This Monstrous Thing

3.3 stars. My review is going to be full of pet-peeving, I fear. [Prtf]

This is a tale of two brothers struggling in a gothic steampunk era. The one more despicable and monstrous than the other. We follow Alasdair, narrating the story. Having reanimated his dead brother, he now keeps him hidden in a gloomy castle. And Oliver doesn't particularly like it. Being isolated and lonely he stuggles with self-loathing and gnawing self-doubt. Being born into a family of Shadow Boys (manufacturers of clockwork-prostethics) the Finch family has to do their work in secret, due to societal prejudices towards clockwork-(wo)men. The growth, or rather growing up, Alasdairs is the beating heart of the story. Throughout his journey he matures to take responsibility for his work, reflect emotionally (with a little help) and draw the consequences from it. I loved the writing style and the first POV, the dark secrets that made the characters interesting and believable. I kept going from sympathizing with Alasdair to wanting to just slap him silly for what he does or doesn't do! I loved Oliver from the first scene, not only because he's so broken, angry and sassy but because he's so incredibly, unimaginatively good. Lee paints such a grand brotherly love, that I struggle to comprehend how could he forgive him for what he's done?. Because I cannot. In the end it was still about Alasdair finding his way to live. Utterly devoid of YA-tropes, this was a very pleasing read.The story is told in two timelines: in the present we follow Alasdair through the physical world and in the flashbacks we see the events that are the source of his suffering. At the same time the flashbacks are the way Lee lets meet the reader and Oliver, before his death. The ending is very satisfying and leaves me longing for a novella. I'll def. read her other books!