You wouldn’t think that a romantic comedy based on Frankenstein would be a good idea, or even a possible idea. Aside from the whole monster-kills-everyone-the-protagonist-cares-about thing, there really aren’t a lot of characters in that book who seem to deserve a happily ever after (though I personally have always felt some sympathy toward the creature). So how does Sally Thorne manage to make Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match work? Simple. She doesn’t actually use the characters as they’re set out in Frankenstein, or follow the plot of that book too closely, and it works.
She starts by creating an all-new character, Victor Frankenstein’s younger sister, Angelika, who has spent her life helping him with his reanimation work. He’s determined to prove himself to the world, and especially to show that he’s a better scientist than his peer, . Angelika, despite being rich (the Frankenstein family is wealthy) and good looking, is odd enough that she is afraid she’s never going to find a man who’s willing to marry her. So, in true Frankenstein fashion, she decides she’s going to make herself a perfect man. Or at least a man who’s got a perfect body. While Victor makes his creature, Angelika takes parts from a handsome corpse in the morgue and makes one of her own. What could possibly go wrong?
It’s a romantic comedy, so of course things go wrong. Victor’s creature runs off into the night, terrifying the locals whenever they see him and thwarting all Victor’s efforts to find him. Angelika’s creature is a little better behaved, but he’s freaking out because he can’t remember anything of his prior life, and even though his body reacts favorably to Angelika, he doesn’t feel he can allow himself to be a part of Angelika’s life if he was already married or committed to someone else. Which means Angelika has to help him find out who he was, without actually letting anyone else know how he was raised from the dead.
Add in Victor’s fiancee, Elizabeth (who suffers a bad fate in the original Frankenstein, but who’s a real character with personality and humor here) and Captain , who’s clearly falling in love with Angelika (to add tension to the situation) and Victor’s creature (who gets named Adam over the course of the book) and assorted other characters, and you have a fun book that plays with the questions Mary Shelley didn’t choose to worry about and that ends, as the original doesn’t, with a well-deserved happy ever after.
The book is so enjoyable that even though there’s a hint that these characters are the inspiration for Frankenstein itself (shades of “and that’s the book you’ve just been reading”), I found it charming rather than annoying.
You don’t have to have read Frankenstein to appreciate and enjoy this book, and if you did read Frankenstein you might have a prejudice against Victor (who is such a tool in the book) that might get in the way of liking this Victor. If you’re in the mood for a romantic comedy with some heat (nothing too graphic), likable characters, a unique plot and a good sense of humor, check out Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match.
Bookskill 