I loved it! I think those who have read Frankenstein will appreciate it the most as it fills in so much of the story. But readers new to the story will find it thrilling as well. I'll definitely be recommending it to YA readers at our FrankenThursday event in October. I can't wait to get it on our shelves!

Recommended for fans of the original story. The first half is pretty slow, but it picks up in the second half.

Everything about this book screams READ ME. And yes, it does so in caps lock.

It is so promisingly creepy and twisted, exactly what a perfect book sounds like to me. I am a big fan of Penny Dreadful (it's on Netflix and you need to watch it right now) and this book had some major PD vibes. It started out strong but the thrill of it all lost itself toward the ending. I immediately fell in love with Elizabeth, the main character. She was immoral, goal-oriented and did everything in her power to get what she wanted. Characters do not have to be likeable to be interesting. I sometimes think, the less likeable, the more interesting they are. The setup for the plot was perfectly constructed and promised - as the title suggested - to get darker and more desperate the further it went. But what I loved about the beginning - the gothic atmosphere, the mystery, the carefully constructed characters and plot - got lost somewhere along the way. Not only did I find many things to be predictable, I also lost interest in the main character. I think Elizabeth lost some of her fierceness and uniqueness along the way. She turned from a character that I admired to a character that was interchangeable with many other YA main characters out there. It felt like the opposite of character development. The same can be applied to the plot. It felt like chunks of pages had been ripped out to ensure that the book maintained an appropriate length. But I would rather have had 200 pages more, in which the pace of the plot was maintained and the characters had room to grow than a lot of action crammed into a few chapters. This is where the book lost its credibility or the illusion thereof, considering it is a fictional work.

Overall, I was fascinated by the story and its characters. It was beautifully set up and captivated me at once. Sadly, I got lost around the 2/3 mark.

This is a tale of a young girl saved from a dreadful situation only to find she is dealing with monsters in many ways. can she save the monsters and keep from becoming one?

This retelling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein tale is a fresh look at the horror of what a monster really is and what good can be.

This tale is certainly a departure from the YA books I usually find myself reading, but I find that this book shows just how broad the scope of content can reach and has encouraged me to look into more books of this nature. This dark, gritty tale made it difficult to read alone in a room without a little extra lighting for assurance... yet I enjoyed that it sparked its desired reaction and didn’t leave me disappointed.

This novel follows the point of view of Elizabeth, an orphan adopted into the Frankenstein household as a caretaker and friend for the young Victor Frankenstein. Afraid of being cast back out of the fortunate luck she came into, Elizabeth molds herself into the person she believes she is needed to be. Tasked with the mission of keeping young Victor out of trouble, Elizabeth learns all the necessary actions needed to soothe and keep Victor calm and out of trouble. When Victor goes away to school, Elizabeth is worried her place in the Frankenstein household will no longer be needed. Desperate to get her Victor back, Elizabeth sets out on a journey that sets forth a series of events that will change the life of Elizabeth and all she knows.

I really enjoyed this retelling of Frankenstein! Elizabeth was such an amazingly complex protagonist. Manipulative, clever, adaptable, and sure that to have a place in the world and not be forgotten, she must have someone who needs her.

“If I could have worn nothing but my slips, I would have. But clothes were part of the role I played, And I never stepped out of character where they could see me.”

Enter Victor Frankenstein. Beyond intelligent, curious, and often times terrifying, Elizabeth is the only who understands him. She is his and He is hers. Even when Victor is doing truly horrific acts, Elizabeth turns the other cheek so afraid of losing the one who needs her and in turn, losing her place in the world.

“I had accused Victor of creating a monster, but I had done the same.”

The scenes are painted so vividly it felt as if I were there in the 18th century England alongside Elizabeth. This was a creepy, twisted, DARK tale that I did not want to end! What an excellent way to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein!

This book provided catharsis for Frankenstein that I didn't know I needed. White clearly understands the source material and source author in a way other reimaginings do not reflect. She connects themes from the original work with themes from Shelley's own life and creates something that is both thought-provoking and riveting.

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein introduces an orphaned 17-year-old, Elizabeth Lavenza, who has been taken in by the Frankensteins as their son Victor's companion. Although a genius, he is prone to rages and her sole purpose is to socialize him. When he heads off to college and doesn't write, she fears she will lose her position and follows him to renew their relationship. When she finds him and discovers his experiments on immortality have resulted in a monstrous creation, she does everything she can to shield him from discovery. However, the more involved she gets, the more she realizes that Victor may really be the monster. Elizabeth, who was a minor character in the classic, is a strong protagonist and the message as to what truly makes a monster is thought-provoking. Those familiar with the original story will enjoy this creative re-imagining, but it can be easily be read as a standalone. It comes out September 25th.

This year is the two hundredth anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This is the first retelling I’ve read this year, and it is an excellent one. This one is even maybe a shade darker and disturbing than the original. Many of the events from the original are here in this one, with a some slight differences and the ending is much different as well.

For those of you who have never read the original, it is nothing like most of the movies. It is pretty light on how he actually creates the creature, and more about the aftermath and his guilt about what he has done. Perhaps because we are being told the story through Victor’s eyes he is a much more sympathetic character, than the Victor in this story. This Victor is very much a darker, and a sociopathic serial killer than the original. He was driven to conquer death and didn’t care much about who he kills in the process. Even some of the childhood scenes are quite disturbing. His parents in this book are quite different as well, his father is far more distant and controlling than the original. I can’t really say that I liked this version of Victor, but he was certainly easier to understand and to see why he did what he did.

Elizabeth in the original story is very much in the background. She is just a part of his life and his love. This new and improved Elizabeth is wonderful. She is strong, although she does tend to enable Victor and his darker side. She also at times allows him to manipulate her and get what he wants. But she is protective of him as well. I have no doubt that Elizabeth loves Victor, but it isn’t what I would call a healthy relationship. I really liked her with some of the other characters in the story, Henry and Josephine for example, and also Victor’s younger brothers. She could be really sweet and charming with them. In the original novel, Elizabeth is killed by the monster, but is different in this story as well. She survives both the monster and Victor’s obsessions.

The creature in this version is also very different than the original. That creature had a gentle side, and really just wanted to be accepted by society. Once he realizes that that won’t happen he becomes obsessed with revenge. This new version retains the gentleness and the feeling of aloneness that I liked in the original. We also don’t learn a whole lot about the creature in this one. He is almost in the background of this story, with Victor emerging as the true monster.

A very enjoyable yet dark retelling of a classic. This was very well done and it would be interesting to teach the two books together. You could have a great time comparing them, especially Victor. This is a book that I would highly recommend to Frankenstein fans.

Quick confession, I've never read Frankenstein... Wasn't in AcaDeca that year they read it, so I knew only the general stuff about it, but this being written by Kiersten White I knew I had to give it a chance and read it. I did not expect to love it as much as I did. I would of finished it sooner but I had a few busy days that got in the way of reading. If I had the time, I definitely could of read it all in day.

Got about a third into it and stopped. Just not for me. I was hoping it would be more about the characters and not too gritty but it is. There are many who really like that kind of story, I'm just not one of them.

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein is a dark and twisted story that shows a different perspective to the madness and monsters of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. This book was a lot of fun to read. It ended up being just as dark and twisted and scary as I wanted it to be and I really enjoyed that. I will say, Kiersten White's writing for me tends to feel a little dense so I take a little longer to read her books that I do other books but it was definitely worth it with this book. I also found that because the story itself was so intense, I was wanting to take breaks every now and then because so much crazy stuff was happening that I needed to step back once in awhile and give my mind a break. The story was so spooky and sinister. My favorite part was the character of Elizabeth herself. What a creepy and manipulative but wonderful character. I love that she isn't this perfect human being but she still recognizes when something is truly wrong, she still has these lines she won't cross but she is certainly willing to come as close to them as possible. I love how twisted she was herself and how that was played out in the story. Excellent for horror fans but I do think it might be necessary to be a little careful in recommending this to younger teens due to the graphic, violent nature of some of the descriptions in the book.

I have read Mary Shelley's classic monster story several times at various stages in my life, and I never tire of it. It is SO complex and works on so many levels, I feel like there's always something else I can learn about it. Aaaaand now there's one more thing. Thank you, Kiersten White.

I don't enjoy being terrorized while doing one of my favorite things, so I don't read horror. It stresses me out, and I don't need to purposefully give myself more gray hairs. HOWEVER, I would definitely consider <i>The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein</i> a type of horror book, if not the bloody and gross kind.

This book is not about Victor Frankenstein. This book is about Elizabeth, a girl brought into the Frankenstein household as a companion for Victor - one the Frankensteins hope will have a normalizing influence on him. What follows is a tragic and disturbing tale about obsession, enabling, terror, murder, the lengths a person will go to the feel like they belong, and the true meaning of humanity.

It's hard to know exactly what to say about it, because this is one book a reader absolutely should NOT have spoiled, so I'll stick with the basics. The story has a dual timeline that tracks Elizabeth as an adult, and also looks back on her childhood. The characters are wonderfully developed and creepy. There are amazingly complex relationships at play here, and throughout the course of the story, you can see exactly the steps the characters take to make them end up where they do.

White has an enviable ability to write in a way that completely immerses the reader in the events of the story, and at several points, I found myself actually talking aloud to the characters. I love it when an author can make me forget about everything except the story.

The ONE negative thing I have to say about this book is that the cover is just TERRIBLE. I mean, just awful. I understand it, but I still hate it.

Excellent book! On the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, White writes a tribute to it by doing a retelling of the most famous horror/sci fi book which changed the literary world forever. Her creation of the female protagonist, Elizabeth, is a lighting force to the knowledge that Mary Shelley herself was always in the background in a world of men. Mary Shelley may have written Frankenstein on a dare from Percy SHelley and Lord Byron, but in 2018 she comes out on top - a she was a woman. This book explores the insanity of Victor Frankenstein, and his obsession with restoring life based on a gift he was given as a child - Elizabeth. This book did give me nightmares, as for some reason, I began dreaming of hands. Dismembered hands.....I rarely give 5 stars, but this book and Kiersten White deserves the rating. I love her ideas and the development of her story lines with just a little bit of darkness interlaced in all of them.

Enjoyably dark with lots of teen appeal. I kind of wish it ended just before the epilogue though. Mary saving Elizabeth felt a little bit like a cop-out.

The YA universe is no stranger to the Frankenstein re-telling. In fact, there are so many that many of them have started to blend together into one epic Frankenstein story. Because of that I started to get a little burned out on this monstrous tale, until Kiersten White presented her latest incantation of the Frankenstein story. I LOOOOOOOOOOOVED Elizabeth. She was an absolutely fascinating character, one who was able to stand up, in her own right, and whose story left me wanting more. Additionally, I enjoyed just how dark this book is because it worked in the context of not only Victor but Elizabeth as well. Her history is bleak and the tone of the story matched that bleakness creating a tone more akin to those classic Gothic horror novels.

All in all, this is a book that definitely deserves a place on YA shelves AND would make for an excellent book club discussion for teens and/or adults.

I have never been happy with most adaptations of books. I usually would be referring to movies, for example in LOTR: Faramir would not have treated the hobbits so poorly.
Anyway, I started this book very skeptical. But, it holds true to the original in interesting and inventive ways. If you loved Frankenstein but needed some female agency and more twists? Buy this.

This is a dark and delicious reimagining of the classic, Frankenstein. What sets this story apart is the strong female cast. I loved the slow build of tension and the steady revelations of Victor’s true nature. Gripping and suspenseful, fans of the original as well as readers unfamiliar with the the original, will devour this monster of a tale.

“Some nights, when even my child’s heart knew that what I had been asked to endure was too much, I would stand on the edge of the lake, lift my face to the stars, and scream. Nothing ever called back. Even among the creeping things of the lake’s night, I was alone. Until Victor.”

Kiersten White wrote this book to honor the fact that 2018 is the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley! It has been ten years since I picked up Frankenstein, and even though I didn’t completely love this with my whole heart, Emily May’s review not only made me want to pick it up again this fall, but it also made me realize that I probably missed a ton of beautiful homages within these pages!

So, my review is coming to you from someone that’s no longer familiar with the source material. My rating is pretty much strictly based off the story that Kiersten White crafted. And even though I loved how beautifully feminist this was, and I was completely enthralled with the writing, tone, and setting, I just didn’t love the actual story.

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein stars young Elizabeth who finally feels safe living in the Frankenstein home. And she will do anything to ensure he place in the family, so she can continue to have that safety. And she does this by getting close to the oldest son of the manor, Victor Frankenstein himself. Victor is prone to outbursts of anger, and Elizabeth is the only one that can keep him calm. But Victor has been away for a while, and Elizabeth is scared to lose her place in the family. Therefore, her and the governess, who is also her good friend, go on a hunt to find Victor and bring him back home!

“I have waded through hell to deliver you heaven.”

And that governess? Justine Moritz is honestly the star of this book. I love her with the sum of my being. Kiersten White did such a wonderful job really fleshing out her character and making me feel even more for her. I truly think Mary Shelley would be so damn proud. My other favorite is the bookseller that is cutely and conveniently named Mary! These two girls were easily my favorite and probably the reason this book is getting three stars instead of two. And if I were Elizabeth I would have been doing everything in my power to date either or both of them.

“I do not fear to die. I do not want to live in a world where devils can take such perfect, beautiful innocence without punishment.”

But them going to retrieve Victor is truly only the first part of this story. There are two others that hold within them the events that take place when they return back home. Also, this story is told with constant flashbacks to events from the past, so you are kind of able to see why everyone acts the way they do.

Sadly, I just feel like the biggest problem with this novel was the predictability. Again, it has been a hot second since I’ve read Frankenstein, but I don’t even remember everything being as obvious as it was in this. And again, I know this is an homage to the book, but I feel like the book still has to sort of hold up on its own for today’s audience, regardless of their familiarity to the original source material.

“I dreaded another flash of lightning for what it might reveal of the person in the trees watching me. He stood at least seven feet tall, a hulking and unnatural creature. Fear drained my fury…”

And that truly is the biggest problem with the book, for me. I really enjoyed the rest, and I feel like the setting of this book was completely mastered. And the writing? It’s wonderful. This is a relatively short book, but I was able to pull over twenty quotes that I could have used for that review. That’s seriously impressive. Kiersten White’s beautiful prose really shines through, and I think she really is a master crafter of words.

And as I touched upon before, the feminism in this book is so very beautiful and so very unapologetic. In general, I think the inclusion of just creating Elizabeth, and making her the star of this tale, was genius. But, I mean, women still aren’t truly considered equal to men in 2018, but in the 1800s? Lord, help me. Elizabeth goes from one abusive home to another, but they are just very different kinds of abuse. This story constantly shows how women are only truly safe with protection from a man. Yet, even then, a woman can be institutionalized and put away in an asylum if they do anything to cross the man that is supposed to protect them.

I feel like this story really shines a spotlight on toxic love, and how it can be the most destructive thing on Earth. The cycles of abuse that Victor shows, is something that I wish I could highlight for all young kids to see. Sometimes it’s very hard for the person being abused to see, acknowledge, and realize that they are being abused. This story really showcases that and gaslighting and how hard it is to break the cycle and those abusive relationships, in the 1800s and in the 2000s.

“You are mine, Elizabeth Lavenza, and nothing will take you from me. Not even death.”

Trigger and content warnings for child abuse and abuse in general, medical experimentation, murder, death, heavy dictions of surgical practices especially different cutting and sewing procedures, animal abuse, animal cruelty, animal death, and talk of suicide.

Overall, I was a little let down by this, because I truly did expect to love this. Yet, I think there is something here for every human to appreciate reading this retelling. Also, I think big fans of Frankenstein will probably really appreciate this rendition even more. Lastly, I just want to remind you all how much of a badass Mary Shelley, the queen of horror and science fiction, really was. What a damn blessing to literature, 200 years later, and for all the rest of time.

I wanted to like this book! The cover is awesome and the concept is fresh. But there is just something about it that left me feeling cold & unsatisfied. I can't even pin point exactly what it is about it that didn't work for me, which is frustrating. I'd recommend it to my YA patrons but I think it would leave adults wanting something more.