95. Stitch

95. Stitch: Reimagining Frankenstein. Padraig Kenny. 2025. 208 pages. [Source: Library] [5 stars, mg speculative fiction, mg fantasy]

First sentence: Stitch wakes up, just as he always has done for the past five hundred and eighty-four days he has been waking up.

Premise/plot: Is Stitch a reimagining of Frankenstein? No. Yes. Maybe, a little. Stitch and Henry Oaf are the results of an experiment, though, whether their creator was 'mad' or not could be debated. Stitch is certainly fond of his Creator, Professor Hardacre. Henry is perhaps less so since he's been caged for being too clumsy and prone to breaking things. But the Professor has been "asleep" for many, many, many days. Stitch knows the rule of never waking him, so, he is slightly uncomfortable with how things are but not alarmed. When visitors--the Professor's nephew and a young girl, Alice--arrive, Stitch learns the awful truth. The Professor is more than sleeping. The good news? Henry can come out of his cage at last. The bad news? The nephew--who leans towards being a scientist of the mad, evil sort--is determined to experiment further on HENRY and STITCH. Can these two "monsters" escape the "monster" scientist? And will they find peace in the nearby village? With Alice by their side, these two stand a better chance than Mary Shelley's monster ever did.

My thoughts: I definitely enjoyed this intriguing read. I definitely came to care for the characters of Henry, Gregor, Stitch, and Alice. There were brief 'inspired-by' moments to the original Frankenstein, however, these were few and far between. The concept of electricity bringing the dead back to life is borrowed, obviously, but the story, the characters, the motivations, etc., everything is original.

I definitely appreciated the writing and the storytelling.

 

© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews