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grav_ityIn which Victor Frankenstein is an emo-teenager who discovers alchemy.
(True story, I once read a review about how TDE was Oppel's "first endeavour" into genre fiction, and how it was too bad he had to stoop that low. The writer of that review had clearly never seen, much less read, one of Oppel's books.)
I've been meaning to read this since it didn't win the GG last year, and kept getting distracted. It was impeccably written, and certainly deserving of the nomination. I also have a known weakness for "fill in the blank" stories, so even though I only kind of know how FRANKENSTEIN goes, I still knew enough to appreciate the details.
Victor was amazingly flawed. He really was an emo teenager, but I never felt like he was breaking out of his time period either. It was artfully done. His brother and his cousin Elizabeth were both excellent characters as well, particularly Elizabeth. One of the things Oppel did very well was write Elizabeth's faith in God, despite having been mostly raised in a house full of atheists.
That said, twin brothers, one of whom is Awesome and Doomed and one of whom is VICTOR FREAKING FRANKENSTEIN, and one cousin who is being encouraged to marry one of them? Yeah, you can kind of guess where it's going. That said, the romance was handled very well. You really don't WANT Victor to win, ever, which is kind of neat. So many times with an anti-hero we're tricked or manipulated into cheering for them anyway, and I found it very refreshing to have a "bad boy" that neither the heroine nor the audience fell for.
Anyway, the second book is out. I will get to it...eventually.
8/10 for historical details, excellent narratives, interesting adventures and the take on religion.
(True story, I once read a review about how TDE was Oppel's "first endeavour" into genre fiction, and how it was too bad he had to stoop that low. The writer of that review had clearly never seen, much less read, one of Oppel's books.)
I've been meaning to read this since it didn't win the GG last year, and kept getting distracted. It was impeccably written, and certainly deserving of the nomination. I also have a known weakness for "fill in the blank" stories, so even though I only kind of know how FRANKENSTEIN goes, I still knew enough to appreciate the details.
Victor was amazingly flawed. He really was an emo teenager, but I never felt like he was breaking out of his time period either. It was artfully done. His brother and his cousin Elizabeth were both excellent characters as well, particularly Elizabeth. One of the things Oppel did very well was write Elizabeth's faith in God, despite having been mostly raised in a house full of atheists.
That said, twin brothers, one of whom is Awesome and Doomed and one of whom is VICTOR FREAKING FRANKENSTEIN, and one cousin who is being encouraged to marry one of them? Yeah, you can kind of guess where it's going. That said, the romance was handled very well. You really don't WANT Victor to win, ever, which is kind of neat. So many times with an anti-hero we're tricked or manipulated into cheering for them anyway, and I found it very refreshing to have a "bad boy" that neither the heroine nor the audience fell for.
Anyway, the second book is out. I will get to it...eventually.
8/10 for historical details, excellent narratives, interesting adventures and the take on religion.
