by Brian Aldiss
“When I woke, I was not dead.”
In the near future, time is becoming unhinged and Joe Bodenland inadvertently travels back to the 19th century where he meets Mary Shelley, the real Victor Frankenstein and the very real monster Mrs. Shelley wrote about. And as the original book so strongly implied, who’s the monster?
The book has strong, poetic moments, and a few good quotes. The story has competent written all over it which may sound like an insult but is not. There was no single element that said this was anything but a good book. It moved quickly, but somehow failed to develop much of an attachment to our traveler. In fact it was Mary Shelley that was more personable, Victor Frankenstein had a few great moments, and, as might be expected, the monster itself was a strong character.
Despite an inspired story and a number of good characters the difficulty relating to the main one made the book seem longer than was necessary. It was likeable, but seems it should have been even more.
“One thing’s for sure—we never had as secure a grasp on reality as we imagine.”
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