Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus

A ship captain exploring the Arctic rescues a half-dead scientist chasing something across the ice, and hears his confession. Victor Frankenstein, a student drunk on ambition, discovered how to animate lifeless matter, assembled a creature, and then fled in horror from what he had made. Abandoned and unnamed, the creature educates itself, watches humanity from the shadows, and finally comes looking for its maker with a demand.

Mary Shelley began the novel at eighteen, on a dare to write a ghost story, and produced something much stranger than the monster movies suggest. It's a nested tale about ambition and loneliness and who answers for what gets made, and the most eloquent voice in it belongs to the creature itself. The way it's built out of letters and confessions makes it a natural for audio.

At roughly 74,800 words, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus runs about 8½ hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

The edition linked here is available from Project Gutenberg under its US public-domain listing. Check the edition, translation, completeness and copyright rules where you live. LoudReader lets you browse and download Gutenberg books; they are not all stored on installation. To listen:

1. Install LoudReader on iPhone or iPad, or its iPad app on a compatible Apple Silicon Mac.
2. Search for “Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus” in the built-in catalog and add it to your library.
3. Press play. A natural offline voice reads the book while each word highlights on screen, and your place is saved between sessions.

Speech is generated locally without uploading the book for narration. Download the book and check your chosen voice before travelling offline. Available voices depend on your device; check the in-app voice list. Try every available voice for your first 8 hours of listening. Afterwards, keep a free English voice selection and unlimited book listening. No LoudReader account or word quota.