[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!