The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein

Today's post is on The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White. It is 287 pages long and is published by Delacorte Press. The cover is beige like skin with the title as snitch work. The intended reader is someone who likes horror novels, retelling stories, and dark young adult novels. There is some mild foul language, no sex or sexuality, and some violence in this novel. The story is told from first person perspective of the main character Elizabeth. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- 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.

Review- An interesting and engaging retelling of Frankenstein that keeps the horror of the original novel with more insight into Elizabeth and the life she had to life. Elizabeth Lavenza is sold to the Frankensteins' as a young child on the promise that she is nobility. She has no real memory of her life before the beatings but she is never going back to that life, no matter what takes. We travel the whole of the original novel but from Elizabeth's perspective and her personal motivation of surviving at all costs. She is an interesting character, dark in a different way from Victor but she grows over the course of the story as she learns what Victor truly is. I liked traveling with her and seeing her discover for herself who is monster truly is. I recommend this novel if you wanted more define ending than what Frankenstein gave.

I give this novel a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I was given this novel as a gift.