Title: The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
Author: Kiersten White
Published: 2018
Genre: General Fiction
Grade Level: Young Adult
-Movie Rating: PG-13
DNF**ed
(This review will only be over the first half)
Blurb (from goodreads):
Elizabeth Lavenza hasn't had a proper meal in
weeks. Her thin arms are covered with bruises from her "caregiver,"
and she is on the verge of being thrown into the streets . . . until she is
brought to the home of Victor Frankenstein, an unsmiling, solitary boy who has
everything--except a friend.
Victor is her escape from misery. Elizabeth does
everything she can to make herself indispensable--and it works. She is taken in
by the Frankenstein family and rewarded with a warm bed, delicious food, and
dresses of the finest silk. Soon she and Victor are inseparable.
But her new life comes at a price. As the years
pass, Elizabeth's survival depends on managing Victor's dangerous temper and
entertaining his every whim, no matter how depraved. Behind her blue eyes and
sweet smile lies the calculating heart of a girl determined to stay alive no
matter the cost . . . as the world she knows is consumed by darkness.
My Scores:
Writing Style: Solid
Overall, I love the writing style. I knew that I
would love it from the very first sentence. “Lightning clawed across the sky,
tracing veins through the clouds and marking the pulse of the universe itself.”
I also love the way it included outdated words
to reflect the time period, despite being a young adult novel.
However, I gave it a score of ‘solid’ rather
than ‘top notch’ for two reasons. First, because of the myriad times she uses ‘had
had,’ and starts her sentences with a conjunction (which, to me, is an indicator
of lazy writing). Second, I found the way that she used most of her similes in
order to reflect opposites to be very clunky.
Also, just as a side note, this novel does
require (or at least assumes) that the reader is familiar with the original work,
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Characters: Memorable
I truly love the complexity of the characters. The
were dark, mostly unreliable, and, most of all, interesting.
Our MC was Elizabeth Frankenstein is completely unlike
her original character in Frankenstein.
Instead of sweet she was manipulative, instead of naïve she was cunning,
instead of gentle she was cut-throat. She was much more willing to ask forgiveness
than permission. It was interesting to have a ‘heroine’ like her in a young
adult novel because at times the audience wasn’t exactly comfortable endorsing
her desired outcomes.
Plot: Predictable
The main fault of this book, and the reason why
I just couldn’t seem to finish it, is the lack of an engaging plot. As interesting
as the characters are and as solid as the writing is, I just couldn’t seem to
get emotionally involved about what happened next.
Analyzing this book actually helped me
understand a lot about my own writings and helped me see that this is the
missing element to my own work. I also came to realize that my own personal belief
is that the plot is truly the most important element to any novel. Others, such
as Jordan Harvey, make a strong case that the most important element is engaging
and interesting characters. However, I would argue that you are more likely to
finish a book with a good plot, rather than a book with complex characters.
Overall:
Boring
Overall, the main failing of this book for me
was the lack of an engaging plot. That’s why I was only able to read the first
half of the novel. While it had a solid writing style and complex characters, I
couldn’t get myself engaged as to what came next in the story.
Goodreads Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
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