Better written then it has a right to be, this novel doesn't follow continuity with Shadow of Frankenstein but is still of interest to Universal Horror fans. Hand's mixing of Fritz Lang's 'M', Metropolis and Frankenstein characters makes for a fun read, although the cast becomes overloaded by the third half of the book. The final revelation seems to be a way of diverting from the frankly unbelievable quality of Frankenstein's plot. Even if I imagine this Frankenstein in the Peter Cushing mold, his motivations for creating Stepford wives is frankly out of keeping with any version of the character that I know of. The titular Bride is well realized although I think if the cast hadn't been overloaded there would have been room for more development of her. The Children of Cain are a unique creation and the first half of the book really evokes a freaky and macabre atmosphere which is sadly lost when events arrive to Berlin. Hand is to be commended for crafting a tale around a character that gets less then 10 minutes worth of screen time. ( )

Sigh. It aggrieves me to give a bad review to an Elizabeth Hand novel. She is one of my favorite authors and hearing her read in person is just magical.

I love the Frankenstein tale and I don't mind an author making the Bride a strong character. Dean Koontz has done a wonderful job with this in his Frankenstein series: Prodigal Son, Dead and Alive, etc.

This book, however, I did not enjoy. I disliked the Bride from the very first page. I appreciate the character arc Hand was putting her through but the Bride and I never clicked. Also, this book lacked the atmosphere that most of Hand's books have. Well, at least her original material does and I guess that's the problem. In the future I will stay away from her franchise books. Sorry Liz. ( )