This Monstrous Thing

June 8, 2015
Lee’s accomplished first novel envisions an early-19th-century Geneva where clockwork technology is common yet controversial. Alasdair Finch works for his father selling mechanical goods to well-to-do citizens while secretly fixing artificial body parts for those who have them, despite the attached social stigma so-called “mechanicals” suffer. Unbeknownst to his father, Alasdair has used clockwork technology to resurrect Oliver, his dead brother. Oliver looks and feels like a monster, so Alasdair keeps him hidden in a ruined castle outside the city. The only other person who knows of Oliver’s existence is Mary Godwin—or, as history knows her, Mary Shelley. When an anonymous novel called Frankenstein appears, Alasdair is shocked to realize that it’s about his family, and the book fans hatred in Geneva against mechanicals. Lee does a fine job of incorporating Shelley and her illustrious husband into her clockwork universe, which should especially please those familiar with Frankenstein and its author. The characters are suitably tormented, in accordance with Romantic tradition, and occasional language anachronisms (“It was a shitty choice”) are only minor distractions. Ages 13–up. Agent: Rebecca Podos, Rees Literary Agency.

July 1, 2015
Opening with heavy foreshadowing and a mysterious book ("green and slim...the title printed in spindly gold leaf on the spine: Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus"), debut author Lee imagines a steampunk back story for the Shelley classic. Set primarily in Geneva after the French Revolution, the book chronicles a world in which damaged humans repaired with gears and sporting clockwork hearts form a feared and despised underclass. Teenage Alasdair, perpetual disappointment to his father but a gifted mechanic, secretly repairs and maintains these clockwork humans. Then family tragedy strikes, and a guilt-ridden Alasdair turns to friend Mary for help in doing the unthinkable. Two years later the anonymously written Frankenstein creates a European stir, and Alasdair recognizes his own story in its troubling pages. With a deserted stone castle and a mad scientist, a distorted, dangerous brother brought back to life and steely automatons, 19th-century police chases and first kisses, the young genius has his hands full. His first-person account references Coleridge and Milton, making this more than just a Gothic romance novel; the settings give a nice international feel. The old and new ("God's wounds"; "it was a shitty choice") are woven together in language and theme creating a solid tale that explores what it means to be human. Part homage to a sci-fi original, part re-imagining, plenty of teen torment and trouble-an absorbing read. (Steampunk. 12 & up)

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August 1, 2015

Gr 8 Up-In 1816, a clandestine group of mechanics called "Shadow Boys" try to repair the damage that Europe has endured after years of being ravaged by war. Led by the unconventional Dr. Geisler, this group uses clockwork pieces to replace body parts and make men whole again. Because of the implications of this type of scientific advancement, Oliver and Alasdair Finch, along with their father, work covertly with Dr. Geisler especially on his dream of using clockwork technology to reanimate the dead. As fear of clockwork men and Shadow Boys intensifies, Dr. Geisler is attacked and flees Geneva. On that same night, an attempt to preserve his research ends tragically as Oliver is killed. Determined to defy the laws of nature, Alasdair perfects Dr. Geisler's knowledge and does the unimaginable-he brings Oliver back from the dead. In her debut novel, Lee skillfully infuses her adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with fantastical details and a steampunk twist. The adeptly paced and well-written story reveals the troubled relationship between two brothers and how their choices can either destroy or make them stronger. This novel with a complex cast of characters allows themes such as loyalty, family, revenge, betrayal, and humanity to be tactfully explored. Full of action, mystery, and suspense, this reimagined classic will not disappoint readers of gothic, steampunk, and historical fiction. VERDICT A satisfying tribute to Shelley's monster tale.-Donna Rosenblum, Floral Park Memorial High School, NY

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2015
Grades 9-12 In an alternate, steampunk Geneva of 1818, clockwork men who have defied nature are reviled and hated by most. Becoming part metal is something done in secret, behind closed doors, by a group called the Shadow Boys. Alasdair's father, a toy maker by trade, is part of this underground culture, making custom arms and body parts on the sly. Little does he know that his son has used these same techniques to resurrect his brother, Oliver, who died two years earlier. Oliver is hidden away in a castle, lamenting his new life as a monster and the loss of Alasdair's ambitions. What makes it all the worse is that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has just been published, and every day, people are becoming deeply suspicious of the unnatural. The parallels between the two storiesShelley's tale and Oliver's lifemake for a very literary read, and those familiar with the original novel will likely be delighted by the parallels. In her debut, Lee has crafted an intriguing premise that will easily satisfy gothic horror and steampunk fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2015
In an alternate-universe steampunk 1818 Geneva, Alasdair Finch lives with a terrible secret. He's responsible for the accident that killed his brother Oliver, but he's also responsible for having furtively dug up his brother's body and re-animated him entirely with clockwork parts. Now, two years later, Alasdair keeps his monstrous brother hidden, both to muffle Oliver's violent rages and to protect him from the townspeople's narrow-minded vigilantism. Then an arrest warrant is issued for Alasdair for the crime of helping mechanicals, and he must quickly flee Geneva for Ingolstadt, where he discovers that his mentor Dr. Geisler is secretly and illegally performing the same sorts of resurrections that Alasdair is horrified at having accomplished. This retelling of Frankenstein, set in the year the novel came out, has all the gothic atmosphere of Shelley's book, and includes Mary Godwin (Shelley's maiden name) as a character. Here she is inspired to write that novel as a means of grappling with her own abhorrence at having assisted in Oliver's reawakening, but her fictionalized account further inflames prejudices against mechanicals. Lee elaborates on Shelley's themes of humanity and playing Godconcerns as timely now as in Shelley's eraand portrays the monster in Alasdair's first-person account in ways that bring the depths of its unnaturalness home to the reader. Retellings of classics can be hit-or-miss undertakings, but in Lee's masterful prose, this macabre novel is charged with unmistakable signs of life. anita l. burkam

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)