The Bride of Frankenstein, Volume 1: Pandora's Bride

by Elizabeth Hand

In this novel we learn the secret history of the Bride of Frankenstein as never before depicted, from the shadows of forgotten laboratories to the streets of Weimar, Germany.

Genres: Horror, Victor Frankenstein, Fiction, Monsters

206 pages, Paperback

First published December 19, 2007

About the author

A New York Times notable and multiple award– winning author, Elizabeth Hand has written seven novels, including the cult classic Waking the Moon, and short-story collections. She is a longtime contributor to numerous publications, including the Washington Post Book World and the Village Voice Literary Supplement. She and her two children divide their time between the coast of Maine and North London.

Reviews

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bride of Frankenstein was always one of my lesser favorite Universal Monsters, but after reading most of the Universal Monster Novels, that has changed. This was probably my favorite of the bunch.

For those of you who remember the movie, supposedly at the end the evil Dr. Pretorius, Frankenstein's Monster and Frankenstein's Bride all died in an explosion. Well, now we find out they all survived. Also, the movie portrayed Henry and Elizabeth Frankenstein as sympathetic characters, whereas Pretorius was pure evil. This novel showed us the opposite, as Pretorius is the "good guy" and the Frankensteins are monsters.

Things get even more interesting when Rotwang and his Fembot from the famous movie METROPOLIS show up, as well as the whistling child killer from the classic movie M. Just a really great mix up of characters and rather than seeming forced, it all came together very well.

If you are a fan of any of the characters or stories mentioned in this review I would recommend you pick this one up, it's a great read.

[Ash · Rating 2 out of 5]

I adore all things Frankenstein. So when I found out about Pandora's Bride, I tried to find a copy in stores (which was futile). Recently I purchased a copy from Amazon - unfortunately, I didn't really find the book to be at the same level as other Frankenstein-esque titles I've read (Frankenstein's Monster, Frankenstein's Bride, The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein - which, to be fair, are all more recent titles, though not by much).

This is an officially sanctioned sequel to the Universal Studio's film The Bride of Frankenstein. For those who haven't seen the film, here's a spoiler alert - the Bride (played by Elsa Lanchester) is in the film for all of six minutes (and what glorious minutes they are!). The bulk of the film follows Dr. Pretorius as he slowly manipulates Henry Frankenstein into creating a female version of the creature. Though in the film Dr. Pretorius is supposed to be an evil man, I didn't quite find him to be so - after all, when no one else has taken pity on the creature (not even Henry, his creator), here is Pretorius, who steps up to give the creature something to help soothe his pain. Pretorius is found to be quite the mad scientist, having created several creatures already: all miniature in size, they vary from a king to a mermaid, each one more perfect than the last.

In the book, Pretorius continues his role of a gray-area benefactor to the female creature, who he adopts as a daughter of sorts. Perhaps in keeping with Shelley's original book, when the female creature is asked to pick a name for herself, she eventually settles on the greek Pandora, who is known for her curiosity and unwittingly releasing all of the horrors into the world; however, Pandora is described as a goddess of femininity (along with the more well known myth), which is what sways the female creature's decision. The story goes from Pandora's birthplace to the city of Berlin, with a wide cast that ranges from Pretorius' Children of Cain (the miniature creations he's made through various experiments, including a large horse that eats rodents), a narcoleptic named Cesare who acts as Pretorius' assistant, and another scientist named Rotwang who creates his beings out of mechanical parts. The villains of the piece turn out to be Henry and his wife Elizabeth, who are planning on remaking all females in the world into obedient slaves, through which they will control all men.

A theme of feminism is the most striking thing about the book, which is only natural since we're dealing with the creation of a woman solely for that of a mate (not unlike Eve in the Bible, but any Frankenstein-esque book is rarely without its religious themes) but it often comes off as heavy handed. I did enjoy having the main character be the bride herself, but I wish that she had shown the same amount of wit and inner turmoil that the creature exhibits in nearly every incarnation of Frankenstein that I've seen - instead she is of one mind, that she knows all, and if that's supposed to be a blatant statement about women, well, it's a poorly done one at that. Pandora bucks against expectations for her gender, but eventually comes to realize that one cannot be taken in by appearance and must learn from experience.

After reading Frankenstein's Monster by Susan O'Keefe, the writing definitely felt underpar; just as being sexually alluring is Dracula's trademark, the juxtaposition of an ugly exterior with a brilliant mind is Frankenstein's creature, and I simply didn't feel that level of intelligence coming through in the writing. I do enjoy the fact that the creature got a voice this time around (it's essential to his character, and being stripped of it in the film really destroys his evolution as put forth in the original book), and that he is also given a chance to prove himself to earn Pandora's affection; but honestly, the book doesn't do much that's new. It was also an incredibly quick read - I literally sat down and was done with it in the same day. I certainly wouldn't reccommend this book to a Frankenstein purist, either of the Universal Movies flavor or the book; I'm a little sick myself of seeing Henry/Victor being shoehorned into the villain role. I would tell anyone interested in this book to pass on it.

[K.T. Katzmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a feminist crossover of German expressionist movies where the Bride of Frankenstein wanders into Fritz Lang's Metropolis. If that can't convince you to read this...



After the events of the classic film, the titular bride, our narrator, awakes in the rubble. Dr. Pretorious, the wonderfully camp devil at Frankenstein's side, finds her and shepherds her back to his lab, filled with freaks and mutants of his own creations and a certain famous homicidal sleepwalker.

Basically, our bride becomes the Snow White for a cross between the Seven Dwarves and a Troma film cast. It's lovely.

As always, a creation of Frankenstein will find themselves hunted, and the crew flee to Berlin, where rumors say that Doctor Rotwang has built a mechanical woman...

Elizabeth Hand cooks up an entertaining goulash of German Expressionist horror cinema. If I have any complaints, it's that I think Pretorius, while appropriately sardonic, may be a little nicer than his film counterpart, if not less entertaining. The gloom and depression of 1930s Germany is wonderfully mixed with the Universal Monsters atmosphere.

Pandora's an interesting character; I think Hand could have wrote a few more books with her. Using a woman created solely to be a mate to examine a woman's place in the world is a natural decision, and Hand does it well.

It's not entirely perfect, but it attempts a lot, and does poorly with none of it. Definitely my favorite of the Universal Monster tie-in novels.

[Zachary Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pandora's Bride is quite an ambitious novel for a media tie-in. Not only does it chronicle The Bride after the events of The Bride of Frankenstein, it shares characters from films such as Pandora's Box, The Blue Angel, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and Fritz Lang's M and Metropolis. Hand does a good job imbuing Pandora with a real personality and a sense of purpose, which she mostly lacked in the original film. The novel is rife with subtext and metaphor. The biggest fault of the narrative is that it is one dense with ideas that it doesn't have time to fully explore in its scant 200 pages. I also found the villains to be rather simplistically drawn and cartoonish in their motivations though perhaps that is in keeping with the style of the pulp novels which would have still been in circulation during the original theatrical release of The Bride of Frankenstein. It's too bad Pandora's Bride isn't easier to find as I think it would satisfy a lot of fans of the source material as well as the other Universal monster movies. I paid a pretty penny for it!

[Rocio · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the part where a large group of angry women started throwing rocks at Dr. Frankenstein

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was all over the plae, so my review probably will be too. First off, this is Volume 1, published in 2007. Seems we are not getting a follow-up? So I start there. Was this meant to be a duology, or even a trilogy? I ask because the story feels both incredibly rushed through, but also unfinished. So either there was a book, or books, to follow, and they never got written, or this is all Hand planned to write. Both are disappointing, as I would like more of Pandora's story OR I would have liked a better book if it was to be the only volume. I did enjoy the period elements, adding the 'Metropolis' fembot, 'M's villain, Henry and Elizabeth (as villains!), the Monster (kudos for the name - Smith - seriously creative!), the Children of Cain, and draping it in post-war/pre-war Weimar Germany. Still, everything is too thinly presented and left me wanting more. Again, more books or a better solo offering. The pacing is atrocious. The beginning is brilliant, especially how we get most of the characters in snapshot so we know who's who, but the middle lags terribly, and then the end (real ending or clifhhanger? more books or just this one, again??) is just dropped in. Unsatisfactory. I think Hand had a fabulous idea and either didn't think it would take with readers (I will get to the implied but almost entirely absent feminism people are so happy about...) or she actually planned to fill in the gaps in future endeavors. Either way, the potential here is staggering when you think of what she included, but there is no depth or much feeling to the writing, and Pandora, who is our titular subject, is almost backgrounded completely. Which leads to my biggest problem with the book. It is implied this is a feminist sequel to the film 'The Bride of Frankenstein', but our Pandora never takes center stage, in fact she is often not even on stage. Sadly, the overabundance of males in the story detract significantly from the message. Even if you skip the feminism angle, Pandora, as a lead character, still takes a backseat, or even the waybackseat, to Henry, Pretorius, Pfieffer, the Monster, Wendigo, Cesare, the Monster/Smith... You get it, right? Pandora is always sidelined, Thea almost gets more good scenes. Lulu is an afterthought, but she gets almost as much time as Pandora in certain places. I wanted more Pandora. I am not sure if I was overthinking it, but the ending felt rather tepid and vague when you analyze Pandora from a feminist angle. There is much deferring to the males, and while she couches her decisions as choices, they feel like they are made limited by male constraints, like her options were only ones from the Man List. Hand makes Henry a villain, and Elizabeth too (she at lest gets some bite!), but he is overdone and lacks nuance. Characters that are pure evil or pure goodness are rather lame, we all have sides to our character, ones we may love, fear, or want to let out only when its dark. Maybe Henry just takes such a swerve from Shelley's Henry, and that made it weird. OK, this is getting close to the length of the book so I will just try winding down.
One more thing: I didn't understand the title. Pandora's Bride? As in mythological Pandora? She was made by Hephaestus (The Smith...) but married to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus. But even if it just refers to this book, Pandora isn't marrying anyone, unless it is a metaphorical marriage? Pandora of the Jar (not the box... seems Erasmus of Rotterdam - greatest scholar of the northern Renaissance! - turned "pithis" into "pyxis" so Pandora lost her jar and found a box. Fucking scholars!) is wedding Pandora of our book? Yeah, I don't get it either.
I loved the idea "monsters are not by appearances, but by actions", we are not our looks but our deeds. If more had been done with that in the 206 pages I could have forgiven the unfulfilled promises of this book, but we are left with other cutesy posterisms but not much fleshing out of their meaning and importance. The book isn't awful, but I think my 5 year search for a copy at a reasonable price (why no digital version, Elizabeth Hand?!?!?) ramped up my expectations, as did the many reviews praising its themes and details. I enjoyed it but was left wanting so much more.

[Donovan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I found it odd the setting of the book seems to be more modern than would be expected of anything in a Frankenstein/Bride of Frankenstein world, being in 1920s Germany, that would be my only complaint. As a child, I loved imagery of The Monster and his bride even though I knew nothing real of them. Then in senior year came my surprise when finally reading Shelley's novel that The Monster actually SPOKE. Then my disappointment that his bride was never created. Then my disappointment and heartbreak to see that even in her titular movie, she actually rejects him then dies.

And I've been waiting since 2017 for Universal to remake the movie like they said they were going to so I could see her character have her own deserved adventure and NOT just wake up, scream and hiss and then die. So finding out this book existed was a THRILL for me. It wasn't too long and that plus my eagerness had me finish it rather quickly but I regret nothing. The adventure featuring references and appearances from several other black-and-white-movie old Hollywood horror films was cool and although I haven't seen all of them, for those that have or that knew them it was a cool game of 'oh I get that' and I love things that nods to the audience and smiles when they nod back.

It was also great to see her go from innocently cruel and vain to the more open-hearted character she is at the end and ******SPOILER****** for anyone like me who has always wanted The Monster to end up HAPPY, she finally chooses him in the end, deciding to take on the title of 'helpmate and true friend' over wife as she sees it as better than 'wife' but I feel like we the audience are given hints to know that love will grow for them.
That alone makes me personally want to consider it a sequel (or threequel if we take The Bride of Frankenstein movie as the sequel) to SHELLEY'S novel because GOD, finally the monster ends up happy.

[Kevin Fitzsimmons · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't a bad book at all. It does seem to me as though it looses steam in the middle and never quite recovers.

The first half of the book is very well done. Most interestingly the characters are interpreted in a way that might be outside of what Whale and team were thinking when they made Bride, but the novel managed to both bring the characters into our century in a loving way that was still surprising.

The second half of the novel isn't shabby, it just isn't as good as the first half. There are some delightful cameos and in jokes, but the first half is just so darned strong that the second half would have had to really outperform to match it.

So, what we have is half a very good stand alone novel and half a very good tie-in novel.

[Mandi Hidalgo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a very well done story continuation for The Bride. It worked well with how The Bride of Frankenstein movie ended and I loved how it ended. All in all, it was thoroughly enjoyable and I'm glad I was able to find a copy after an extensive search of the internet.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

[Eric]

Full review: https://monsterbookclub.com/2022/12/1...

[Emmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an interesting little book! I had picked this up because I love the Universal monster movies, and while the Bride is not my favorite monster, I do love the film that inspired her. With that in mind, this is nothing like the movie. And I was surprised by how often I thought to myself that this was very much like Phantom by Susan Kay: an adaptation that completely changes the original work in the process.

Now, don't get me wrong--I enjoyed both books. But I did struggle a bit with the direction that this book went. It felt like more of a feminist manifesto than a monster story, treating the Bride (now named "Pandora") as an independent, free woman as opposed to the strange, birdlike creature that hisses like a swan. I don't mind character development in adaptations, but I do struggle when the source material is tampered with. For example, while Pandora's character was mostly fine, I strongly disagree with making Henry Frankenstein into some sort of horrible villain, a coward, and a sex-crazed wretch. If anything, the Henry of Bride of Frankenstein was a contrite and broken man who did what he did for his wife, not because he was still hell-bent on playing God. I also disagreed with the portrayal of Elizabeth. It seemed so sudden, so out of left field, that it wasn't believable. Oh, so she figured out what Henry was doing and turned him into a zombie?? How did she get the knowledge and skill to do that? And in less than 24 hours? Yeah...sure.

I did like other aspects of the book, however. I enjoyed the character of Pretorius, and I thought it was clever how other characters were drawn into the story from German expressionist films, like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Metropolis.

Still, my biggest complaint with the piece was that it felt as though it was trying too hard. It was trying to be so many things, but it felt pieced together, and the stitches still showed. Does this mean I hated it? Of course not, but it was not quite what I was hoping it would be (although these sorts of novels never are). But, it did what it had to do, that is provide me with a very entertaining Sunday afternoon. If nothing else, I can say that.

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[SmokingMirror]

I will treasure the milieu this book creates: most of the great people and creatures from the German Expressionist silent era and early sound era Hollywood horror as they find themselves in Weimar Berlin. The plot, such as it is, and the depiction of some characters, such as the good-heartedness of Dr. Pretorius and the well-adjusted to waking consciousness of Cesare, I value less. I'm baffled by their blandness.

It turns out that Pandora, the Bride, is not Lulu after all; Lulu appears as herself in a kind of double of the Kit Kat Club. She's not in the tale very long and she isn't a fully rounded Lulu. However, Hand creates a Bride who is well beyond the self-absorbed Lulu, a being of intelligence, introspection and in the end, good judgment.

Wendigo is a wonderful character--literary rather than cinematic--whom I wish to see more developed--his own book would be nice. The reference to Blackwood and quotation from his story were highlights.

This is a book I might return to in order to see if I can derive more insight into its beguiling world.

[Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is super stupid. For a short work the plot is really convoluted, possibly so the author can slip in as many German literary and film characters as they possibly can.
And weirdly the main villain is Elizabeth Frankenstein, who the Bride/Pandora just hates and hates for some reason despite them never meeting in the film, and Liz turns Dr. Frankenstein into a monster and is practically twisting her mustache at the end out of nowhere
Only for Universal Monster novelization completionists.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

An officially sanctioned sequel to The Bride of Frankenstein, this book is a lot of fun. The Bride's characterization is well done, and the world she lives in is effectively drawn. I wasn't a fan of Henry Frankenstein's descent because it felt like it came out of nowhere, but I did like the many questions raised by Hand including most prominently, who's truly alive and who is truly dead?

[Jeremiah Genest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, definitely not Hand's best but pretty fun for a licensed property. She tries to fit several of her favorite old monster films to a god deal of success. Recommended for fans of Kim Newman, for one.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

sort of sci-fi fantasy frankenstein story that takes place in germany after WWI. i love elizabeth hand's storytelling. perfect book to read for a little escape - action sci-fi with cool imagery. quick read.

probably would be a fun book for teenagers.

[Catherine Siemann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frankenstein's monster makes friends with Auden and Isherwood in interwar Berlin. What's not to love?

[Midnight Blue · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only made it through one chapter and that was more than enough for me......