The author's eloquent prose vividly animates both the setting and characters, yet I sensed that the narrative and character dynamics were still in their infancy when the story concluded. While the setting exudes solidity, the characters appear less fleshed out in comparison. Despite this observation, I found overall enjoyment in the reading experience.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I've voluntarily read and reviewed this copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I am an admirer of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's work. I've read most of her books and her writing is always compelling, mesmerizing and intriguing. Her stories are unique and magical. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is also a unique story. In the beginning I felt a bit lost as to where the story was going. But a few chapters in, I found the rythm and was compelled to learn more. The characters were interesting but I didn't fall in love with them completely. Which is probably why I give this story 3 stars, I love it when books make we root for characters, make me identify with characters or completely make me fall in love with characters. That is a big part of why I love stories.

Storytelling wise it's a beautiful woven story with unique twists and turns. I've enjoyed reading this. If you love Silvia Moreno-Garcia's work, then you'll be happy with this one.

I do not thin it was my time to read this book: I put it away for now and I will be coming back to this once in the mood for that genre.

The author writes beautifully and really brings the setting and the characters to life, but I felt that the story and the relationships between the characters were only just starting to develop before the story ended. I enjoyed the book, I just wanted a bit more from it.

I was excited for this book, so much so, I will be buying this book when it is released. I loved the history with the sci-fi. I especially enjoyed the ending of this book and did not want it to end. I LOVED the way the characters navigated any obstacles in her way. 5⭐️ Read for me

I'm a big fan of Sylvia Moreno-Garcia's books and adore her incredible versatility. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau combines historical fiction with scifi, reimagining H. G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau, but told from the perspective of his daughter Carlotta and grounds overseer Montgomery. This was a really good read, but not my favourite. Although I have read a number of Wells' books, I haven't read Doctor Moreau so I didn't have a strong connection to the source material. However, I really enjoyed the lush setting and the life depicted on Moreau's property.

I ended up listening to the audiobook for this title and would definitely recommend it! The narrator does a great job bringing the story to life.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia can do no wrong! I couldnt put it down but really got into it at the end! Our main character was fierce and challenged whatever obstacles were thrown her way. Overall, I enjoyed this one and would definitely recommend it.

I am a fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, so I was excited for this book. The book has a dual narrative of Carlotta, the daughter of the slightly erratic scientist Dr Moreau, and Montgomery, the Englishman who is living and working alongside them as the doctors assistant.

The writing is beautiful, and the story fascinating, it had me hooked from the start and I couldn’t put it down.

I would highly recommend this book, and Moreno-Garcia is fast becoming one of my favourite authors.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia can do no wrong, she is an auto-buy author for me and it is no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I usually do not like science fiction books but this was an exception. The writing was beautiful and the ending was very fast-paced and dramatic that I couldn't put it down. I highly, highly recommend!

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is a reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau. We join Carlota Moreau, daughter of the legendary Doctor Moreau; Montgomery - the Doctor's Assistand and the hybrids (animal and human mixes created by the Doctor).

All are living well in harmony until outsiders turn up which starts a series of not-so-good events.
A lot of truths to be revealed.

For me, I feel there was too much action and not as much about the hybrids themselves as I had hoped for. I would have rather the book be another 100-200 pages longer and spend more time with the hybrids but it was a good read.

Silvia moreno-garcia is one of my faves. You don't know what to expect going in to a new novel, because their books are always something else. So was this one. I just love the way the story is told and everything comes alive in this book because of the vivid writing. Loved it!

Thanks to #NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC in return for a fair review.

A brand new, refreshing, creative retelling of H. G. Wells’ “The Island of Doctor Moreau” with feminist vibes, taking place in Yucatan peninsula during the war between Mayan people fighting for their freedom and Mexican tyrants.

Silvia Moreno Garcia’s creative story telling, unconventional characters, riveting style and intense horrific elements kept my attention throughout.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau was an interesting book. There were some element of the story that I really adored and some that I didn’t enjoy at all. If I’m being honest I expected to love this book, based on the synopsis and the fact that I enjoyed the authors previous work. I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would. Anyway, with all that said let’s get into the actual review.

I enjoyed the writing style a lot, as I expected I would. Moreno-Garcia has the ability to create such a vivd atmosphere. I could picture the setting of the story perfectly and I will remember it for a long time. I adore atmospheric books, so this was right up my alley. I don’t know how to explain it better but I love the way this author creates stories. All of Moreno-Garcia’s books have such interesting summaries that make me want to read them all. The writing style was a definite favourite of mine and I plan on picking up more books by this author in the future.

I expected there to be a lot more horror elements than there ended up being. I feel like this book was marketed as a horror, but it was more of a mix between historical fiction and science fiction (with horror elements as well). Which isn’t a bad combination, but I just expected something different. That’s on me I guess, I just think this would have been an even more interesting book (for me) if the horror elements were the main focus of the story. I did find the story to be boring at times, it just didn’t manage to hold my attention. Though I’m still attributing that to having different expectations of the story.

Now onto the characters. I didn’t really connect with any of them. They were mostly fine but I didn’t feel anything for them. Carlota was interesting in the sense that she was a very sheltered character, and I felt that that portrayal was well done. It’s not a perspective that I read from often. I don’t have any strong feelings about her, I liked her fine but she didn’t stand out much for me. Which can be said about all the characters in this story. Montgomery was also fine, I honestly don’t have much to say about him. He was either grumpy or drunk during the book, so there is that. Doctor Moreau was fine as well, but he fell flat towards the end. I expected something more and that it would turn more complex than it actually did. (I can’t go into details about that since saying what it was would be a spoiler.) I wanted more from him, or rather I wanted more from all the characters.

I didn’t enjoy the romance. Montgomery met Carlota when she was a child, so their whole relationship felt weird to me. She was an adult when their relationship started, but it still felt weird. There were also some other things that bothered me with their romance (small things, nothing major), but I can’t go into detail about that since I would need to spoil some things. Basically I didn’t like the romance and I thought it was unnecessary. I would have enjoyed seeing them have a platonic dynamic more.

As I said at the start of this review, I enjoyed some aspects of the story while others bothered me. In this book the setting is very memorable but the characters are not. I would still recommend this book if you enjoy atmospheric books, just don’t go into it with the expectation of it being a horror book.

I hadn't read anything by this author before, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it! it was strange, whimsical and a little creepy. I have read the the island of doctor moreau, and loved this unique and original take on the story.

The writing was easy to follow and transported me elsewhere. Our main character was fierce and challenged whatever obstacles were thrown her way. Overall, I enjoyed this one and would definitely recommend it. I'll be checking out Mexican Gothic next!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an e-arc!

Another solid stand alone tale from Moreno-Garcia, this time historical sci-fi/horror. I'm not that familiar with the original, although I felt this novel was much more predictable then her others I've read so far. I enjoyed it, not as much as my favourites Gods of Jade and Shadow and Mexican Gothic, but not far off, and I'm looking forward to the next novel Silver Nitrate due Summer 2023.

(ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley)

This is a clever and enjoyable reimagining of the Island of Dr Moreau. I found the doctor's daughter, Carlotta to be an engaging protagonist and enjoyed the dynamics between her and the doctor's assistant, Montgomery. The setting in 1870's Mexico works well and allows for commentary on race, class, colonialism and gender. Looking forward to reading this author's back catalogue.

I love how I’ve read about three of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s books so far – and have two still on my shelves – yet so far only Gods of Jade and Shadow has been more than an okay book for me. I stared off with this full of good intentions, but very quickly one thing that started to grate on me was the repetition – we follow two main perspectives, but for the first third of the book every time we swap from one to the other, we just mostly get a recap of what happened to them during that time, even if they were together! And not just a quick description of their feelings, but almost a step-by-step repeat. This did improve massively halfway through, but it set the tone for me. It was very atmospheric, and an interesting interpreting of a classic story. Due to having read something recently with the same inspiration, I was less surprised by the twist as we were supposed to be. In the end, I liked it, but didn’t love it.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia has several books and I have now read two now both of which have been very interesting. There are aspects of this book that I really enjoyed and the other half which I was not as interested in. This is a very loose retelling of The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells.
“When she looked in the mirror she felt as though there was an invisible crack in it, perhaps in her”
This book was set in nineteenth century Mexico and it follows Carlota the daughter of Doctor Moreau who is living in a lavish estate hidden from the world. Whilst hidden away Doctor Moreau works on his hybrids who are created to be controlled by their master and be seen and not heard. When Doctor Moreau hires Montgomery to help with the scientific experiments the group are cast into a quiet and peaceful life only to be disrupted by the arrival of Eduardo Lizalde.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia definitely gets the genre of gothic historical fiction with the atmosphere of this book as I felt like I could have been in this book. The imagery made me feel as though I was living through this coming of age along with Carlota. Although the main thing I loved about this book was the hybrids. They were so interesting to read about and find out about their lives. Lupe and Cachito were so interesting and were my favourite characters in this. Their personalities were so fun, and they were the reason that I continued to read this book.
Another character that I did love was Montgomery. Although at some points I found his thoughts a little strange I overall did enjoy seeing his perspective on the occurrences at the Yuxaxiton. He was cynical and grumpy which is always a plus with a male character, so I was rooting for him within the love triangle.
“If she’d been a siren luring him to the bottom of the sea, he would have followed, If she’d been a gorgon he’d have let himself be turned into stone.”
I think the main issue I have with Moreno-Garcia's books are that I have trouble connecting with the story. Throughout I feel as though there is so many story lines; the love triangle, father-daughter relationships, the hybrids, the war and so on. I could not pick up certain parts of it. I read this book for the horror, and I did not get it at all through this story. I did not connect with many of the characters, and I was not invested in the outcome of their stories.
Overall, I enjoyed the last quarter of this book and I do want to try Silvia Moreno-Garcia's book surrounding vampires however I am not sure how many of her other books I will pick up by her. Montgomery and Cachito was my favourite part of this book as well as the atmosphere. This is definitely a book to read during autumn and I do think that some people will love this book.
Thank you to NetGalley for this copy to read and review!

Usually I am a massive Moreno-Garcia fan but this novel fell flat for me.

Incredibly slow-paced with little desire to keep reading. This is a shame as I usually love her work.

Such a fantastic read, it's perfect for this season.Another gothic read , it's not paranormal it's more of sci-fi. Similarly to Mexican Gothic it has the same pace slow and the beginning was hard o udersand some stuff but omg when I continue I couldn't put it down!

We have the POV of Carlota Moreau and Montgomery Laughton and we get a better idea of what is happening .Carlota was an interesting and strong heroine.Montgomery was interesting too and his back story was sad.

This was refreshing in many ways , also I find it atmospheric and I liked the characters.