The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein

by Kiersten White

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
 
"Inescapably compelling." —VICTORIA SCHWAB, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie Larue

"A masterful and monstrous retelling." —STEPHANIE GARBER, #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Caraval and Legendary

A stunning and dark reimagining of Frankenstein told from the point-of-view of Elizabeth Lavenza, who is taken in by the Frankenstein family.

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. 

**Ebook exclusive: the full text of Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN**

• ISBN10: 0525577947
• ISBN13: 9780525577942
• Publish Date: 25 September 2018
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 5 October 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Delacorte Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780525577942

Reviews

[kalventure]

I am here for all the feminist retellings. This book was a wild ride, my friends. The book is deliciously dark and atmospheric, nailing the tone of gothic horror so well. If it weren't for the uneven pacing, this could have been one of my favorite reads of the year.

It's been a long time since I've read the source material, but that didn't negatively affect my experience. I might have missed some nuances and homages that Kiersten inserted into the story, but this is a retelling that stands on its own while also honoring its source material.

"Words and stories were tools to elicit the desired reactions in others, and I was an expert craftswoman."

No one is really likable; every character has some major issues. I'll be honest, my not liking Elizabeth contributed to my lukewarm feelings of the book. But it wasn't her own darkness or machinations which made her unlikable for me; it was her codependency. But that was the point and something I came to realize in the last quarter of the book. Now? I love that Elizabeth is not completely innocent. Her dark descent is a direct relation to that and her incredibly toxic relationship with Victor. She feels her survival depends on Victor, and it is that desperation that leads her to do some questionable things.

"I sought to puncture heaven and instead discovered hell."

Unfortunately, the plot took too long to take off for me and at times I found my eyes glazing over with disinterest. To be honest, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it until the last 70 pages or so when the shit really hit the fan and the plot really took off. That also roughly coincided with the end of the flashbacks to childhood, which I found to be poorly timed. They contain crucial information but definitely contributed to the slow start of the book.

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

Overall, I appreciated this Frankenstein retelling told from Elizabeth's point of view. The book really explores how we are shaped by those around us, the lengths we will go for survival if desperate enough, and the nature of monsters.

Content warnings: abuse, animal abuse, animal death, death, dismemberment, murder, talk of suicide

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[moraa]

4.5 stars

Sometimes we were strangers even to ourselves

There's not much, given the chance, I would change about this book. It's a beautiful retelling and a wonderful story. The characters came alive in my mind and I was genuinely scared most of the time.

I loved the idea of the story of Frankenstein with a woman at the forefront. After all, the story was written by a woman even though many of the men around her tried to take credit for the work.

This is a light and easy read, you should be done in no time.

[Bianca]

‪2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge‬
30. A retelling of a classic‬

‪

‬Sometimes we were strangers even to ourselves.

— A female-centric Frankenstein retelling exploring the horrors of being a woman & uncovering who the real monsters in our society are. Slow start, but great buildup. Good read!

I was not really familiar with the story about Frankenstein. I knew only the basic premise of creating a monster. While I really enjoyed this book, it was still really predictable. So please do not read this book expecting to be blown away by plot twists. This book is not meant for the plot twists, but for the atmosphere of this story.

I enjoyed this book, I think it is a fun read, and I would encourage people to pick it up and read it. But personally, I would not buy this book (thanks library), because I would not read it again. The story began wonderfully, but after the first part, the story felt rushed. The pacing became awkward compared to the first part of the book, and event after event kept happening, without really paying attention to our main character feelings. While I know that this book was not centered around feelings but was focussed on storytelling alone, I still missed it.

Overall, this is not the best book I have ever read, it has some flaws, but I really enjoyed it. I don't love it since I missed some elements of the story, but I still encourage everyone to pick it up.

[readingwithwrin]

"Oh, I like you, Elizabeth Lavenza. I like you very much. I am a little bit afraid of you, but I think that makes me like you more."


Three years ago I read the original Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and I was a little underwhelmed by it personally. What was missing in it for me was found in this book! The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein is incredibly creepy yet heartwarming at times. Which was what was missing for me in the original.
White makes it so you not only care about Elizabeth and several of the other side characters, but that you also care for Victor and what he had created by the end. How she does this I'm not sure, because it seemed like my opinions on certain characters was constantly changing depending on what chapter I was on. The characters are what drives this book along, and I've learned that that's what I love in books right now.

Elizabeth who is our main character has such an interesting back story that we learn slowly throughout the book, and I loved her as a character. Is she terrifying at times, yes, yes she is and I absolutely loved that about her. She was willing to do what she had to in order to have a good life with the family that took her in even if it meant encouraging certain other things at times. Elizabeth not only makes up stories to satisfy others, but she also puts on a bit of a persona to be who Victor needs her to be in order to keep the peace between him and his parents.

"Nothing surfaced from the black depths of the river. It kept its secrets. I would keep mine. And Victor's, too. "

While this would be a good thing, it takes a darker turn with Victor and Elizabeth and thing's just keep escalating the other Victor gets. This puts Elizabeth in some uncomfortable and questionable positions that make her vulnerable to certain things that Victor is doing.

"You begin existing the day we met. You are my Elizabeth, and that is all that matters."

Victor truly worried me from the beginning, and I even wonder if he could be a sociopath at times because of how he acted. Having said that though, I also found myself being worried about him when Elizabeth was worried about him and hoping that he was okay. There was a bit of a weird possessiveness that he felt towards Elizabeth, that just kept getting more concerning the longer the book went on. Which added a whole new level of creepy, and excitement at the same time. ( I can't believe I just said that.)

"She loved it because I told it just for her. It was not entirely the truth. But so little of what I told anyone ever was. I had ceased feeling guilty long ago. Words and stories were tools to elicit the desired reactions in others, and I was an expert craftswoman."

Justine is a character who I wanted to protect at all costs, and I couldn't help constantly thinking that she should run from that house immediately and find a safer place to live. Yet I also knew she wasn't going to, she truly cared for Victor's younger siblings as if they were her own. I think that's part of what made me love her so much, also the fact that we see Elizabeth having a real friend it seems for the first time ever.
Last but certainly not least we must have a 'Monster' or it wouldn't be Frankenstein. While I cared about the 'Monster' in the original, I cared about them even more in this book by the end and I wish we had gotten to see more of them.

"I yearned for the freedom I anticipated. Freedom from the monster. Freedom from secrets.Freedom from the fear of having nothing."

Besides the character-driven story we also have a bit of an added mystery that's in the background for most of the book, and it's about Elizabeth's family, and past before she came to be with Victor and his family. This is the only part of the book that seemed a little rushed to me, but that could just be because I love finding out about people's family history's and things like that.

"Madame Frankenstein had brought me out of the darkness and into the light."

Overall I really loved this book, and I cannot wait to be able to go back and finish White's other historical fiction series that I want to marathon over my Christmas break! The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein is deliciously creepy and heartwarming at the same time. I'm not sure how White is able to make both of those things happen at the same time, but she does and I absolutely love her writing for it!

[limabean74]

This was so unique and different. I am not even sure how to describe what I just read. It was haunting and evil but beautiful and heartwarming. A journey about a girl and a monster, but who was the real monster. Who created who? I found this story be a great retelling with lots of twist and turns but with the same madness of the original. I recommend 100% :)

[Cocktails and Books]

I struggled to finish this book. Elizabeth was not likable to me and I couldn't understand how she would be shocked that Victor went down the ugly path that he did. She practically encouraged his behavior until it impacted her and what she wanted.

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!


I will admit that I have never read the original Frankenstein. I know, it's embarrassing, but I've seen and read enough retellings that I feel like I have an okay grasp on the story. Even if I didn't, I absolutely would have picked up this book as soon as humanly possible because I am obsessed with everything Kiersten White writes after falling in love with And I Darken.

This Frankenstein retelling focuses on Elizabeth, a young orphan who is taken in by Victor Frankenstein's family in order to befriend him and keep him out of trouble. Elizabeth does whatever she can throughout the story to make herself useful and irreplaceable in the Frankenstein household. I found Elizabeth to be a character who was morally gray and extremely interesting. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I loved her, but I was definitely intrigued by her motives and sympathized with her fierce need to belong.

Victor Frankenstein is about what you would expect. He's passionate and dark and and a bit terrifying. He has a very intense desire to conquer death, which leads to some extremely questionable, horrific actions. Elizabeth and Victor together were all kinds of disturbing and this book makes no effort to hide it. Although it's clear that they love each other, it is definitely in a very unusual and possibly toxic way. I still found myself rooting for them, at least for part of the time.

There were other characters along this journey who were all fantastic and Frankenstein's Monster was fantastic! I thought the writing was beautiful and the world was atmospheric. The story was interesting and different enough from any other I've read to keep me intrigued. All that said, there was one big issue I had with this book and that was the pacing in the first 60% of it.

In And I Darken, a very large chunk of the book was devoted to telling you how the characters became who they were. Because that book was nearly 500 pages long and part of a trilogy, it worked for me. Something very similar happened in this book, but Elizabeth Frankenstein is 300 pages long and a standalone, which made getting through the first 200 pages incredibly tedious. Had this book been by an author I didn't know I loved, I would have given up on it. Luckily, the last third made up for it and presented an incredible story. If you happen to love character driven books, you'll probably love it start to finish!

The ending of this book is very different than the ending of the original Frankenstein, which is perfectly alright with me since this is a retelling. I really enjoyed the ending and would love to see what happens next! The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein is a unique take on a story that has been told a million times. If you're a fan of the Frankenstein story or gothic horror in general, I would recommend this.