The Daughter of Doctor Moreau shares an impressive ancestry, including The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells and Shakespeare's The Tempest. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau takes a different tack on the story by presenting it from Carlota, the aforementioned Doctor's daughter. Moreno-Garcia adds the industrial Age, the rich industrialists, and the requirement by the owner class for cheap or free labor.

This is where the overall story adds philosophical science fiction to historical science fiction. The "hybrids" created from the local fauna are presented both as a shining scientific achievement and also the answer to the industrial baron's needs--workers who are reliant on their masters for the medical potions (see also: opium, alcohol) to keep them alive. The industrialists keep the good Doctor in cash and material for his research, and the Doctor provides the free labor. Since the laborers aren't "human," there are no problems with the situation. Until there is...

Add to this the continuing story of Carlota, her mysterious disease, and her journey from blindly accepting the Doctor's work to developing awareness, Moreno-Garcia combines a treatise as to when the agency begins with a cracker of a story.

However, this is the one minor fault with the book--the third act takes a while to arrive. If the reader expects a replay of the movie version of the Island of Doctor Moreau, they will be frustrated. However, the third act does pay off for the reader's patience and pays off handsomely.

Recommended: 4/5 stars

When an author decides to retell a classic story such as THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU, they have set a challenge that scifi readers will judge for the rest of her life. Fortunality Silvia Moreno-Garcia was up to the challenge. The addition of a daughter to the famous doctor gives the readers a different view of the doctor's world of hybrids......some call them monsters. The story unwinds at a good pace without having to retell the original back story. Morena-Garcia manages to bring the story into current history while still maintaininng the feel of the original which is no small feat. If you loved the original, you'll love this one too.

I’ve come to the conclusion that SMG is simply not the author for me – I loved Mexican Gothic, but everything else I’ve read from her has fallen flat. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is a good, solid novel, but it’s simply didn’t hit the mark with me. The premise sounded amazing, and I went it expecting a lot more and that’s definitely my fault. I’ve noticed SMG stories are slow by default, but I can’t help but feel like this one goes above the limit, it’s a quiet story, if you will.

The writing was gorgeous, as usual, the author has such an unique way of creating the atmosphere of a novel, but everything else seemed quite faded to me. Sometimes a scene would be repeated again, just in another’s character’s POV, which I found redundant and quite annoying after a while. I understand this is a dual POV, but it made me want to DNF multiple times because I was getting tired of this method of story-telling.

I didn’t connect with the characters at all, so I didn’t really care about what was happening to them. I found Carlota and Monty’s relationship to be a bit weird, since he was basically falling in love with a child he saw grow up. I couldn’t get myself to root for them since it made a bit uncomfortable. Montgomery’s character was the most developed out of all of them and I didn’t particularly found him that interesting. Carlota was annoying for a good half of the story, but she grew on me, eventually. I didn’t like how rushed her arc felt, to be honest.

I found the pacing to be a little off – it switched from impossibly slow to very fast in a matter of pages, which hindered my reading experience. I wish the story was a bit more balanced, as I found the first 50% very hard to get through. I also wished there were more parts involving the doctor’s work and such, since I found that very interesting.

Overall, it’s a story I can see many people enjoy, but it wasn’t for me.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is loosely inspired by the novel The Island Of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells. It centers around Carlota Moreau who lives in this small idyllic hacendado in Yaxaktun. Her father Doctor Moreau is funded by Hernando Lizalde. After issues arise with Melquiades the former mayordomo of Yaxaktun Lizalde and Doctor Moreau offer the position to Montgomery Laughton. He is quickly introduced and privy to the truth about Doctor Moreau’s work. This story is told through Carlota’s and Montgomery’s point of view. The hybrids are also a big focus of this story and they have their distinct personalities and roles throughout.

I had no previous knowledge of the novel that inspired Silvia Moreno Garcia and no knowledge of the issues brewing in Mexico amongst the Maya people and the Mexican people of that time. It was so interesting to read how Silvia weaved her magic to bring to very distinct storylines together in The Daughter of Doctor Moreau. I am definitely a fan of Silvia’s writing style and story telling. Every book I’ve read by her showcases new elements and areas of Mexican culture/history that I am not familiar with. I will read anything Silvia Moreno Garcia writes and I definitely recommend everyone do the same. This book was a story about a young woman discovering her capabilities, discovering the meaning of love and family, and of being free to be who you truly are. I gave it four and half stars.

I enjoyed this. It was a well written story. It was such an amazing twist up of Gothic and Historical with some Speculative Fiction thrown in. It felt reminiscent of Mexican Gothic which I really appreciated as I greatly enjoyed that novel. I did wish it had more character building though, as I never felt like I really knew them outside of superficially. But the end was interesting and satisfying and I was constantly wanting to know where the story was going to go.

Set in nineteenth-century Mexico, this novel is both historical and science fiction.

Carlota Moreau is a teenager who lives on the Yucatan peninsula in 1871 with her father, ostensibly a doctor, and a collection of hybrid animals that he has scientifically created. The large and beautiful estate where they live their secluded lives is owned by a wealthy family, the Lizaldes. As patrons of Dr. Moreau, the family controls the coffers and are owners of the hybrids -- part human, part animal. Everything is perfect in Carlota's eyes until she meets the owner's handsome son, Eduardo Lizalde. As secrets long buried are revealed, simmering passion and rebellion create a sequence of events that change everything.

The premise is based loosely on the H.G. Wells novel published in 1896 but the setting has been altered which also affects the action and theme of this book. I loved the details the author presented about the home they've named Yaxaktun. The characters were an interesting lot, but I was hoping for more of the science fiction aspect about the hybrids. The narrative shifts in point of view between Carlota as she grows into womanhood and the overseer of the property, Montgomery Laughton. At times that made the story seem repetitive. There were times when local conflicts and other historically relevant events could have been included to flesh out the tale, but it all seemed a bit superficial. It seemed that the deep plunge into the whys and hows was just not made so we are left with only a vague understanding of Carlota. I just wanted more depth in characterization and more about the vivisection. In any event, it was a quick and interesting read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Ray for this e-book ARC to read and review.

Seems like July is the month for historical fantasy books. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is based (as one might guess) on the H.G. Wells novel, The Island of Doctor Moreau, which I have never read so as one does, I looked up a summary on Wikipedia. There are definite parallels between the two stories, both of which focus on Doctor Moreau’s experimentation on human-animal hybrids though the end goals are somewhat different.
As the title of the book states, this tale largely centers around Carlota Moreau, daughter of the infamous doctor. She has been raised on a remote hacienda in Yaxaktun (Yucatan) Mexico, which itself is nearly an island during this time period due to its remote nature and the difficulty of sending and receiving communications. This makes it the perfect location for Moreau’s experiments, where he strives to hybridize animals and humans to make the perfect worker for Moreau’s sponsor, Hernando Lizalde.
Carlota has been raised alongside the hybrids, particularly Lupe and Cachito who are of an age with Carlota and were raised alongside one another. Moreau himself is a strict man who styles himself as a god-like figure to the hybrids during their church services and beats them when they aren’t obedient. Then there’s Montgomery, the hacienda overseer who treats the hybrids as friends. He’s a man running from a terrible past and drowning his memories in drink. Carlota is a docile, naive girl for much of the book but as the story progresses you can see her awakening to the cruel realities of humanity and taking her life into her own hands as best she can.
The character growth, particularly Carlota’s, is great. Yes, she stands out the most because she’s one of the main point of view characters, but what she goes through and becomes is impressive. Montgomery’s is alright - he becomes somewhat less of a morose drunk later in the book and despite his many flaws he’s actually a decent fellow. I liked the setting and time period, as this isn’t something I see in too many fantasy (or fantasy adjacent books) but I long to see more of it!
Overall, this was a solid read, but once again not a favorite. I honestly never really LOVE historical fantasy/fiction even though I really want to!

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is on track to be one of my favorite writers. I just love how concise yet detailed her writing is. It feels lush and rich somehow without being too flowery. Her characters always feel real and charming, too. She does gothic so well. I was very disturbed by parts of this, but it wasn’t horror, and I could still enjoy Carlota’s and Montgomery’s story.

I also loved her inclusion of Maya and settler colonial conflict within the story. I always appreciate a story where whiteness can be decentered, especially in historical colonial contexts.

I think I would have preferred if the ending were a little faster. There was a period of time while reading where I was just kind of confused about what was going on and how it would work out. But this was really the only time I struggled with reading the novel.

This was such an exciting read, and I actually liked it better than Mexican Gothic (which I also really enjoyed).

Silvia Moreno-Garcia can do no wrong in my book. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is another haunting, atmospheric tale tackling such issues as racism, colonialism, and sexism. There’s a brilliancy to the way in which Moreno-Garcia portrays her hybrid characters and how this juxtaposes the way in which the colonizers view said “monsters”. While this story was a bit slower than her other works, I think the slow burn build worked beautifully. Now to sit and eagerly anticipate what she comes out with next.

Thanks to Del Rey and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This a very middle of the road read for me. There were some nice lines, and I really liked the beginning, but other than that this book was not to my tastes at all. The main plot is whether the main character will court with this guy or not. Of course several things happen after, but at that point I realized I didn't really care for the story or any of the character dynamics as much as I should.

I think that main problem was that I went in thinking the island would be sinister, or that the main plot line would involve something sinister with the doctor or the hybrids. But the hybrids are normal people, they're just the product of unfortunate experiments. However I think you could enjoy this book if you like romance based, historical, and at points, slow-moving plots.

In a remote hacienda called Yaxactan on the Yucatan peninsula, Carlota Moreau lives happily with her father and his hybrid creations. She loves her idyllic life isolated and protected from the conflicts of the outside world. Until the day that Eduardo Lizalde arrived and the conflicts and bigotries of the world can be kept out no longer.

Set against the backdrop of the Caste War of Yucatan, Silvia Moreno-Garcia has written a lush, atmospheric retelling of H.G Well's The Island of Doctor Moreau. Her description of the hacienda and the Yucatan are so vibrant you can almost feel the humid air and smell the verdant gardens. Moreno-Garcia examines misogyny, classism and the dark legacy of colonialism as the reader watches Carlota grapple with the realities of her life, her identity and the society that surrounds her. An absolute gift of a book.

I didn’t think I would love The Daughter of Dr. Moreau more than Mexican Gothic but I did any it’s by far my favorite book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. As a Mexican-American I appreciate books representing our history and culture. I loved the atmospheric and especially the characters. Cachito stole my heart and was my favorite character. I loved the concept of a mad scientist creating half human/animal creations. The visuals were amazing but especially the writing. There’s no doubt that Silvia Moreno-Garcia writes beautifully and I will continue to read anything she writes in the future. I already own a physical copy and the cover is stunning. Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to receive an early copy.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is the newest novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, loosely inspired by The Island of Doctor Moreau and set in nineteenth century Mexico. Carlota, the titular daughter, is living with her father, sparse staff, and a mayordomo called Montgomery on an estate away from other people. The distance from others keeps them safe from the Maya rebels’ raids, but also allows doctor Moreau to work on his top secret studies - hybrids. Hybrids are part human, part animal creatures who live peacefully on the estate, but their very being is endangered when unannounced guests visit the property.

I was so ready to love this book - I really liked Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic, the premise of this novel sounded amazing, the setting, atmosphere, and the way that the author blended history with fiction were all fabulous. So what didn’t work? Unfortunately, some pretty important elements, namely the characters and the plot. The latter was just… okay. The big twist had me absolutely confused not because it didn’t make sense, but because I wasn’t even aware it was supposed to be a twist. It was so obvious from the start that I took it as something that was supposed to be common knowledge, and sadly the rest of the plot was pretty straightforward too. When it comes to characters, they felt a bit one sided to me and Montgomery was just the most whiny and ‘woe is me’ character I’ve encountered in a long time. I was also expecting much less romance, so maybe this book will work better for the romance fans out there.

TLDR: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is a novel with gorgeous backdrop and writing, but unfortunately its plot doesn’t stun the same way. A good beach read, but keep your expectations manageable.

The Lizaldes and the Moreaus clash in this reimagining of The Island of Dr. Moreau. Set against the back drop of 19th century Mexico, this is the story of horrible experiments and terrible secrets.

Carlotta Moreau and Montgomery Laughton have spent six years living with Doctor Moreau and his eccentricities. Every day follows a familiar routine until the appearance of Eduardo Lizalde and his cousin. The calm days are replaced with entertaining the Lizaldes and Moreau’s manipulations to marry his daughter off to one of the wealthy cousins to secure financing to further his research.

When Hernando Lizalde storms in to separate his son from Carlotta and reclaim his “property” he reveals many of the secrets that Moreau has kept. A battle between the two families erupts and it will only end in tragedy for all the innocents involved.

Recommended for: historical fiction readers, retold classics fans

Content warning: violence, blood, death, body horror

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This one is kind of a retelling of H.G. Wells’ “The Island of Doctor Moreau”, taking place in 1880s Yucatán, Mexico where Moreau has been paid by a rich patron to make animal human hybrids to find cheaper workers. The story is focused more on Moreau's daughter Carlota who lives in the secluded estate with some of the hybrids, the housekeeper and the new majordomo Montgomery, who drinks a lot. She helps her father sometimes but never getting the fill extent and details of his work. The book is told in alternating POVs of Carlota and Montgomery.

First this book's cover couldn't been more perfect for the mood of the book, but also just couldn't have been more perfect. I ordered a copy so I can stare at it. As with all Silvia Moreno-Garcia books i've read, the vibe of this book was immaculate. Jungle gothic with sci-fi feline hybrids. I kept wishing this were an old Hollywood movie. The story itself left me desiring a longer novel. The twist was easy to guess and while there was a decent amount of introspection from characters at times, the POV kept switching when I wanted to know what they were thinking. It felt a bit more young adult to me in some ways. I ended up rating it 3.5 (rounded up 4) because it was still entertaining and lovely to read on a hot summer day.

Thank you Penguin Random House - Ballentine and Netgalley for the ARC!

A fascinating thought experiment on multiple levels—the Island of Doctor Moreau retold as an exploration of the history and effects of Mexican/Yucatan colonization, as a sci-fi story with some actual basis in science, and as a bildungsroman. As usual for Silvia Moreno-Garcia, it is sumptous and beautifully written; a book to dazzle you with wondrous colors and textures you've never before seen and that may never have existed.

Buy This Book
Romance, mystery, and monsters combine to give us a compelling look at the human heart in The Daughter of Doctor Moreau. Those familiar with the classic H.G. Wells novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau, will find many of these characters familiar, although hearing the tale from Carlota’s viewpoint – along with the new setting – gives us a riveting, unique read.

Many find the Yucatán peninsula, with its Mayan rebels, dense jungle, and menacing wildlife a dangerous place. To fifteen-year-old Carlota Moreau, it is home. The only daughter of an eccentric researcher, she is used to a lonely existence with just her father, the housekeeper Ramona and her young servants, Lupe and Cachito, for company.

When the story begins, all four of the above people are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Montgomery Laughton. He is the one man among the many candidates who have applied for overseer at Yaxaktun, their hacienda, that her father has approved of. Mr. Laughton is being escorted to their home by Hernando Lizaldes, the wealthy sponsor of the research done by Dr. Moreau. For the young people at the ranch, this is a major event – they never leave the house or have the chance to meet any strangers.

It is Carlota who escorts their guests around the house and proudly shows them through her father’s laboratory. And it is Carlota who shares with Cachito and Lupe the secret she found in Dr. Moreau’s workshop. She is the one who later escorts her two young friends into the forbidden room which houses the ugly mystery the doctor shares with few. But it is Lupe who frees it from its cocoon – and Montgomery Laughton who is forced to kill it when it proves to be quite hazardous to all of them.

Montgomery’s quick and efficient handling of that situation lands him the job of majordomo of Dr. Moreau’s bizarre and perilous home. He settles into the position as comfortably as an alcoholic adjusts to any new experience, especially one as weird as this one. For six years, everything is relatively calm and peaceful. Then visitors shatter their quiet – and things the good doctor had meant to keep hidden forever break through the superficial allusion of calm that has lain over the dark secrets of the hacienda.

If you have read The Island of Dr. Moreau – or the blurb for this book – you will already know about one of the mysteries that is the underpinning of this story. If you haven’t read either of those, I would urge you not to – Ms. Moreno-Garcia’s lyrical prose does such credit to the storytelling behind the enigmas that it is almost better to go in completely unaware of what is happening.

The centerpiece of any good gothic is the setting and Yaxaktun with its chilling, atmospheric, desolate, and dangerous location is perfect. From the moment the tale begins, we are transported to an other-worldly, sinister locale where danger seems to lurk in the very air, and the author does a fantastic job of transfusing a lurking foreboding into every moment of her text. Even when nothing overtly strange is happening, there is this lingering, delicious sense of impending doom that seems to hover over the ranch and its inhabitants, waiting for its moment.

The second most important factor to any gothic is the heroine, and Carlota is a fantastic one. When our narrative first starts, she is sweet and naïve; she’s got a good heart but her love for her father has mostly blinded her to reality. As the story progresses, she becomes more and more aware of the truth regarding her dad, his laboratory, and life at Yaxaktun, growing strong, resourceful, and resilient as she grows in knowledge. I loved watching Carlota’s transformation from girl to woman and seeing her become the best version of herself.

Montgomery Laughton is a more nuanced character from the start. We know he is at heart a decent and brave man but he is also caught up in what drink and a tough life have made him into. He’s morally ambiguous, someone willing to turn a blind eye to bad things, but he’s also kind and caring. He develops feelings for the much younger Carlota, but keeps them in check, convinced she deserves much better than him. He is also a romantic at heart, unwilling to have a relationship with the young woman unless she can love him as much as he loves her. While I am typically very disturbed by an older man who falls for a girl he’s known since she was an adolescent, oit is well handled here. I wouldn’t have mentioned it since it is technically a spoiler but I wanted to advise readers sensitive to this subject matter of its presence.

This is a tale about monsters but not so much the terrors that lurk around the hacienda so much as the horrors that walk on two legs and call themselves human. The story takes a look at how the wealthy European ranch/farm owners treat everything around them – the Mayan workers, the animals in the jungle, and the land itself – with equal portions of proprietorship and disdain. It also examines how religion can be used to underpin control, especially over women and the working class. The author does an absolutely magnificent job with all of this – she never once devolves into lectures espousing her points but instead allows her expert storytelling to show us these problems and let us draw our own conclusions.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is superficially a gothic/sci-fi/horror/action-adventure retelling of a literary classic but below the surface is an absolutely fascinating look at the human heart and the history of colonialism. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good book that is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.

3 1/2⭐️

Set deep in the Yucatán jungle, Dr. Moreau has been experimenting. In this new take on “The Island of Dr. Moreau”, which I will confess I’d heard of but never read (in the acknowledgements there is a brief summary of Wells’ original), the heroine is his daughter, Carlota. She’s a powerful female, who cares deeply and I came to respect.

This book is dark, with a little mystery, and full of Mexican heritage in the Silvia Moreno-Garcia writing style. I love that she tells of her culture, and the history of Mexico (don’t skip the acknowledgments for the historical background).

Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for selecting me for this ARC.

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*3.5 stars rounded up

A loose retelling of H.G. Wells The Island of Doctor Moreau. Dr Gustave Moreau claims he was forced to leave Paris because his medical experiments were too esoteric and misunderstood. He has now settled into a remote ranch in Yaxaktun in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico where he performs his experiments through which he says he hopes to solve humanity's ills. In truth he has created over two dozen human/animal hybrids with varying degrees of success. The wealthy landowner Hernando Lizalde sponsors his work because he expects Moreau to create a team of laborers for him to exploit.

In 1871, Laughton Montgomery, a Britishman, comes t0 work at Yaxaktun to be Moreau's mayordomo on the ranch. He is not disturbed at all by Moreau's creatures and is happy with his work as long as he is allowed his vices, like gambling and drink.

Moreau has a very pretty young daughter, Carlota, who has been well educated by the doctor, so the years pass with absorbing work and good company. Six years go by quickly and now Carlota is a beautiful young woman of 20 on the day two handsome young men arrive unannounced at the ranch. Will one of them be accepted as her suitor?

The story is told in alternating chapters between Carlota and Montgomery. We get to know both of these characters quite well, and through their eyes, Dr Moreau and his creatures. The steamy jungle setting is lushly described with its fascinating flora and fauna and there are some references to the social turmoil of the decades-long Caste War of Yucatan between European settlers and the Maya people. There is a sense of dread about the story but I did not think that that anticipation of horror was ever quite fulfilled, what we had in the original story. I rather missed that.

I received an arc from the publisher via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

Carlota Moreau lives in seclusion with her father and his array of human-animal hybrid experiments. However, their fragile peace is disturbed when their benefactor demands they provide workers for his haciendas and his son, Eduardo, becomes infatuated with Carlota.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a lush retelling of The Island of Doctor Moreau set in the Yucatán peninsula.

The story is told from the dual perspectives of Carlota and Montgomery (a hunter who aids Doctor Moreau). I especially found Montgomery to be a compelling character since he is a man in debt who uses alcohol to self-medicate, and yet, he still cares for others. I also enjoyed Carlota’s character growth and seeing her slowly start to question her father’s authority.

I do want to mention that this story predominantly feels like a historical fiction. It wonderfully delves into and explores the issues colonialism and classism in Mexico during the 1800s.

This might be more of a personal preference, but my one complaint is that I wish the story had thrown more horror/mad scientist elements into the mix. There was perhaps one creepy scene of Carlota stumbling upon one of her father’s failed experiments, but I largely missed the gruesome and disturbing vivisections of the original.

Overall though, The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is still a worthwhile read filled with vivid imagery and well-fleshed out characters.