then she could do what she did best and MANIPULATE HIM. Even till the very end of the novel Elizabeth could so easily wrap him around her little finger. No matter if her last name was Frankenstein or not, and I think that could have both been equally compelling and empowering for her character.
But I am an unhinged female character supporter first and human second.
I digress, if you're looking for a romance novel this is not going to end the way you want it to. As a whole, interesting story that caught my attention for the first 3/4's of it. I liked the authors writing style, but I would've made some different narrative choices had I written the book.