I have a soft spot for Raul the Third, so I jumped at reading this one. It's a re-imagining of Frankenstein, as many have said. The monster is aware of her monstrous-ness, and there's a whole thing with the church and owl people and they all seem to be really not into the idea of Cristina, even before she became a monster. I like the plant magic and I still like Raul the Third's style.