Today’s pick: This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel
HarperCollins, 2011
From the publisher’s
website:
Victor
Frankenstein leads a charmed life. He and his twin brother, Konrad, and their
beautiful cousin Elizabeth take lessons at home and spend their spare time
fencing and horseback riding. Along with their friend Henry, they have explored
all the hidden passageways and secret rooms of the palatial Frankenstein chateau.
Except one.
The Dark
Library contains ancient tomes written in strange languages and filled with
forbidden knowledge. Their father makes them promise never to visit the
library, but when Konrad becomes deathly ill, Victor knows he must find the
book that contains the recipe for the legendary Elixir of Life.
The elixir
needs only three ingredients. But impossible odds, dangerous alchemy and a
bitter love triangle threaten their quest at every turn.
Victor
knows he must not fail. Yet his success depends on how far he is willing to
push the boundaries of nature, science and love—and how much he is willing to
sacrifice.
My take:
I got fully immersed in the world of Victor Frankenstein and
his family. This novel has everything a tween reader might want – spooky explorations
of secret passages and caves, fast-paced action and swordfighting, mad
scientists, and a quest for seemingly impossible to obtain ingredients for a
mysterious potion. Fans of Kenneth Oppel’s books will like the strange and
lethal creatures that pop up in this story, as well as all the suspense and
action.
This prequel to the story of Frankstein is described as a
young adult novel, but I think 12 and 13-year-old readers will enjoy it as well. Just be
warned that there are some slightly gruesome elements (severed body parts) and
some romance (a key plot element is a love triangle).
As a writer, I’d read this again to study how to create a
flawed viewpoint character that readers will root for. Victor Frankenstein has negative
qualities, and the reader is definitely aware of them. But at the same time, I
was compelled to see if he would succeed at what he set out to do. Then there’s also the skillful writing – I love
the way the author uses only the words he needs, yet also manages to include details
to create spooky atmosphere and settings.
What an almost 13-year-old
says:
“Can we buy this book? I think we should have our own copy.”
“I liked it because it has lots of surprises and twists.”
It is being
made into a motion picture by the producers of Twilight.
Kenneth
Oppel lives in Toronto.
On his website he says, “When I get halfway through a draft
of a book, I usually hit the wall and don't want to carry on, because there's
so much unfinished work behind me. So back I go and rewrite.”
Other books by this
author include:
Novels for Young Adults
Such
Wicked Intent, HarperCollins (Canada), August 2012, a sequel to This Dark Endeavour
Half Brother, HarperCollins
(Canada) 2010
Starclimber, HarperCollins
(Canada) 2008
Darkwing,
HarperCollins (Canada) 2007
Skybreaker,
HarperCollins (Canada) 2005 Airborn, HarperCollins (Canada) 2004
Firewing, HarperCollins (Canada) 2002
Sunwing, HarperCollins (Canada) 1999
Silverwing,
HarperCollins (Canada) 1997
Dead Water Zone, Kids
Can Press (Canada) 1992
The Live-Forever
Machine, Kids Can Press (Canada) 1990
Chapter Books
The Barnes and the Brains Series: A Bad Case of Ghosts, A Strange Case of Magic, A Crazy Case of Robots,
An Incredible Case of Dinosaurs, A Weird Case of Super-Goo, A Creepy Case of
Vampires (all published by HarperCollins Canada)
Emma's Emu, Fitzhenry
& Whiteside, reissued 1999
Picture Books
The King's Taster,
HarperCollins (Canada) 2009 Peg and the Yeti, HarperCollins (Canada) 2004
Peg and the Whale, HarperCollins (Canada) 2000
Follow That Star, Kids Can Press, 1992, out of print
Cosimo Cat, Scholastic Books, 1990, out of print
Adult Novels
The Devil's Cure, HarperCollins
(Canada) 2000
For more, visit Kenneth Oppel’s website.
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday was dreamed up by the incredible Shannon Messenger. Visit her blog for an up-to-date list of all the bloggers who are participating and posting about middle grade books today!
This sounds good. I love alchemy. Thanks for the great review and all the info about Kenneth Oppel. I can't believe I haven't read anything by him.
ReplyDeleteSometimes Canadian authors fly under the radar. But my daughter loved his Silverwing books.
DeleteA prequel to Frankenstein--how interesting! Thanks so much for the review.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, reminds me of a book I just finished called The Monstrumologist. It took a while to get into that book, but it was a fascinating character study of a complicated man (the monster doctor). I'll have to check this out, thanks for the write-up!
ReplyDeleteI got the Monstrumentologist from the library once and couldn't get into it. But now that I know it takes a while to get going, I'll have to give it another look.
DeleteI've never heard of this--I better get to reading before the movie pops up. I always like to get the books under my belt first!
ReplyDeleteThe cover is fantastic and the review you wrote has me thinking that this is a book I could really get into. I like that it is a prequel to Frankenstein. How fun! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete~Jess
http://thesecretdmsfilesoffairdaymorrow.blogspot.com/
Yeah, isn't the cover cool?
DeleteI was trepidacious about this book for just the reason you mention: the flawed character. Could Oppel make me feel sympathetic toward a character that could convincingly turn into Dr. Frankenstein? The answer is definitely yes!
ReplyDeleteI'm excited about the sequel but even more worried: young Victor can only become more flawed . . . it's kind of like Annikin Skywalker turning into Darth Vader! Except I think Oppel will do a better job of it. ;-P
It's really interesting how he managed to pull off keeping the reader's interest with this flawed character. But I think at first he's not as obviously flawed and then it becomes more pronounced.
DeleteI'm always looking for a new book. Thanks for sharing this one:)
ReplyDelete