Frankenstein like, but not really anything new. I didn't mind this book, but it wasn't rreally as compelling as I'd hoped from the blurb. I thought it was competently handled, the characters were good, but it wasn't as...new as I'd hoped I guess.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

The year is 1879 and the magnum opus of Wilhelm van Frakken (a descendant of Victor Frankenstein) has just escaped: Maria, the first completely lab-grown human (or not-human) finds herself in London, among new friends and enemies, and hunted by her creator. Now, the story alternately follows von Frakken, who leaves his secluded castle for the first time in decades and is inspired by the metropolis for further uses of his researches, and Maria, who wants to stop him at all costs.

My mixed feelings about this book are largely, I feel, a result of the book having mixed feelings about itself: I constantly had the impression that it teeters between being a fast-paced adventure story with rather flat characters and a focus on action, and a work that aims to raise serious issues for discussion. I enjoy both of these types of fiction and would not even say that they are mutually exclusive, but as it is, the book felt rather insecure and “wobbly” to me.

Its strength is in the descriptive and atmospheric passages which take the readers into various parts of London as well as the titular workshop. The focus on sensory impression shines especially in the moments that appall: “A damp, chemical stench came from the pitch darkness beyond. A smell of decay, of meat and mould, of old blood and rotting bones.”

And since natural history museums are one of my favorite places both in books and the real world, the scenes set in the Museum of Natural History were wonderful treats for me.

What dampened my enjoyment mostly was a certain heavy-handed on-the-nose-ness both in content and style.

It sometimes felt like the book worked with a to-do list of themes and tropes to tick off:

A likening of laboring bodies to machines? Check!
A critique of capitalism? Check!
Beauty standards and their connections to consumerism? Check!
A non-human character as an opportunity to discuss what (doesn’t) make us human? Check!

And while all these ideas work, they are also not brought up in a way that makes this book stand out from other texts dealing with similar topics.

A lack of development and ambiguity in the characters makes their moral conundrums rather easy to ignore – there is no character where it is not clear from their first appearance where they will position themselves. The good characters are good through and through, and the bad ones, especially von Frakken, indulge in supervillain monologues that could be declared as camp if the rest of the book did more to support these vibes. The literary references are equally straightforward, and even the style does everything to make sure that the readers will never end up having to think for themselves: “Maria wrapped her arms around herself, mostly for warmth but also in an unconscious attitude of defense.” – the latter part of this sentence perfectly exemplifies what I mean by doing the interpretative work that could have been left to a reader.

All in all, The Workshop of Filthy Creation is an entertaining read that I will forget soon – for someone who has never read a neo-Victorian Gothic/horror book before, this story provides a good starting point (if said hypothetical person can stand body horror and sciency gore), but all in all it does not contribute a lot to the genre or add new ideas. I would have wished for the myriad of topics and concepts that are mentioned to be presented in a way that is both more fleshed out and has more subtlety – either that, or for the book to fully lean into its elements of surreal melodrama.

I thank the publisher for granting me an ARC via Netgalley!

Excellent. Rather disturbing in the themes it tackles, but also an absolutely gripping and compelling read. I’m sure this one will be big.

I did enjoy this book - immensely. You will too if you like the macabre, the weird and wonderful, with umpteen twists and turns and where it all...

No, no clues, you really are going to have to read this book for yourself. You will not be disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Deixis Press for giving me an ARC of this book. The Workshop of Filthy Creation has all of the hallmarks of a perfect Halloween read, it’s a daring semi-sequel to Frankenstein which picks up with the descendent of the infamous Dr Frankenstein (called Von Frakken in this story) and features all manner of grisly murders, scientific experiments and generally terrible people. Von Frakken has gone beyond the ambitions of his ancestors and, instead of reanimating a dead body, he has grown and given life to an entirely man-made body from scratch. Her name is Maria and after she escapes her creator and finds herself in the harsh world of London in 1879, she discovers that there are many, many people with opinions about her existence. Some want her studied, some want her locked up and many many many people want her dead while Maria is left trying to figure out what it means to just be. Honestly, I think the book would have benefitted more from focusing on Maria and her struggle to come to terms with who she is and what life she wants for herself rather than the repeated gruesome digressions focusing on the activities of various nefarious mad scientists. If you’re looking more for a gothic tale full of nightmarish body horror, this is the book for you. But if you’d rather have an even scarier story that focuses a girl trying to get on with her life while a bunch of powerful men try to make decisions about her and body, you may be left wanting.

My thanks to Deixis Press for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Workshop of Filthy Creation’ by Richard Gadz in exchange for an honest review.

In the autumn of 1879 biologist Professor George Hobson arrives in London with Maria, outwardly a young woman but in actuality an intelligent, artificially-created being. He gathers together a number of friends and reveals that he had liberated her from a research programme undertaken by a dynasty of unethical scientists, the von Frakkens—all now dead.

Yet Maria is still in danger when the Promethean Society, an underground scientific organisation with an aim to conquer death, learns of her existence.

This ‘Frankenstein’-inspired gothic thriller is written very much in the tradition of the Victorian penny dreadful. So there was plenty of action, visceral horror, melodrama and the like. Richard Gadz also explored themes linked to scientific and medical ethics as well as social issues such as class prejudice in which certain people were considered disposable.

Overall, I found it an interesting and entertaining gothic horror novel with plenty of chills as well as expanding on the themes of ‘Frankenstein’.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I am a big fan of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and believe it is a generative text that lends itself to fruitful rewriting. Gadz’s Workshop of Filthy Creation is a rewriting, or rather an update. Here the female monster comments on current themes and asks uncomfortable questions, with an eye to 21-century concerns, and is used to draw attention to a number of issues. If you are familiar with the novel, you will recognize many similarities, as one text mirrors the other in many respects.

The notion of creating a cyborg and the secret of life is a covetable thing, which unleashes a thrilling plot that mixes horror, weird fiction and detective genre. Cyborgs are also a hot topic in a variety of critical debates and, like many modern innovations, they polarise opinions and are met with different responses – some want to suppress them some covet their secret. It is enjoyable and feels like an interesting pastiche, exuberant like a romp, with elements of fantasy, steampunk and Victoriana, and a perfect if you fancy this type of writing. It is not particularly original and no doubt less ground-breaking that the real Frankenstein, but still interesting.

My thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

In case the title isn’t an immediate tip-off, Richard Gadz’s brooding, gothic-style novel’s a variation on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It’s set in the 1870s, the descendants of scientist Victor von Frakken - renamed Frankenstein in a piece by one of his contemporaries – have gone beyond reanimation to produce artificial flesh that has the power to revitalise human bodies. From this breakthrough the latest von Frakken has created Maria, human yet inhuman. Gadz’s narrative follows Maria’s escape from her creator’s laboratory and von Frakken’s fiendish pursuit. The result’s a pastiche that reads like a mash-up of Victorian popular fiction from Sherlock Holmes to H. G. Wells. Along the way Gadz plays with a variety of tropes and tosses in references to serial murder, cockney prostitutes, religious cults and industrial horrors. But, despite gesturing towards broader questions about existence, capitalism, the exploitation of the masses and the future of humanity, this is essentially a plot-driven, lurid adventure story, with a style that’s reminiscent of Rider Haggard or G. A. Henty. It’s ghoulish, violent and, towards the end, moves at a relentless pace. I enjoyed the initial set-up more than the later developments, but it’s a decent story for anyone who’s a fan of series like Penny Dreadful, - and there is something slightly televisual about this - it’s almost crying out for a BBC adaptation. I didn’t find this particularly memorable, I think I was hoping for something a little more sophisticated and thoughtful, but it was an okay choice for the Halloween season. It’s published by a new indie imprint Deixis Press, which will focus on what they term “literary art” with a “darker edge”.

If you like the story of Frankenstein or that of the Promotheus then this Frankenstein-inspired tale should tick the boxes for you. Maria, created by Von Frakken (the real life Frankenstein family according to the book), escapes her creator and is hunted down by all sorts of people interested in her for various reasons. Set 60 odd years later, the book has evolved the creation experiments so that Von Frakken can actually grow flesh rather than bring the dead to life. This, to some extent, seems more feasible and it is a nice touch along with several issues that Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" deals with - who is the Creator? Creator vs God and more. It doesn't go into the issues as much but it is a nice nod towards the "original".

This is an evocative, atmospheric gothic melodrama, expanding on the Frankenstein mythology. It conjures up the grime of London in the period, and the juxtaposition between the wealthy and poor is well written. This is a fun semi-horror romp, but the sympathetic lead character gives this heart.

Richard Gadz’s The Workshop of Filthy Creation is a Gothic horror story that gives a new twist to Mary Shelley's famous novel Frankenstein. Its backstory reimagines an alternative life story of Victor Frankenstein, the scientist who created a tall, large and hideous creature, which many had dubbed The Monster.

Maverick scientist Wilhelm von Frakken is mad that someone has stolen his prized possession and would kill to get it back. That someone is British Museum’s biologist Professor George Hobson, whom Frakken has earlier kidnapped and brought to his large mansion in Hanover, Germany, to help with his experiments on artificial human life. Frakken introduced Hobson to Maria, an artificial being that he has created. After a heated argument that caused a fire in the mansion, Hobson escapes with Maria and both arrive home in London in the autumn of 1879. Frakken is presumed dead.

Hobson soon discovers that Maria is no ordinary young woman. Though hideous in looks, she’s tall and slender, unusually strong and agile, highly intelligent, and embodied with regenerating flesh. He is very keen to share his incredible find with his close friends in London. This includes Jabez Pell, a factory owner and businessman.

But unknown to Hobson, Pell is linked to the Promethean Society, an underground scientific organisation set up in the early 1800s. Its aim is to prolong human life by whatever scientific means possible. Pell immediately recognises the huge commercial potential that Maria's regenerative abilities can offer to his struggling business and to the Prometheans.

Frakken unexpectedly shows up at Pell’s factory. He compels Pell to reveal the whereabouts of Hobson and Maria. They, together with two members of the Promethean Society, then hatches a daring plan to kidnap Maria from Hobson’s home. But the attempt goes horribly awry, leaving Hobson dead and Maria on the run.

Maria finds herself being the subject of news headlines. Reviled as a monster, she’s being hunted down, not only by the police but by the Prometheans and her creator Frakken, who needs her flesh to heal his damaged body. She decides that instead of being hunted, she must become the hunter...

I don’t normally read horror novels (I used to in my teens) but I have to admit that I was greatly intrigued by the Frankenstein trope that this book uses. So I decided that I must read it. I wasn’t disappointed. Truth be told, I really did enjoy the read!

The Workshop of Filthy Creation cleverly weaves the history of medical science with fantastical speculations of artificial human life in the heart of Victorian London. The result is a disturbing, grotesque tale that will surely assault one’s sense of human dignity, decency and moral rightness.

The first few chapters may seem like a plod for some. That's because, I think, the author took great pains to set the stage for the tense, nail-biting drama that follows, leading to a deadly face-off between the hunter and the hunted.

For readers who need a good dose of the macabre and gore to finish off the day, let Wilhelm von Frakken tantalise you with his most vile scientific prowess and experiments. You won’t be disappointed.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC e-copy. My review is given voluntarily.