Friday, October 9, 2015

Review: This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzi Lee

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22811807-this-monstrous-thing
This Monstrous Thing
by Mackenzi Lee
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Publication Date: September 22nd 2015
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Pages: 384
ISBN: 9780062382771
Genre: Young Adult | Retelling | Sci-Fi
Source: Edelweiss

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In 1818 Geneva, men built with clockwork parts live hidden away from society, cared for only by illegal mechanics called Shadow Boys. Two years ago, Shadow Boy Alasdair Finch’s life shattered to bits.

His brother, Oliver—dead.

His sweetheart, Mary—gone.

His chance to break free of Geneva—lost.

Heart-broken and desperate, Alasdair does the unthinkable: He brings Oliver back from the dead.

But putting back together a broken life is more difficult than mending bones and adding clockwork pieces. Oliver returns more monster than man, and Alasdair’s horror further damages the already troubled relationship.

Then comes the publication of Frankenstein and the city intensifies its search for Shadow Boys, aiming to discover the real life doctor and his monster. Alasdair finds refuge with his idol, the brilliant Dr. Geisler, who may offer him a way to escape the dangerous present and his guilt-ridden past, but at a horrible price only Oliver can pay… (Goodreads)
This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzi Lee is a fantastically unique retelling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I can't say that I've read many Frankenstein retelling's up to this point, if any, so I was very excited going into this book. I was definitely not disappointed by the book, and it was a great book to read this month, with Halloween right around the corner!

The main character in the story is Alasdair, a boy who seems to have lost everything, and in his grief proves that he is so much smarter than he seems. Oh, this poor boy. So many things happen to Alasdair throughout the course of this book. I just wanted to jump in the book and give him a great big hug. But, even when everything seemed to go wrong for him, he still proved to be a really strong character, and he was so well written; it was impossible not to like him.

Alasdair was not the only well written character in the story, as there were others that I found myself liking as well, like his brother, Oliver, as well as another girl we meet in the story, Clémence. But while there are some characters you're really going to like, there are a few you're really going to dislike as well. I'm not going to spill the beans on who, so go meet them for yourself!

While the storyline for the book is set around Frankenstein and the time period within, the book also manages to have a complete unique story all on its own as well. The author did a really great job with researching the book beforehand, and I appreciated that so much information not only about Frankenstein, but also about Mary Shelley, was included in the story. It definitely made the book an interesting read.

Overall; I really, really enjoyed This Monstrous Thing so much. It really made for such a great book to read with Halloween coming up, but it's also a great book to read any time of the year! Mackenzi Lee is definitely on my radar now, and I can't wait to read more from her soon!

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2 comments:

  1. I keep seeing good reviews of this book and I love retellings. I need to buy this one soon!

    Kate @ Ex Libris

    ReplyDelete
  2. OOoh nice! This is in my TBR mountain as well and I am really looking forward to reading it! I also really want to read Frankenstein as well! Glad to hear it was so enjoyable! Great review!

    ReplyDelete

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