Cadaver & Queen #1 by Alisa Kwitney

Cadaver & Queen By Alisa Kwitney

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published February 27th 2018 by Harlequin Teen

When Lizzie Lavenza enrolled at Ingold as its first female medical student, she knew she wouldn't have an easy time. From class demands to being an outsider among her male cohorts, she'll have to go above and beyond to prove herself. So when she stumbles across what appears to be a faulty Bio-mechanical--one of the mechanized cadavers created to service the school--she jumps at the chance to fix it and get ahead in the program.

Only this Bio-mechanical isn't like the others. Where they are usually empty-minded and perfectly obedient, this one seems to have thoughts, feelings... and self-awareness.

Soon Lizzie realizes that it is Victor Frankenstein--a former student who died under mysterious circumstances. Victor, it seems, still has a spark of human intelligence inside him, along with memories of things he discovered before his untimely death.. .and a suspicion that he was murdered to keep that information from getting out. Suddenly Lizzie finds herself intertwined in dark secrets and sabotage that put her life, and the lives of Victor and their friends, in danger. But Lizzie's determined to succeed--even if that means fighting an enemy who threatens the entire British Empire.

 

After giving  myself time to process what I would want to say about this book, I am still finding it hard to put my thoughts into words. For this post you'll have to excuse me for some of my random emotions that are still scrambled.

I was drawn to the series because of the Frankenstein connections, as well as the first female medical student. Lizzie is intelligent and a very caring person. I especially enjoyed that she and her room mate show two different sides of caretakers in a hospital setting. The roles a doctor plays versus those of a nurse. It is a concept that most people are aware of but I enjoyed the way it was written about in this setting. 

The Bio-mechanical cadavers is what drives the plot. As the reader is being introduced to the self awareness that these beings have, initially something that the doctors are unaware of, we begin to care more for them and their situation. On the other hand we are learning about how they continue to live each day, by being injected with a special serum. Along with the fact that the bodies were in fact deceased at some point, made me only become a little more creeped out each time a "romantic" situation arose.  Personally I just felt that these moments were a bit gross, because of the situation and the state of the deceased body..did not exactly put me in any kind of romantic mood. I feel that I would have been more interested in that aspect if it were introduced at a slower pacing, that they would have had a more firm connection than just doctor and patient. At the end of the book perhaps, when they had experienced more together to build a deeper attraction to a ...cadaver. In all honesty I felt that each of these characters had a more important issue to be dealing with in their "lives" than any kind of sexual attractions. A bit forced so early on in the series. 

I enjoyed the mystery and the danger of the situation they found themselves in. The struggles that Lizzie had to deal with being the first and only female in the medical school. The hidden secrets and actions of those who are plotting against the Empire. Even surprised at the ending and love a good conspiracy story. I didn't love the story, but I did like it. It looks like the next book in the series follows the nurse Agatha DeLacey, as I really enjoyed her part in this book I am very much looking forward to following her perspective in the continuing storyline of the Bio-Mechanicals and their role in the British country's future.