Set in the Mexican Yucatán, this is a story about a mad scientist, his human-hybrid creations, and his insidious intentions. It is also an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau, but with a fresh feminist perspective.

Doctor Moreau is a man of science and a purported man of God. Ironically, and hypocritically, though, he uses scientific experiments to play god over his creations, animal-human hybrids who he and his patron hope to use for slave labor. When the doctors daughter Carlotta starts asking questions about the world she has always known, she discovers a tangled web of secrets and lies—and must decide which side she wants to be on.

In SMG style, this story is oozing with gothic language, vintage fashion, complex characters, fast-paced action, and sizzling romance.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of my auto-buy authors because everything she writes is golden. She uses beautiful images and paints stunning magical settings just with a few words. I love her style, and The Daughter of Dr. Moreau is as good as Moreno-Garcia’s previous works. This is yet another great and amazing tale from one of the greatest storytellers of our Generation.


Thank you to Netgalley for gifting me an eARC of this title. All opinions are my own.

This book was enthralling- it examines humanity and made me introspective from start to finish. So much to consider- indigenous perspectives, colonization, the transition from girl to womanhood (Carlota), the evolution of science through history... This is a book I will be rereading probably yearly.

SMG doesn't disappoint. I enjoy her books every time, and she switches things up a lot and writes all different genres. I've never read the original book Island of Dr Moreau, but I feel like that doesn't matter. I had a vague sense of the story and this book has its own storyline with her trademark anti-colonial take as well. I really liked it and I liked the questions it brought up in terms of what/who has the right of self-determination.

I enjoy the variety in Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s books. This one was intriguing, being the retelling of The Island of Doctor Moreau, which I admittedly haven’t read, but was vaguely familiar with the story.
Carlota and Montgomery and Dr. Moreau are fascinating characters in their own rights, the story strikingly set against the backdrop of the unrest in the Yucatán peninsula. Dr. Moreau’s experiments with human beings and animals, an attempt at creating basically slave labor in the form of hybrids, has not come to fruition in the way that he - and the man funding these experiments - had hoped.
I really enjoyed this one, a mix of historical fiction and some science fiction. It kept me intrigued to see how the story would progress and be resolved.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a beautiful homage to the science fiction genre. I adore that Silvia Moren0-Garcia does not feel pigeonholed into one genre. She explores her options, and I believe that gothic and sci-fi might be one of my favorite specialties. There were a lot of unsettling vibes throughout the book, and the more sinister characters were not the experiments of Dr. Moreau. I enjoyed the book, even if I think it could have incorporated more horror elements.

Imagine in the 1870’s Dr. Moreau had a daughter on his island in the Yucatán Peninsula. Carlota is curious and questioning and though raised in the sheltered environment of an isolated hacienda, is ready to marry and start the next stage of her life. Surprisingly, she is a strong character with independent ideas despite her isolation and reliance on her father for information about the world. The book is told from her perspective as well as from Montgomery’s (an alcoholic assistant to her father) perspective. The Lizaldes hold the purse on the Moreau’s home and business so when Eduardo Lizalde takes an interest in Carlota the static life on the island awakes.
The story is beautifully told though a bit slow in parts. The mystery of the creatures on the island, and Carlota’s province make the reader curious for more. The ending may surprise you.
I liked this story and listened in part to the audiobook which was well done by Gisela Chipe. The cover of this book is stunning and Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s writing makes it into a magical place you want to visit even though the unknown lurks in the shadows.

This is a unique and refreshing gothic sci-fi tale. The book is a loose retelling of H.G. Wells “The Island of Doctor Moreau”.

“The Daughter of Doctor Moreau” was interesting and very well paced. There was compelling character development and I really enjoyed the descriptions of the island and the hybrids.

I will be getting this book in print to ensure it has a home on my shelf!

I want to thank NetGalley, Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for the e-ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are honest, my own and left voluntarily.

The Island of Doctor Moreau has always had a special place in my heart as one of the first SciFi/Horror books I ever read, so I had pretty high expectations for this. I wasn't let down! Silvia Moreno-Garcia writes absolutely beautiful prose and very well rounded characters that I find myself deeply caring about without realizing. I didn't see the plot twist coming and was completely caught off guard through the climax of the story. Definitely going to continue reading Silvia's books and definitely going to keep enjoying them!

This book was unlike the others I’ve read and enjoyed by the author. Although it is classed as historical, the tone and pacing of the novel was a far cry different than what I’ve become accustomed to. That’s not to say it’s bad thing, but rather that this wasn’t the read for me.

The story was extremely slow and repetitive to the point that it lost my interest and zeal of reading it. At about the midway point, unfortunately, I had to DNF the story.

Perhaps, this read will appeal to bibliophiles who can fully embrace the tone and pace with this historical fiction. Although, this wasn’t the read for me, I’ll definitely give another book a chance as I have enjoyed other books by the author.

Thank you NetGalley for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was incredibly well written with great character development, but unfortunately I couldn’t get into it.

Please still read it because it may be for you! It just wasn’t for me. I thoroughly appreciate the author’s talent though. It’s likely a 5 star read for someone else.

I loved it. The beginning was a slow burn, but once Carlota met Eduardo, I couldn't put it down. Exciting storytelling: an imaginative retelling of a Victorian classic with impressive detail.

3.5

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is such an interesting author. She has so much talent and her ability to cross genres is unmatched. Here we have a historical fiction novel with sci-fi elements and horror elements, and there is a slow burn romance and a great found family and complicated characters.

This novel takes the bones of H.G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau and sets it in a similar time period but in the Yucatán peninsula, where we see the events of the story through the eyes of the doctor's daughter Carlota and the overseer Montgomery Laughton. The beginning is slow and the first several chapters seemed to just duplicate events but in the other POV which was a tad annoying. But by the 50% mark I was fully invested and anxiously turning pages to see how it would end and the ending did not disappoint!

What I love most about Moreno-Garcia's novels are the themes she tackles. In this, she invites the reader to think about what makes a monster and pushes back on the US-Euro centric view of Mexico. She is able to explore racism and colorism and the way indigenous people were treated. Her author's note in particular had really interesting information about the time period. Also as usual, Moren0-Garcia highlights misogyny and women's lack of agency.

I found it hard to connect with the story. It was beautifully written and an imaginative retelling - it was just missing something. I loved the feminist approach and the landscape/setting presented.

I didn’t love this one as much as Moreno-Garcia’s other books but it was still filled with a lovely and haunting atmosphere as well as interesting characters.

I want to start this review by saying that for people who are hesitant to read this book before having read HG Well's The Island of Doctor Moreau, don't worry! This is a loose retelling and reading or not reading the classic will not impact your ability to understand the novel and you should definitely give it a shot.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia has some of the most beautiful prose I have ever read and this means that I will pick up literally everything she writes. However, I feel like this book had a really rough start. The first 150 pages were incredibly slow and I found myself drifting off and struggling to pay attention. Carlota, our main character, had such a blind obedience toward her father that it was hard to root for her. As for our other main character, Montgomery, I was honestly pretty indifferent to him the whole time.

I think the first half of the book could have been shorter but the second half was full of intrigue. After about 150 pages, the book really picked up, and the last 50 pages especially were amazing. The plot became action packed and Carlota's growth and transformation were so rewarding to watch. I'm not someone who typically enjoys epilogues, but Silvia Moreno-Garcia always writes the most beautiful and bittersweet endings that put me on the verge of tears every time. If you're someone who doesn't mind sitting through a very long exposition, you might enjoy this one.

The beautiful descriptions of the Yucatan in this hybrid tale of historical and science fiction weaves together the dual narrative of Carlota Moreau and Montgomery Laughton. It reads like a tragedy from the onset. The alcoholism and self-loathing of Montgomery layered with the youthful but sheltered and naïve Carlota depict a path that is eerie and unsettling as they assist in the managing of a menagerie of part human and part animal hybrids.
The easy antagonist is the patron of Dr. Moreau, Hernando Lizalde along with his son Eduardo. However the true villain is slowly unwrapped as Carlota discovers the truth about herself and her father’s ambitions. As the true despicable nature of the antagonist is revealed I truly loved to hate him.
While I enjoyed the ending, the foreshadowing and romantic depictions between Montgomery and Carlota were squicky. Carlota is fourteen years old when she is introduced to the divorcee and very adult Montgomery. For me, the slovenly older man lusting after the naïve Carlota who he watched grow for seven years, made it hard to push past the 30% mark of the book.
Carlota’s character growth was painfully slow, and remained tragic at the end where she still retained a set of naive and unrealistic goals. I found myself rooting for the underdog and more attached to the skeevy Montgomery who I wanted to see sober up and find value in life.
I enjoyed the banter between the hybrids and the main characters. The mystery of Carlota and her true conception were a great hook that kept me guessing throughout the story. I found the most compelling moments were when Montgomery behaved more as a mentor to Carlota than a prospective suitor. The arguments and strife between them, where Montgomery directly challenges Carlota’s notions of truth were the best bits of conflict and tension in the narrative.
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Random House, and look forward to reading future works by the talented Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

A great historical sci-fi novel!

Inspired by the novel of HG Wells, this book brought the mystery to reality in the landscape of Mexico.

The characters were engaging and well developed for me as a reader. I could feel the emotion that surrounded decisions made by the characters and felt invested in their story.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau was a wonderful read. Loosely drawn from HG Wells science fiction novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, the story takes place in a remote village in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Similar to the Wells novel, this story too involves the obsessions of Doctor Moreau, a scientist driven to experiment with the creation of human-animal hybrids-- but this time, burdened with substantial financial debts, ostensibly to create an army of cheap and obedient labor for the doctor's patron, a wealthy landowner funding his experiments.

Much of the story centers around the interaction between the hybrids and a handful of humans privy to knowledge of the hybrids' existence - Doctor Moreau, his daughter, the man hired to run the operation and Dr. Moreau's patron and his son and nephew. And at its core is the deep affection Dr. Moreau's daughter Carlota holds for the hybrids and the conflict this creates with her revered father who views his creations quite differently.

I enjoyed the book and recommend it highly.

A reimagining of the tale of Doctor Moreau, set in 19th century Mexico. This followings two POVs - Carlota, the dutiful daughter of Dr. Moreau, and Montgomery, the English mayordomo.

I enjoyed both of the povs, and found myself endeared to both Carlota and Montgomery. The story itself moved languidly, especially in Part Two of the story, which was more focused on the romance of the plot. However, I found myself unable to the book down after 60% until I finished it.

I have not read the original story of Doctor Moreau, but there was very little within The Daughter of Doctor Moreau that I was not able to anticipate. I had expected the story to have a bit more twists and turns, but it sort of just moved along in a straight line. That being said - expectations adjusted accordingly - I still really enjoyed reading this and haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I put it down.

This was a fun remake of H.G. Wells 1896 book, The Island of Doctor Moreau. I loved the location in Merida and the Yucatán in Mexico.

We follow Carlota, the daughter of either the mad or brilliant scientist doctor. He creates hybrids-part human part animal beings. Carlota cares for them and is basically the woman id the estate. Curious things happen amongst the hybrids and the Yucatán.

This was an entertaining, fantastical read and follows true to Moreno-Garcia’s book traits of reality meshing with the supernatural. If you like that, you’ll enjoy this read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing-Ballantine for the advance e-copy of this book.