Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
worth it?, 4 Mar 2001
By A Customer
Okay, I know this book has been around for some time now, but I think it warrent a review in light of the following circumstances: First, it's was made into "a major motion picture", directed by Roger Corman. Second, Aldiss has also written the sequel Dracula Unbound. Third, I really enjoyed it.I've read quite a few of Brian Aldiss' books over the years, and - with the exception of Helliconia Spring - this is by far the most enjoyable. In my opinion, Aldiss tends to overwrite to an amazing degree, but this is actually a boon as far as Frankenstein Unbound is concerned. The book is very much in the style of Mary Shelley's original, and really captures the imagination by giving such detailed and poetic prose that it's hard to believe that Shelley herself didn't have anything to do with it. The plot concerns one Joe Bodenland, who finds himself a victim of some major timeslips. He's transported from his own time of 2020 to the early 1800's, where he encounters a guilt-wracked Victor Frankenstein. Vic has created a sort of composite zombie from bits of dead bodies, and animates it using his knowledge of electricity. Like all zombies, the sum is greater than the parts, and the monster victimises Victor by framing his maid for a murder. Vic knows that the girl is innocent, but can't say anything as he'll be is trouble for creating the monster in the first place. This is where our man from the future comes in. He does his best to convince Victor to help free the girl, but another timeslip places Joe three months in the future, where the only thing he can do is seek out the help of Mary Godwin, Lord Byron and Percy Shelley. Al in all, the book is a great read, and a surprisingly worth sequel to the original. It raises Aldiss a couple of notches on my list of worthwhile authors.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
A slow burner..., 9 Oct 2009
... but increasingly interesting as it goes on. The story starts in 2020, and a war is going on between the rich Northern and poor Southern hemispheres. The unspecified weapons used during this war have resulted in the 'breaking down of space/time', and so the story really picks up after the protagonist, Joe, has been caught in one of these 'timeslips' and transported back to the early 1800s.
There is a lot of pontification in this book, and the story itself moves very slowly. Joe meets Victor Frankenstein, Frankenstein's monster, Lord Byron and Mary and Percy Shelley, and at the beginning I was really confused by this blurring of historical 'fact' and 'fiction'; before realising (probably a bit belatedly) that this was sort of The Point. I think the book is worth persisting with, because its ideas make increasing sense as the tale goes on, and some of those ideas are very interesting.
As well as the obvious 'Frankenstein' motif of scientific discoveries exceeding the intentions of their discoverers, often to devastating effect; the story also plays with conceptions of identity and reality - both of which become increasingly malleable and uncertain as the story develops. A clever book, with some provocative, well-conceived ideas.
But, sadly, I also found it a bit dull. The long paragraphs of metaphysical speculation made it (for me) more of a struggle than a joy to read. This is certainly not a book for those who like their science fiction light and uncomplicated. But I think that a patient reader who enjoys complex ideas could get a great deal from this book, if they're prepared to plough through it.
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by Brian W. Aldiss
by Alan Moore
by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
by Peter Ackroyd
![Hammer House Of Horror - Complete Collection [DVD] [1980]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41X0Y2T7K5L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Pierce Brosnan
