Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

16 reviews

hanz's review

dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Sexual content

Minor: Colonisation

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I really enjoy Silvia Moreno Garcia's writing and every book I've read of hers has been quite good. I'm not super familiar with The Island of Dr Moreau save the Simpsons parody of it, so I didnt know what to expect when I first cracked this book open (didn't even know this book was inspired by it when I first picked it up). 
Carlota did get on my nerves here and there throughout the book, she's young and isolated with her dad controlling her so she did some stupid stuff, but once she came into her own, I liked her a lot

her ripping Eduardo's face off to protect Lupe, immaculate

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I didn't like Montgomery thirsting over her considering he met her when she was a child and he is approx. 15 years older than her. Like a line I really didn't like was him saying she would make the best/most perfect/most beautiful prostitute. But otherwise, I found his character interesting in some aspects and liked the perspective his character brought on various social issues.
The hybrids were great! I wish we could've had more from them since what we did get was kind of wonderful.
I did guess the "twist" of this story correctly and was unsurprised when it was revealed, but it didn't take away my enjoyment of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Animal death, Classism, Colonisation, and Misogyny

Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Sexual content

Minor: Confinement

aardwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

There's a good novella in this book if you chopped out a lot of nothing. The premise is intriguing, the prose is good, and Carlota isn't a bad viewpoint character. But 2/3 of the pages are taken up by tedious romantic drama that goes nowhere and could have been set up in a chapter. Montgomery also sucks a lot of life out of the story. Silvia Moreno-Garcia has many strengths, but writing a compelling protagonist man is not one of them. The human-animal hybrids who should be the stars of the story are barely there, but in them there's the bones of something great.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Grief, Animal death, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Violence, Ableism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

caidyn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Probably my second favorite book by this author! It's an imaginative retelling that takes liberties and expands the original story in great ways. Moreno-Garcia knows how to weave a historical fiction story and it was another fantastic read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Misogyny, Death, Grief, and Sexism

Moderate: Confinement

sarah984's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I was really excited for this book, but I struggled to finish it. Of the two POV characters, one was so passive that she barely did anything and the other was the most boring man in the world. When something finally happened it was summarized in three pages. Every romance was deeply stupid and the familial relationship with the hybrids didn't feel earned at all. The writing was nice on a basic technical level but I couldn't recommend this.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Racism, Alcoholism, Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Xenophobia

Minor: War, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Pregnancy, and Racial slurs

erynlasbelin's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I just kept assuming this was going to be a prequel to The Island, up until that became impossible. I wonder how my impression of the book would differ if I hadn't been working off that frame work for 90% of it.

I really enjoyed this overall, though perhaps a bit less than Mexican Gothic. It's hard to elaborate on why - the characters and their conflicts were all very believable, but I think there were simply too many of them, and some of the story seemed to drag out a bit too long.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Cursing, Drug use, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Slavery, and War

Minor: Infertility and Pregnancy