Comment

This Dark Endeavor

the Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein
Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Nelson Public Library.
Aug 16, 2014
“This Dark Endeavour” stars Victor Frankenstein, a sixteen year old aristocrat from Geneva, Switzerland. When Victor’s twin brother Konrad falls ill with a mysterious sickness, Victor sets off to create a cure. Victor enlists the help of his extremely distant cousin Elizabeth, his friend Henry, and an alchemist named Julius Polidori. This novel is meant to tell the tale of the early years of Doctor Frankenstein, the scientist that created the monster from Mary Shelley’s beloved “Frankenstein”. However, all it manages to do is bore audiences. While the author has made a wonderful attempt at adding in plot twists and interesting, daring adventures, it has not worked in his favor. The end result was a dull, predictable novel that does not capture the attention of readers. The characters, for the most part, are likeable. However, they are terribly clichéd. Henry is the weak, artistic best friend and wing man. Elizabeth is the raging, outspoken female character. Victor is the rather whiny and brooding main character who constantly falls in the shadow of his much-better-in-every-way brother Konrad. There is an unnecessary and uncomfortable love triangle that occurs between Elizabeth, Konrad, and Victor. The setting is rather well written, but does no more than to remind readers that they do not live in a chateau beside a lake. The plot contains many dull moments that tend to drag out for longer than necessary. The action scenes are descriptive and easy to imagine, but are very over the top and unnecessarily over dramatic. Overall, “This Dark Endeavour” is a relatively plain novel. The author of this review believes it suitable for ages fourteen and up. It is such a shame that this novel was executed so poorly, as a story about the early life of Doctor Frankenstein was a brilliant idea.