The Daughter of Doctor Moreau
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
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 — the sleek and the bizarre, wild passions and deep hatreds — with cool equanimity.
... enthralling.
Over the 300-ish pages that comprise The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, Silvia Moreno Garcia breaks your heart just to help you put it back together again. An emotional novel dense with both mystery and the unsettling sense that something is slightly off, Garcia instantly captivates you through vivid imagery and characters that tug at your heartstrings from the book’s first few scenes.
This isn’t simply a sequel or updating; instead, Moreno-Garcia has drawn elements from the original novel and created something wholly original, powerful and thrilling on every level.
... touches on themes found in Wells’ book such as the morality surrounding science and religion, but it also touches on topics that Wells ignored, such as colonialism, racism, and how women struggled (and still struggle, frankly) to claim their own power and their own inherent worth in a world that treats them as less than human.
... this wholly new novel paints a vivid picture that is as alluring as it is unsettling, filled with action, romance, and monsters. However, it is Moreno-Garcia’s ability to mesh the unease of the scientifically created beasts with the real-life terrors of a life on the margins and the horror of colonialism that elevates this story. Readers will fall into this tale immediately, enchanted..
When the creatures and the Moreaus are threatened, Carlota extends her claws literally and figuratively. Her gradual awakening is hypnotic and a nod to Moreno-Garcia’s ability to write female characters whose self-discovery empowers them.
... a rousing and romantic anti-colonial novel.
... like all good reboots, Moreno-Garcia takes the key ingredients and reimagines them in a notably different manner but in keeping with the source material.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia proved her gift for haunting storytelling in Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night, and she takes her talents to a whole new level in The Daughter of Doctor Moreau. Her writing transports readers right into the jungle and the eerie, isolated world of Carlota and her father. Though I have not read HG Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau, I have no doubt that Moreno-Garcia’s retelling is the perfect modern-day tribute with a feminist spin. Gothic in the best sense, with creative sci-fi twists and characters full of passion, The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is a gripping tale for readers of all kinds..
Moreno-Garcia’s ability to evoke sympathy and empathy in readers is much closer to Geek Love than to The Island of Doctor Moreau, which initially seemed to me like a peculiar choice for extrapolation into a Mexican gothic context. I soon realized that The Daughter of Doctor Moreau dismantles Wells’s inherent patriarchy and affect.
Romance, mystery, and monsters combine to give us a compelling look at the human heart.
This is historical science fiction at its best: a dreamy reimagining of a classic story with vivid descriptions of lush jungles and feminist themes. Some light romance threads through the heavier ethical questions concerning humanity. Readers of Isabel Cañas’s The Hacienda will be drawn in by the setting and themes; fans of other classic remixes, such as Megan Shepherd’s The Madman’s Daughter, will also enjoy..
While she takes some liberties with her reimagining of H.G. Wells’ classic, they all work to make the story a more compelling, addictive read. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is the perfect kind of retelling because it doesn’t try to serve the same story dressed up differently; it’s a truly inventive reimagining of the original.
With her well-crafted gothic style, Moreno-Garcia draws readers into the lush setting and asks them to think carefully about the morality of experimentation, the damage wrought by colonization, and the unpredictable fancies of the heart. From the European racism toward the Maya people, to the horrific work of Dr. Moreau, and the ways in which women are vulnerable to misogyny and violence, the author infuses her romantic vision with deadly serious themes and topics. The result is an entertaining and thoughtful tale --- a page-turner that is both creepy and fanciful, and always smart..
Readers may find the plot 'twists,' perhaps, anything but surprising (especially if they’ve read Wells’s novel), but that doesn’t detract from enjoyability. The unique setting is refreshing and innovative while still managing to feel true to Wells’s original jungle island isolation, and pacing works well. Characterization offers more for the hybrids in Moreno-Garcia’s take; while they may exhibit fur and claws, they show far more humanity than some of the humans in this tale. Threads of religion and the cultural and caste/racial aspects of the time period/setting add complexity to the pure escapism. For fans of sci-fi, colonial Gothic, and reimagined classics, Moreno-Garcia’s novel offers an engaging read..
Moreno-Garcia’s novel starts a little slowly, but there’s a reason for that—the setup is crucial to the book’s action-packed second half, and the payoff is worth it.
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..