I heard this book was a steampunk Frankenstein retelling, so it was a fun surprise to see that the book Frankenstein actually exists in this universe.
The main character secretly brought his brother back from the dead with mechanics, and he suspects the book is based on him. Which was great, because I’ve never read a retelling that incorporated the source in such a way.

The world is definitely an alternate steampunk Europe, filled with inventors and clockwork, and it raises some interesting questions:
Does getting a mechanical prosthetic make someone less human? Is an angry mechanical person more monstrous than an angry human? And are robotic automatons human if they can talk and learn?

The characters were all monstrous in a way. Everyone has done bad things, and I loved how complex the ethics around the mechanics were. The flashbacks to Alasdair’s innocent life before the resurrection are a stark contrast.
However, In the end I felt like the huge problems (like clockwork people being seen as lesser) were not as well explored as I would have liked. The author seems to understand that these problems impact every little piece of life (like someone poor not being able to avoid rust on their mechanical foot, various countries having various laws on clockwork people) but it’s left rather unresolved. It felt like the main plot thread to me, but more of a B-plot in the actual book. ( )

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4.

Well this was such an interesting reimagining of Frankenstein!

I thought Mackenzi's steampunk makeover of this classic piece of gothic literature was clever and whilst pretty true to the original, had it's own brilliant spin on the macabre tale. It could have done with a bit of a nip and tuck (sorry, not sorry), as I felt the momentum stopped at a couple of points. Overall however, it was an incredibly enjoyable reading experience that followed the themes of dangerous knowledge, humanity and isolation explored in the original. ( )

This was so good, and dark, and really atmospheric and unique. I loved it. A lot.

I ADORED the characters! The main character was such a tortured sweetheart, and I really, really liked him! He was so full of emotion. Love, and regret, and determination, and he was SUCH a rich character! I. Loved. Him.

And the brother was SUCH AN AMAZING CHARACTER!!!!!! His worries about not being human enough, not being capable of human feelings, were SO raw and real. And wow, what a stunning character. WOW! And he was honestly just SO heartbreaking. I adored him. SO MUCH!

Plus, the relationship between the brothers was fantastic! It was so broken, but there was so much love there, and AJDHJDHGSADFAHJGDFHFDHGCAN I JUST FLAIL PLEASE? This relationship was precious, and tender, and heartbreaking, and everything in between.
I love these brothers with all of my heart.

The other side characters were well fleshed out too. I just... don't remember names. BUT THEY WERE AMAZING!

AND the plot was super good! It was exciting and twisty and kept me on the edge of my seat! It was great.

This book was also really deep and made me think.

So an all around great book! Highly recommend! ( )

I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads. I was hesitant starting it because I didn't know how it would be, and ended up Very surprised. It's like a steampunk version of Frankenstein and kept me interested the entire way through. ( )

Mackenzi Lee's The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue was one of the most delightful books I read last year. Fast-paced, hilarious, and just all-around wonderful, the book was pure fun. Not perfect, but perfect enough in its good parts to more than overcome its flaws.

This Monstrous Thing is... not delightful. It's not great. It's not good. It's a morose, glum book without joy and also without much interest.

This Monstrous Thing is Lee's debut novel, and it shows. She tries to put her own spin on the famous Frankenstein tale, claiming that Mary Shelley took her inspiration from a neighbor who actually raised his brother from the dead using clockwork. I love clockwork tech (clockpunk?). I love Frankenstein, which remains in my mind one of the great masterpieces of the English language. But This Monstrous Thing is a failure at every turn.

First and foremost is our assumed hero, Alasdair (the Victor Frankenstein of the book). Alasdair is an asshole, honestly. He resurrects his brother, then locks the poor guy up in a nearby castle and leaves him there entirely alone save for weekly visits. And then he gripes constantly about how the brother is such a burden on him, how he must selflessly (and with extreme grumbling) give up on all his hopes and dreams to take care of the brother. And when the shit hits the fan, Alasdair promptly abandons his brother with fairly little persuasion. Alasdair's asshattery makes him a difficult character to sympathize with, and because the story is first-person we must suffer inside his headspace the whole book.

Oliver, the resurrected brother, is also fairly awful. Alasdair's flashbacks show a more loving, albeit troubled young man, but the present Oliver we meet is, well, monstrous. The bizarre final resolution does little to mitigate Oliver's weird, often malicious behavior throughout the book. The relationship between Alasdair and Oliver should be the center of the novel, but each brother is so individually unappealing, and their interactions so weird and off-putting, that I lost interest in both parties by the halfway point. I just can't understand either brother's motivations.

I could go on for a while about the other characters--Clemence never really takes off, Mary is a historical shanda, the villains are cartoonishly villainous and also disappear for oddly long stretches of time--or the dissatisfying world-building--it makes zero sense why people who use clockwork prostheses should be ostracized when regular prostheses made of wood and metal have been used for centuries--but suffice to say This Monstrous Thing fails on multiple levels.

But hey, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue is really great. ( )