[Book Review] - The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein - Kiersten White

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein is a retelling of the classic Frankenstein story, but here we have everything in the eyes of Elizabeth, who in the original story is the bride of Victor Frankenstein.

Know that you don't need to read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to enjoy reading this book. It works really well independently! What can change is just your perspective: if you have already read the original work you will be anxious for certain points in history to know how Kiersten White portrayed them here and if you have not read them (which in my humble opinion maybe better) you will be impressed with the direction that this book will take.

Elizabeth Lavenza is a poor girl who will soon be thrown on the street until a thread of hope emerges: Victor Frankenstein. A lonely boy who has everything but a friend. She does everything to get the boy to consider her indispensable and as a reward, she is welcomed by the Frankenstein family.

But everything in life comes at a price! Over the years, Elizabeth's stay with the Frankenstein family depends on controlling Victor's volatile temper, attending to his absurd whims, and even protecting him... And soon, she finds herself falling into darkness to stay alive.

The author did a magnificent job giving Elizabeth life since in the original work she is totally speechless. Here, Elizabeth is a complex character full of secrets and ambitions. Initially, her personality can cause a little disgust as she appears to be selfish and crosses boundaries to stay alive. Something that made me wish she just stopped what she was doing and I asked myself over and over, "Is this really worth it?" or "is there no other way?".

Victor is a psychologically unstable character who gradually awakens a dark side in Elizabeth that makes you desperately cling to the pages to know where all this is going.

The construction of these characters takes the story in a different direction from the original, bringing new questions beyond those already presented in the original work.

Kiersten White was able to create a perfect setting for the story that easily transports us to that setting. His writing is poetic which delivers a formality that fits with the time in which the characters live, but without making the writing drag. This is a reading that will surely hold you from start to finish.

How about you? Have you read The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein? Leave your impressions here in the comments!

See you in the next review!

[Book Review] - HEX - Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Hi people! Today we are going to talk a little about the book HEX, by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. published here in 2018 by Darkside Books.

In HEX we have a city called Black Spring that is cursed by a witch. This witch was burned at the stake but somehow she survived and she has been a part of people's lives in the city for the past 300 years. Over the years, many bad things ended up happening because of this witch, until people ended up sewing her eyes and mouth, in an attempt to soften the curse because everyone who suffered from her eyes or heard her whispers had aggressive reactions or suicidal feelings. 

The witch is wandering around the city or appearing in random places (such as inside the residents' house). Over time, the townspeople got used to it but are afraid of what might happen if outsiders discover the witch's existence, so they created an app called HEX to monitor the witch movements.

 

There is a council of residents of Black Spring that is responsible for monitoring the witch and that always tries to keep outsiders or people who want to move there away so that they are not affected by the curse that prevents residents from moving or leaving the city.

The curse makes the more a resident leaves the city (for distance or time) the more he hears a whisper from the witch, making all residents prisoners.

The purpose of the book is very different from what I had seen before. There is the cliché of the horror genre represented by a group of teenagers who decide to test the witch, provoking her and putting the city at risk.

There is not a single protagonist, but several residents telling the story from different perspectives, connected by the group of teenagers and what they do with the witch.

However, as cruel as the witch's curse is, I felt sympathetic to her story and what she suffers from teenagers. My desire was to pluck the stitches from the witch's eyes and mouth and watch it all burn.

Regarding writing, I had never read anything written by a Dutch author, and for that reason, I felt a difference in the style that caused me a certain strangeness, but his narrative style pleased me a lot because the intensity grew as the story progressed.

Have you read HEX? Tell me your opinion here in the comments! See you in the next review! Also, take a look at the brazillian HEX edition on the video below!

[Comics and Manga Review] - Creepshow - Stephen King

Creepshow is based on the classic 1982 horror film directed by George A. Romero (director of The Night of the Living Dead). Both the film and the comics aimed to portray the terror of the 50s.

This comic refers to the style of the television and comic series Tales from the crypt. Young people are probably unaware, however, older people must remember. And if you liked it for sure you will love this comic.

Bernie Wrightson did an excellent job with traces of the drawings as they really bring to the similarity of the 50's horror.

We have 5 stories presented by a creature, similar to an undead, which always brings comments that vary between sarcastic and funny, at the beginning and at the end of each story.

Father's Day: We have the story of Bedalia, who on every “Father's Day” visits the grave of his deceased father.

Jordy Verril's lonely death: A hick finds a mysterious stone and believes he can get some money from it. I believe that King was inspired by "The Color Out of Space" from Lovecraft.

The Box: A janitor finds a box at a university and authorizes a professor to open it. That was my favorite story. Here is a clearer characteristic that King uses in his stories: Sometimes the worst monsters are hidden inside you.

Going with the flow: A man decides to take revenge after discovering that his wife is cheating on him.

Cheap revenge: A grumpy old man with an obsession with cleanliness is irritated by having cockroaches in his apartment. I was a little uncomfortable with this tale since I have a horror of cockroaches.

I don't believe that today anyone is really going to be scared by these stories, but it is a great way for old horror fans to remember the style or for other readers to get to know this horror style that is no longer seen today.

And you? Already knew these comics? Let me know in the comments! See you in the next review!

[Book Review] - The Accidental Afterlife of Thomas Marsden - Emma Trevayne

We are naturally afraid of cemeteries. After all, it is a sad place because there we say goodbye to our loved ones, and even scary for the most superstitious. But Thomas cannot just avoid such a place. Since he works with his father, Silas, violating graves. All the treasure that the men insist on taking to the grave and will not need will provide for Thomas' family.

But one day Thomas comes across a recent grave that holds a body identical to his own with a note addressed to him and 3 tickets to an event where spiritualists contacted the dead. Obviously the desire to know its origins arises. And it all ends up taking Thomas towards a magical world that he never dreamed existed. 

The proposal is already intriguing and Thomas is a smart and courageous boy. He doesn't want to be blind about who he is. He wants to discover all the secrets that surround his history and takes us along with him. His courage and curiosity reminded me of some Neil Gaiman characters. We can also see that London's hard life has aged him more than 12 years. He behaves very mature for his age and, at times, even insensitive.

The story is a boy's journey getting to know himself and the magical world of fairies, but she speaks much more than that. Love for family and friends is presented to us in a delicate and touching way. We can see this clearly in some of the character's own actions with Charley, his best friend, and his parents, who despite being hardened by life and very strict, know how to show affection and concern.

“The point is: it is not because something is strange that it is not real.”

The writing is simple, fluid, and thought-provoking, making me wish the story was a little longer to explore some more characters and even the magical universe. The author writes in such a delicate way that it makes us believe that there really is magic in the world and we just don't know where it is hiding.

I loved the fact that the publisher kept the original cover, which besides being very beautiful is totally related to the beginning of the story and which together with the title arouses an instant curiosity. The book is youthful, but it is capable of winning adult hearts.

This was my first reading by the author, but it certainly won't be the last.

What about you? Let me know what you think of this story! See you in the comments! 

[Book Review] - Steelheart - Brandon Sanderson

Steelheart is the first book in the Reckoners trilogy, written by Brandon Sanderson, and published here by Aleph. 

At the beginning of the story, the author makes us aware of a fact where on a random day a star appeared in the sky and people began to present the most varied superpowers. As I took the book to read without even knowing the synopsis, I imagined it would be a common story about superheroes. But there are simply no heroes! The Epics, so-called those with superpowers, fight each other for power and this story takes place in New Chicago, a place dominated by the Steelheart, which has the power to turn things around into steel and is apparently invulnerable.

Our protagonist, David, is a survivor of a certain event where he ended up losing his father at the hands of the  Steelheart, but for a brief moment, he realized that Epic was not entirely invulnerable. As such, David grows obsessed and studying to discover the weaknesses of all Epics and eliminate them. He also wants to be part of the Reckoners, a group that has the same goal in common.

I had long wanted to know the writing of this author, who was so well known by the Mistborn series, and now I understand the reason for his popularity. The writing is very fluid, he has wonderful creativity, and his ability to describe action scenes is excellent to the point of making it look like we are watching it instead of reading it.

The main character, while being intelligent and knows how to improvise in dangerous situations, he also shows "silly" and exciting youthful behavior. But at no time is this negative! In fact, this brings an air of realism to him that makes us understand his motivations and determination to defeat the Epics, but that shows us he is still young and is maturing little by little.

The other characters are well inserted in the plot with well-defined personalities. The book is very humorous and among the group of reckoners, we have the feeling that, even in that hostile city, the members see themselves as a family even if they do not use words for that. The group's notion of respect is not only directed at the leader.

The secrets are discovered little by little. This is an extremely positive thing because I felt perfectly in tune with the characters' reasoning. Some questions about the plot were not answered in this book, but I believe they will be in the next books of the trilogy since the author concludes Steelheart in a way that encourages you to want to read the next volumes soon after.

Brandon Sanderson is a man of captivating writing. You will definitely want to see your other books.

Don't forget to share with me your impressions! See you in the next review!