The first volume of a planned trilogy, this is the beginning of Kenneth Oppel's vision of an "origin story" for Victor Frankenstein. The teenaged Victor seeks to create the Elixir of Life to save the life of his twin brother Konrad. His cohorts in his quest are his cousin Elizabeth Lavenza and their friend Henry Clerval, both of whom will be familiar to anyone who read Mary Shelley's novel. They get help along the way from a creepy apothecary/former alchemist named Julius Polidori (whose office is on Wollstonekraft Alley).

I've been meaning to read something by Kennth Oppel for a long time, plus I love Frankenstein and enjoy few things more than a good Frankenstein story, so I was quite interested to read this as soon as I heard it existed. I'm happy to say I thought it was very good! Oppel manages to imitate an old-fashioned writing style without being irritating; he also does a fairly good job of re-creating the weird, Gothic atmosphere of the original novel. The book is full of strange, macabre, and mysterious things: a hidden library, a partially-burned book written in an unknown language, underground caverns, a nighttime trek through a dark forest, a spell that brings out the animal in people, a lynx with unusual abilities, and (eek) 18th century medical procedures.

All of this serves to explore some of the themes Mary Shelley dealt with back in 1818. Victor Frankenstein in this novel shows the same obsessive desire to probe the limits of nature that Mary Shelley's Victor Frankenstein does, spending hours locked in his hidden lab in the Frankenstein home. We see his budding interest in science and alchemy develop, and the idea that Frankenstein might have had a twin provides an intriguing psychological motivation for his future work. In Shelley's novel, Victor and the Monster can be read as doubles (I found it interesting that in a recent stage production, Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternated nights playing Victor and the Monster) as of course identical twins Victor and Konrad can be in This Dark Endeavour. Oppel explicitly portrays the two brothers as opposites: Victor constantly feels inadequate in comparison to his twin, who is not only better than Victor at most things, but is also kinder and more moral. It is Konrad, not Victor, whom Elizabeth loves, but Victor believes that he understands Elizabeth's dark side in a way Konrad, who sees only her goodness, does not. It is easy to imagine how all of these things could affect Victor Frankenstein's young psyche. At one point Victor dreams that Konrad has died, and that he brings his twin back to life in a laboratory by using alchemy and a surge of energy "like lightning" from his body.

Along with these interesting ideas, the story itself is engrossing and well-paced. Some portions are extremely suspenseful and exciting: I found myself wondering and worrying about how the young protagonists would escape some of the terrifying situations they got into and reading faster in order to find out. Structurally, I thought the book was similar to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, with the adventures undertaken to acquire the three ingredients needed to create the Elixir mirroring the Triwizard Tournament's three tasks. The Elixir of Life and the idea of alchemy, of course, are familiar to Harry Potter readers, many of whom I imagine will probably enjoy this book. I will be looking forward to the release of volume two in the series, Such Wicked Intent, which, according to one website I found, will be released on August 21. In the meantime, I may check out some of Oppel's other work. Silverwing is sitting on my shelf, waiting.