My Goodreads review: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau

[ankh_hpl]

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


First of all: readers who haven't read The Island of Doctor Moreau might wish to do so before starting this novel. It's not strictly necessary, but I found myself appreciating many details of Moreno-Garcia's book more for being familiar with the text that inspired it. The differences are at least as important as the similarities, though I'd be committing spoiler if I explained that statement further.

That said, Daughter . . . is a thoroughly enjoyable riff on Wells' tale. Set in the Yucatan peninsula around 1877, it combines fairly fantasy-flavored SF -- &, to be fair, some romance -- with solid historical underpinnings. The title character's viewpoint alternates with that of Moreau's British assistant (possibly a a combination of at least two characters from the original) to explore the perspectives of women & foreign outsiders in this very different corner of the late Victorian world. Moreau's "hybrids" have voices here, too: rather than being monsters or mistakes, they emerge as real people with serious grievances.

There's a detailed author's note included to help curious readers with the history. Otherwise, it's easy to simply immerse yourself in the rich storytelling. I did figure out one "secret" in the plot a bit too early on, but having read the original novel fairly recently probably helped. Recommended for historical fiction fans willing to walk on the wild side, as well as SF/fantasy readers looking to expand their cultural horizons.



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