Kiersten White's book have always been a hot and cold area for me, ranging from excruciatingly terrible to actually engaging and showing great potential for a series. This book fell smack dab in the middle, as it struck me as 2/3s meh and 1/3 okay, this is getting a bit ridiculous.

I think White did a passable job at making Elizabeth into her own character, with passions, motivations, and an interesting arc. It kind of all fell to pieces at the end, but it was still a valiant effort. She rubbed me the wrong way in a few places, but it was nice to see a character that was almost virtually nothing in the source material to someone with actual depth.

Her relationship with Victor came off as told, rather than shown, as the majority of their interactions are displayed through flashbacks and I wish there was a bit more between the two.

Also, I wish Victor was written with as many morally gray traits as Elizabeth instead being, you know, outright evil. It kind of cheapens the character and yes, he was not meant to be a likable character even in the source material, but he wasn't absolutely soulless.

The last fifty pages of the book are well, sure something.

As an aside, I'm so tired of the "sticking an otherwise healthy woman into a mental asylum as a way to do away with her" trope. I get the historical significance, but I'm just done with it as a whole. Time to get more creative.

Also, this book needed more of the creature, but that's just a personal thing.

Lesson learned: Stay away from White's standalones and stick to the series books.