Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus cover art

Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus

By: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Narrated by: Simon Vance
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Only £0.99 a month for the first 3 months. Pay £0.99 for the first 3 months, and £8.99/month thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Start my membership

About this listen

 Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was only 18. At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering "the cause of generation and life" and "bestowing animation upon lifeless matter", Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts. However, upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature's hideousness.

Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein.

Frankenstein, an instant best seller and an important ancestor of both the horror and science-fiction genres, not only tells a terrifying story but also raises profound, disturbing questions about the very nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other? And how far can we go in tampering with Nature?

Public Domain (P)2008 Tantor Classics Fantasy Fiction Horror Scary Magic Science Fiction Modern British Fiction

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Remembrance of Things Past: Swann's Way cover art
The Count of Monte Cristo (Dramatized) cover art
The Bondwoman's Narrative cover art
The Vicar of Wakefield cover art
Dracula's Guest cover art
Our Nig, or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black in a Two-Story White House cover art
The Three Musketeers (AmazonClassics Edition) cover art
Beauty and the Beast cover art
The Poor Clare cover art
Frankenstein cover art
The Initiate cover art
The Monk cover art
The Mummy! cover art
The Invisible Girl cover art
Zofloya, or the Moor cover art
Two Horror Classics: Frankenstein and Dracula cover art

Critic reviews

"A novel which excites new reflections and untried sources of emotion." (Walter Scott, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine)
All stars
Most relevant
A cautionary tale of an incredibly irresponsible and infuriatingly self-indulgent and mawkish scientist who creates the 'Monster' and then spends the rest of the book running away from it feeling sorry for himself. Maybe in 1818 when the book was first published, peoples sensitivities would bring them down on the side of the 'tortured' scientist, but listening to in today, I just felt sorry for the monster and cheered him on all the way.

I found myself not giving two hoots for Frankenstein or his fast-diminishing family and felt the scientist at least got everything he deserved. An interesting book that I enjoyed listening to as a 'classic', but in it's own right it was quite frustrating, with it's deeper historical context being sidelined somewhat by my desire to throttle the scientist and insist he grow a back-bone and deal with his creation.

Frustrating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The classic science fiction novel, a gothic tale of science run amok. The book tells the tale of the life of Victor Frankenstein, and how he discovers the secrets of life. Filled with scientific fervour, he works to create life in his laboratory, and only pauses to contemplate the ramifications of his creation after it is loose. Terrible events follow.

This is so much more than a cautionary tale of what happens when science is untempered by morality. Rather, we gain an insight into the minds of all involved, including the scientist in his thirst of knowledge and respect, and his creature in its lonesome intelligence. Shelley contemplates what makes a human - and it is not just body parts.

The language of the book, while somewhat floral by today's standards, is easy to understand and very pleasurable.

The book is expertly read by Simon Vance. ?Subtle variations in pitch and intonation differentiate the characters without being irritating, giving the title a slight feeling of dramatisation. The reading is suitably expressive.

An essential and exciting classic, expertly read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fantastic performance by Simon Vance of a deserved classic. The is the Godfather of them all - written by a 18-20 year old young woman. (Took her two years). Stunning and poetic and still disturbing and socially politically astute. What took me so long?

Wow. It's a classic alright

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Like most people I thought I knew the story of Frankenstein and his monster. This book had a lot more than I expected, It is beautifully written and well read and is different enough from all the films/movie tropes to keep me entertained.

Not what I was expecting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have read most of the 'movie' classic horror stories but I had never gotten around to this one. Glad I did as it was quite different from what I expected. Not my favourite of these stories but worth a listen.

Surprisingly different from the films.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews