Waiting on Wednesday: Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel
Series: This Dark Endeavor Chronicles #2
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Expected Publication: August 21, 2012
Pages: 310
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Young Adult

From Goodreads:

When does obsession become madness? Tragedy has forced sixteen-year-old Victor Frankenstein to swear off alchemy forever. He burns the Dark Library. He vows he will never dabble in the dark sciences again—just as he vows he will no longer covet Elizabeth, his brother’s betrothed.

If only these things were not so tempting.

When he and Elizabeth discover a portal into the spirit world, they cannot resist. Together with Victor’s twin, Konrad, and their friend Henry, the four venture into a place of infinite possibilities where power and passion reign. But as they search for the knowledge to raise the dead, they unknowingly unlock a darkness from which they may never return.

I recently read and reviewed the audiobook of This Dark Endeavor and fell head over heels for it. So much so that I felt compelled to request the ARC of Such Wicked Intent. I have no idea if Simon & Schuster will send me one, but given how rarely I actually request ARCs (like maybe I've requested 5 in the past two years) that should give you some idea of how much I want to read it.  Kenneth Oppel is one of those authors who just doesn't get as much praise for his talent as I think he deserves. Dude can totally write. He managed to take a stale tome (Frankenstein) that many high schoolers dread reading in their English lit classes and breathe new life into it by introducing us to Victor Frankenstein as a young man. I am actually curious to read the Mary Shelly classic now and I'd never felt any sort of compulsion to read it in the past.