The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein

An intriguing idea that spins the original tale and examines it from Elizabeth's perspective. The story dragged on for a while and Elizabeth's character is dull. She doesn't exhibit any tangible traits, but simply 'tells' us about the streets, a knocking on a door, just day-to-day mundane stuff. Not much actually happens until we get into the second half. White's depiction of Elizabeth is essentially her 'telling' us that she has terrible intentions, but we don't really get a sense of it. As the protagonist, Elizabeth needs to be much more dynamic, but she pales in comparison to the description of the other characters, especially Justine. White does a great job giving us a good solid feel for her as well as the other characters, but the reader can't connect to Elizabeth--there's just not much there unfortunately. Once we get to the premise of the story, the plot unwinds frantically and intensely. What Victor is capable of is far darker than Shelley's version. He is indifferent, cold, inhabiting the darkest of dark intentions. What Elizabeth encounters is horrifying and the moments prove startling and tangibly and darkly alluring.

Unlike Shelley's version, where we see events primarily through Victor's and the creations' eyes, here we get to see the complexity of the women characters and we receive a far more complicated reveal of Victor's upbringing. The interesting parallel to Shelley's is this: Elizabeth is Victor and Victor is the Monster.