Frankenstein
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley · 1818
The first science fiction novel, and still among the most morally powerful. Shelley's creature doubles as the first SF robot, the first AI, and the first exploration of scientific hubris. She wrote it at nineteen.
The case against
Victor faints, flees, or falls into fever at every moment requiring action, and his self-pity wears thin long before the Arctic. The plot runs on coincidence: the creature teaches himself eloquent French through a hole in a cottage wall, then happens upon Victor's family everywhere. Romantic-era machinery creaks under the still-living idea.
Science Fiction & Fantasy · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
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