Book 1 in The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstien
AUTHOR: Kenneth Oppel
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Retelling, classic book fusion, drama
PREMISE: Young Victor Frankenstien searches for a cure for his sick brother...
MY REVIEW: Ladies and gentlement, this is how you do a good retelling of a classic book. Granted this is more of a prequel then a retelling but it still manages to be a GOOD prequel.
I think my favorite aspect of this is that it explores the character of Victor Frankenstien without excusing him. Nothing annoys me more when people try to do retellings for the dark character and just explain away all his actions (see pretty much every retelling of Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights for what I mean; the way people try to excuse the crappy things Rochester and Heathcliff do really annoys me). The author doesn't try and make us adore Frankenstien. He tries to show just what would make a guy become the man he was in Mary Shelley's Frankenstien. This I totally get behind.
This is definitely one to look into if you're a fan of Frankenstien. It is respectful of the original material while at the same time giving some new insight to the book. I especially rec it for any of you high schoolers who are reading Frankenstien for your summer reading list. The second book in this series comes out this summer.
WHO SHOULD READ: Retelling fans, fans of Frankenstien
MY RATING: Four out of Five stumbling monsters
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