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dr_matthew_lloyd's review
4.0
In the late eighteenth century, the scientist Victor Frankenstein harnessed the power of electricity to restore to life a creature composed of the parts of multiple dead bodies. Horrified by his creation, he drives it away; it then commits many crimes against its creator. Frankenstein eventually pursues the creature to the North Pole, where he tells his tale to a Captain Walton before dying. The creature, saddened by his creator's death, departs, telling Walton it would kill itself. It is this point that Creatures follows.
Creatures collects five novelettes set at roughly fifty-year intervals following the original story by Mary Shelley. In each story, the consequences of Frankenstein's creation of life play out, whether through attempts by others to build a new creature, in medical science, in criminal activities, or through the survival of the creature, sometimes called Adam, into later times. The stories vary quite drastically, perhaps most notably in Emma Newman's police procedural, "Made Monstrous", but they are all interesting in their own ways. Tade Thompson picks up the story in the mid-nineteenth century and uses the concept to talk about race in Victorian London. Rose Biggin, at the turn of the twentieth century, looks at Bohemian artists and scientists and how the concept of the creature fits in there. Paul Meloy's story is more meditative, reflective, on life in wartime Britain and the creature's appearance there. Emma Newman has a police detective in 1980 investigate missing body parts as the reader has some suspicion where they might be going. Kaaron Warren investigates the medical consequences of Frankenstein's secret knowledge.
I liked all of the stories, although I certainly have my favourites. Biggins' "The New Woman" is delightful in its depiction of arty, turn-of-the-century society and its dark side. Warren's "Love Thee Better" is wonderfully creepy. And I like both police procedurals (while recognizing that they function as propaganda for a justice system that isn't working) and Emma Newman, so obviously I liked "Made Monstrous". I found the nineteenth-century style language of Thompson's "Kaseem's Way" a little hard going, although I liked the story; and I thought "Reculver" by Meloy had too simple a plot to which the creature was just attached, although the writing was beautifully atmospheric. It's a fascinating collection, often creepy, always atmospheric, usually interesting. Keep it in mind next spooky season, or just make all of your seasons spooky and read it whenever.
Creatures collects five novelettes set at roughly fifty-year intervals following the original story by Mary Shelley. In each story, the consequences of Frankenstein's creation of life play out, whether through attempts by others to build a new creature, in medical science, in criminal activities, or through the survival of the creature, sometimes called Adam, into later times. The stories vary quite drastically, perhaps most notably in Emma Newman's police procedural, "Made Monstrous", but they are all interesting in their own ways. Tade Thompson picks up the story in the mid-nineteenth century and uses the concept to talk about race in Victorian London. Rose Biggin, at the turn of the twentieth century, looks at Bohemian artists and scientists and how the concept of the creature fits in there. Paul Meloy's story is more meditative, reflective, on life in wartime Britain and the creature's appearance there. Emma Newman has a police detective in 1980 investigate missing body parts as the reader has some suspicion where they might be going. Kaaron Warren investigates the medical consequences of Frankenstein's secret knowledge.
I liked all of the stories, although I certainly have my favourites. Biggins' "The New Woman" is delightful in its depiction of arty, turn-of-the-century society and its dark side. Warren's "Love Thee Better" is wonderfully creepy. And I like both police procedurals (while recognizing that they function as propaganda for a justice system that isn't working) and Emma Newman, so obviously I liked "Made Monstrous". I found the nineteenth-century style language of Thompson's "Kaseem's Way" a little hard going, although I liked the story; and I thought "Reculver" by Meloy had too simple a plot to which the creature was just attached, although the writing was beautifully atmospheric. It's a fascinating collection, often creepy, always atmospheric, usually interesting. Keep it in mind next spooky season, or just make all of your seasons spooky and read it whenever.
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