This Dark Endeavor: the Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel. 302 p. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, August, 2021.
#tbt features This Dark Endeavor: the Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel. If you've ever read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or, the Modern Prometheus, you may have wondered what drove Dr. Victor Frankenstein to pursue such a morally repugnant experiment. Canadian author Kenneth Oppel did and the result was a duology begun by this book.
Victor Frankenstein lives with his identical twin, Konrad and his distant cousin, Elizabeth in a sprawling chateau on the banks of Lake Geneva. They, along with family best friend Henry are inseparable adventurers. One day, while exploring the dark places in the chateau, they discover a dark library known as the Biblioteca Obscura. Once Victor's father discovers this, they are forbidden from ever entering the library again.
When Konrad falls seriously ill and doctors can find no cure for his mysterious ailment, Victor breaks his promise to his father and returns to the library in search of a cure.
This gothic horror story is riveting. It is a prequel to Shelley's classic and quite faithful to the original characters and setting. It is not necessary to have read it, though if you have, you will marvel at how well the two stories merge.
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