Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kirsten White | Book Review

Title: The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
Author: Kiersten White
Publisher: Delacorte Press       
Published Date: September 25th, 2018
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, YA, Retelling, Horror
Page Count:304
Format: Hardcover

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
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. 

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 My Review:

"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!

Other books by this author  

And I Darken

P.S. 

Kiersten if you need an idea for a short story for next Halloween I would love to see more of Mary and Elizabeth and their adventures in Russia!