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A review by lazareads
Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel
5.0
It will be a cold day in July before Kenneth Oppel writes a book I don't like.
This Dark Endeavor, the first book in the series (trilogy? I don't know what this will become), was so good that I didn't know if the sequel could live up to it. I had a feeling it probably would (if you can't tell by the opening statement, I'm a HUGE Kenneth Oppel fan), but I wasn't completely sure.
Color me incredibly satisfied.
There are so many wonderful things about Such Wicked Intent that I don't even know where to begin. It picks up right where TDE left off: Konrad Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein's twin brother, has hardly been dead a few weeks when Victor helps his father and the servants set fire to the Dark Library, sending up in flames all the alchemical tomes Victor used to try to heal his brother. Victor has sworn off alchemy forever. Victor can't leave that seductive mix of magic and science alone for long, though, because before he knows it, he's knee deep in trying to raise his brother from the dead. He finds a way into the spirit world, and suddenly Victor (along with his cousin Elizabeth and their good friend Henry) are traveling back and forth, using ancient knowledge to try to bring Konrad back to life.
The plot, of course, is fantastic. It's much darker than TDE (and TDE was pretty dark to begin with), but just as good. The characters are equally as wonderful and interesting the second time around (Victor is still as annoying and egocentric as always, but that's how he's supposed to be). And I know I've said this before, but dang, Kenneth Oppel is a master at writing a good old-fasioned action scene. Just like the end of TDE, the last 30 pages or so of SWI had my pulse pounding. I thought Oppel's interpretation of the spirit world and the afterlife was very interesting, too.
Now I want to talk about the ending, so I'll put this next part in spoilers for those that haven't read the book yet: Okay. That's all.
And I just looooooove the title. There's something about it - Such Wicked Intent. Creepy and sinister and captivating.
Anyhow, long review short, the book was amazing. Go read it.
This Dark Endeavor, the first book in the series (trilogy? I don't know what this will become), was so good that I didn't know if the sequel could live up to it. I had a feeling it probably would (if you can't tell by the opening statement, I'm a HUGE Kenneth Oppel fan), but I wasn't completely sure.
Color me incredibly satisfied.
There are so many wonderful things about Such Wicked Intent that I don't even know where to begin. It picks up right where TDE left off: Konrad Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein's twin brother, has hardly been dead a few weeks when Victor helps his father and the servants set fire to the Dark Library, sending up in flames all the alchemical tomes Victor used to try to heal his brother. Victor has sworn off alchemy forever. Victor can't leave that seductive mix of magic and science alone for long, though, because before he knows it, he's knee deep in trying to raise his brother from the dead. He finds a way into the spirit world, and suddenly Victor (along with his cousin Elizabeth and their good friend Henry) are traveling back and forth, using ancient knowledge to try to bring Konrad back to life.
The plot, of course, is fantastic. It's much darker than TDE (and TDE was pretty dark to begin with), but just as good. The characters are equally as wonderful and interesting the second time around (Victor is still as annoying and egocentric as always, but that's how he's supposed to be). And I know I've said this before, but dang, Kenneth Oppel is a master at writing a good old-fasioned action scene. Just like the end of TDE, the last 30 pages or so of SWI had my pulse pounding. I thought Oppel's interpretation of the spirit world and the afterlife was very interesting, too.
Now I want to talk about the ending, so I'll put this next part in spoilers for those that haven't read the book yet:
Spoiler
AND THAT ENDING. The first time I read that last line from Victor, about the lightening, I was like "Meh, okay." Then I read it again and I was like "OPPPPELLLLLLLL." So. Brilliant. I'm interested to see if there will be a sequel to this book; I think he could do one, but if he decides to leave it as is, I think there was enough closure to do so. Maybe there will be a sequel because Victor had that dream about seeing Konrad on the ice? Or maybe that was just a clever reference to the original Frankenstein story. Speaking of that, here's one of my theories: The reference to the lightening and the reference to sledding on the ice means that Victor may try to build another body for Konrad (using different science/magic, of course), and that's how Frankenstein's monster (like Shelley's monster) will come to be. Maybe the mud babies will have something to do with it? Ahhhh, it's driving me crazy. I also loved the thing with the spirit butterflies - that was brilliant as well.And I just looooooove the title. There's something about it - Such Wicked Intent. Creepy and sinister and captivating.
Anyhow, long review short, the book was amazing. Go read it.