A review by godlizza
This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzi Lee

4.0

This book was great not just as a Frankenstein retelling but as it's own story. You throw me a morally dubious main character and some vibes of regret and yearning then I'm good to go. This book is pretty bleak, and if you've read Frankenstein then you know it gets that from its source material, so I was expecting it to play out much the same way. But not only does this book avoid being a play-by-play reboot of Frankenstein, it also made me care about the characters, particularly Alasdair, and want a happy ending for them. A lot of people rag on Victor Frankenstein and call him an asshole but I always find myself sympathetic to guilt-ridden characters so maybe that's just a me thing.

The only weird thing about this book is that Mary Shelley is a character in the story and she's not presented in the most flattering light? Which is? Kinda weird? I even read Mackenzi Lee's author note at the end and she seemed very intrigued by Mary and her story so I wonder what happened there.

Regardless, a good book whether or not you've read the OG.