#37 in Horror
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
- 211
- Pages
- about 4 h
- Reading time
- Film 1931 +11
- On screen
- NPR Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books
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Our view
“Frankenstein” is less a monster story than a sorrowful one: a grim tale of creation and revenge carried by graceful, measured prose, and framed in letters, a form some readers count among its pleasures. Shelley began it at eighteen, which makes its seriousness about ambition and responsibility all the more striking. Expect Gothic melancholy and reflection rather than scares; the novel is short, but it leaves a heavy heart.
Worth knowing Mary Shelley began it at eighteen, in the summer of 1816 at the Villa Diodati near Geneva, when Lord Byron challenged his guests to write ghost stories. It was published anonymously in January 1818. She revised it substantially for the 1831 edition, which adds her introduction about that summer, so editions differ: check whether yours follows the 1818 or the 1831 text. In the book the creature is never named, and it speaks eloquently.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature from different body parts in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18 and staying in Bath, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared in a French translation published in Paris in 1821.
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen 12 times — from 1910 to 2025.
- FilmFrankensteinIMDb
- FilmYoung FrankensteinIMDb
- FilmFrankensteinIMDb
- Short filmFrankensteinIMDb
- FilmMary Shelley's FrankensteinIMDb
- FilmThe Curse of FrankensteinIMDb
- FilmSon of FrankensteinIMDb
- FilmVictor FrankensteinIMDb
- FilmThe BrideIMDb
- FilmFrankenstein Conquers the WorldIMDb
- FilmFlesh for FrankensteinIMDb
- FilmFrankenstein Must Be DestroyedIMDb
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.8 across 3,074 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 95% of the weight and the score stays at 7.8 — the Horror average of 7.5 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.9 | 225 | 7% |
| Hardcover | 7.8 | 2.8K | 93% |
Frequently asked
How long is Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus?
It has 211 pages — shorter than 91% of the ranked books in Horror.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Horror — with scores between 7.3 and 8.0, closest to this book.
