Review of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey, 2022) is a reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau, set in Mexico during a period of civil strife in the nineteenth century, and focusing on Doctor Moreau’s daughter and an overseer of his hybrid creations.
Carlotta Moreau has grown up with a strange sickness, but her father, Doctor Moreau, has kept her in good health through regular medication and keeping her calm. Alongside her, her father’s hybrid creations have also grown up, though some of them have begun behaving differently. Montgomery Laughton arrives as a new overseer for Doctor Moreau’s hybrid creations, putting into motion changes for all of the inhabitants and Doctor Moreau’s scientific research.
The setting for The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is gorgeously lush, though I hoped for a bit more connection between the historical events and the plot of the book. To me, it felt like the fraught political situation was more of a backdrop than a direct element of the plot, with a few small exceptions in the later portions of the book. The point of view characters are somewhat ignorant of the political situation except in the broadest terms, which may be the reason why these elements seem limited in the story. The characters of the book are the sort you will love to hate, as all of them are replete with flaws. Even the hybrid creatures have their foibles.
I think The Daughter of Doctor Moreau will appeal to fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s writing, as well as those interested in a retelling of The Island of Doctor Moreau from an alternate perspective.
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