The Daughter of Doctor Moreau
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night comes a dreamy reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Mexico.
'The deeply atmospheric novel blends horror, science fiction, and historical events' Time, 100 'Must Read Books of 2022'
Carlota Moreau: growing up in a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatan peninsula, she is the only daughter of an eccentric, and dangerous, genius. His experiments, a motley group of hybrid monstrosities, are blindly loyal to their creator.
Into Carlota's strange but perfectly balanced world comes Eduardo Lizalde, the charming, careless son of Doctor Moreau's patrons. In the sweltering heat of the jungle, amidst her father's secrets and her own awakening feelings, Carlota will begin asking questions that could ignite a conflagration.
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'Genius . . . combine[s] contemporary political awareness with the appeal of a creepy gothic romance' - Guardian
'An evocative slow-burn SF drama about colonialism, heredity and scientific hubris, couched in lush prose' - Financial Times
'The imagination of Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a thing of wonder, restless and romantic, fearless in the face of genre, embracing the polarities of storytelling' - New York Times
'Paints a vivid picture that is as alluring as it is unsettling, filled with action, romance, and monsters' Booklist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this thorny riff on The Island of Doctor Moreau, bestseller Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Gothic) interweaves several threads in 19th-century Mexico. Carlota, the naive daughter of a mad scientist bent on creating a race of hybrid animal-humans in remote Yaxaktun, strains against the boundaries of her life as she searches for love and connection beyond the world her father has engineered to contain her; Montgomery, a caretaker who self-medicates with alcohol in order to cope with a tragic past, pines for Carlota even as she explores her attraction to Eduardo, the spoiled aristocratic son of her father's benefactor; and the hybrid creatures created by the eponymous doctor struggle to maintain their autonomy and personhood as the forces surrounding them attempt to subjugate their wills for their own ends. Moreno-Garcia's worldbuilding chops are on display as she creates a distinct, vibrant backdrop to her audacious retelling. The prose, however, exhibits a cold remove that occasionally makes it difficult to remain invested in the action, and though the characters' arcs reach satisfying conclusions, wonky pacing makes the work of reaching them a challenge. The third act rights the ship, however, with an ending that will linger long in readers' minds. Fans of cerebral, atmospheric historical horror won't want to miss this.
