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Synopsis: "A new generation is creating a monster....
Giselle and Ingrid are the twin daughters of Doctor Victor Frankenstein, but they are very different people, and when they inherit his castle in the Orkney Islands, Giselle dreams of holding parties and inviting society -- but Ingrid is fascinated by her father's forbidden experiments."
My Review: Frankenstein is one of my all time favorite books and I have been searching out re-telling books or ones inspired by the original novel by Mary Shelley. I found this one in my son's scholastic book order and had to get it, I was very intrigued by the idea of secret daughters who take on his work. I was unfortunately pretty disappointed in it. The writing is pretty simplistic as is the storyline. The book doesn't really re-capture the gothic feel of the original work and there isn't the level of obsession I was looking for in it. The story is taken over quite a bit by frills and romance instead of the science, darkness and the creature that I was hoping to see again. It may be enjoyable by young adult or even older middle grade readers who have only read abridged and youth versions of the original tale but if you are looking for something along the lines of Mary Shelley's original work I would look elsewhere. I will say though that it did present an interesting idea that Victor Frankenstein was afflicted by a mental illness where he would black out and commit violent acts and replace them with the imaginings of the creature.
Giselle and Ingrid are the twin daughters of Doctor Victor Frankenstein, but they are very different people, and when they inherit his castle in the Orkney Islands, Giselle dreams of holding parties and inviting society -- but Ingrid is fascinated by her father's forbidden experiments."
My Review: Frankenstein is one of my all time favorite books and I have been searching out re-telling books or ones inspired by the original novel by Mary Shelley. I found this one in my son's scholastic book order and had to get it, I was very intrigued by the idea of secret daughters who take on his work. I was unfortunately pretty disappointed in it. The writing is pretty simplistic as is the storyline. The book doesn't really re-capture the gothic feel of the original work and there isn't the level of obsession I was looking for in it. The story is taken over quite a bit by frills and romance instead of the science, darkness and the creature that I was hoping to see again. It may be enjoyable by young adult or even older middle grade readers who have only read abridged and youth versions of the original tale but if you are looking for something along the lines of Mary Shelley's original work I would look elsewhere. I will say though that it did present an interesting idea that Victor Frankenstein was afflicted by a mental illness where he would black out and commit violent acts and replace them with the imaginings of the creature.
My Rating: I had such high hopes for this book and maybe that is why the disappointment is so great but it really was just a bit of fluff, it didn't get into the dark angst that I had expected. I give it a rating of One Paw and a Stump Wag.
How disappointing.
ReplyDeleteIt really was, there was so much the author could have done with this story but it almost seemed like she got lazy with it.
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