#this monstrous thing

[treehousereads]

This Monstrous Thing

[abigail-abridged-summaries]

This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzi Lee

Concluding thoughts:

Mary is the fakest bitch ass coward that I have ever read she is a sellout and a player and tried to finesse Alasdair at the end and thankfully he didn't fall for it.

I'm so glad that Oliver gets the chance to ve on his own and hopefully he gets to live a good life. Yes I get that killing is wrong but ir was good for the plot and Geisler is a bitch.

I know in the end Alasdair talks about the reason that he brought Oliver back was because he couldn't be without him but I think it was also just because he knew he could like he mentioned how he knew exactally what Geisler did wrong and knew he could resurect someone properly.

Get👏Clemence👏a👏woman👏1816. Also I'm glad that she's free like it is so fucked up what Geisler was going to her. How can you do the work, create the clockwork and then still treat them as less than human.

Fuck Geisler, he is a wretched man.

[nevinslibrary]

Weird & Wonderful Wednesday

Oops, more clockworks.

This is Frankenstein, but not. (And shhh I sorta like it better than the original). Alasdair is a mechanic whose brother dies. He does what you would think he does after that, he brings him back to life using clockwork pieces.

Of course, if all went well and perfect this wouldn’t be an interesting novel, and, so, Oliver doesn’t get brought back exactly right. He comes back more monster than man. And then, in the book, the novel Frankenstein is published. Uh oh. There may be some pitchforks involved.

You may like this book If you Liked: Razorhurst by Justine Larbalestier, The Chess Queen Enigma by Colleen Gleason, or Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper

This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzi Lee

[cult-of-excess]

Clemence Le Brey

[lee-yan-druh]

Hello all! I thought I'd show you guys my May Book Haul. I'm always so amazed by people who have such massive bookhauls; I've even seen some bookstagrammers who have to post their bookhauls in two or three parts. But for me, getting 8 books in one month is a pretty big deal, as I usually only get about one or two a month, sometimes skipping a month altogether. Anyway, I'm pretty excited to get to these ones! Thank you to @mintbooksph, @bookbuycatalog and @angelmarksmnl for these affordable beauties! And thank you also to @thereaderdragon and @paperfury for the #unreadbooks book tag, thank you! 😊❤️📚👏🏻😍📖👍🏻

[carryon-reading]

October book-pick poll

We’re already halfway through September, which means only 2 weeks until October! We really want everyone to be able to get ahold of the monthly book picks in time, which is why we’re already here to announce the October poll!

The six admins of this bookclub have selected 3 books in total that will be put in a poll and you guys will be able to vote what book you want to read the most in October.

After 48 hours we will look at the results of the poll and the book with the most votes will be our October book of the month. This means that you can vote until September 17th, 9PM BST (British Summer Time). 

This is the link to the poll, though I recommend reading what the books are about and why we think they would make good October picks first:

Our three picks

1) They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

You may know Adam Silvera from his popular YA books; History Is All You Left Me and More Happy Than Not. They Both Die at the End is his newest release. 

They Both Die at the End is about our world where there is a company called Death-Cast, that knows on what day you will die. When it’s the day of your death--your so-called End Day--they will call you to prepare you for your death by saying your goodbyes and living this last day in the moment. Our two protagonists get a call from Death-Cast and manage to find each other through the Last Friend App--an app that will give you the chance to meet up with someone who’s having their End Day as well. Together these two boys have their last great adventure in one single day. 

We figured this would be a good book pick since we’re all really excited for this book and since it just came out it feels like the right time to read it. 

2) This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzi Lee

The name Mackenzi lee might seem very familiar and that’s because she wrote The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue--our September book pick!

This Monstrous Thing is yet again a historical fiction novel by Mackenzi Lee, Though this time it’s a YA Frankenstein retelling which we thought would really fit the month October well since Halloween is coming up. 

3) Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Three Dark Crowns is a high fantasy book in which a triplet of queens fight for their rightful place on the throne. It’s not between winning and loosing, it’s between living and dying. The night the sisters turn sixteen the fight begins. All three of them have their own magical powers to back themselves up. The last one standing gets the crown.

We thought this would be a great pick for October since the sequel to Three Dark Crowns has just come out. This means there will be a lot of word about this series the coming few weeks, which makes us believe this would be an amazing time to start this series!

[whimsicaldragonette]

Book Rec: This Monstrous Thing

Continuing with the LGBT YA theme – while it only gets a passing nod in this book, it is the debut book by the author of Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue – This Monstrous Thing, by Mackenzie Lee.

This book is essentially a retelling of Frankenstein. Set in a Steampunk alternate Victorian Geneva, where Shadow Boys replace missing and broken limbs of their patients/customers with clockwork mechanical limbs, and the resulting “clockwork people” are looked down on as monsters. Less than human.

It stays very true to its inspiration, wrestling with the same questions of monster and man, humanity and morality, but written from the perspective of Victor Frankenstein - or rather, Alasdair Finch. It imagines a world where Mary Shelly meets two brothers, Shadow Boys, while staying at the villa in Geneva and spends the summer running wild with them - and then eventually being inspired by them to write of Victor Frankenstein and his monster.

This novel was much more difficult to read than Gentleman’s Guide - it took several reading sessions over a few days to get through it - but not because it’s bad. Rather, it’s so dark and gritty and real that I was forced to put it down and take breaks from it. I am not a huge fan of Gothic Horror, or steampunk, or even Frankenstein. They are too dark, too gritty, too grounded in reality. I like my darkness with a serving of fantasy thanks very much.

But, still, if pressed I would be forced to admit that this book surpasses Gentleman’s Guide in several ways. Gentleman’s Guide is a fun romp that tackles some weighty issues but is lightened by comedy and levity and romance. This novel drags weights like the lies that weigh down its protagonist, and it is bleak and depressing and endlessly dark in a way that Gentleman’s Guide is not. But it is compelling, and clever, and well-written, and painstakingly crafted, and believable.

[universitybookstore]

Coming in July from Harper and MacKenzi Lee -- bookseller and novelist -- The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue.  The story of a young bisexual British Lord in the 18th Century, the review in Publisher’s Weekly called it “a gloriously swashbuckling affair that doesn’t shy from addressing the era’s overt racism, sexism, homophobia, and prejudice regarding illness.”