Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

35 reviews

jessthanthree's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Medical content, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child death

phantasmaboo's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau tells the stories of Carlota and Montgomery, one the daughter of a doctor performing science experiments and the other his right hand man. Doctor Moreau creates “hybrids” at a hacienda owed by a rich farming family, hoping to create the perfect worker. His experiments are extreme and the consequences for the hybrids are severe. Soon, however, his time performing experiments will come to an end, leaving disaster in its wake for the hybrids and possibly his daughter. 

I thought this book was another solid novel from Silvia Moreno-Garcia. The characters were diverse and represented and fit in well with the time period of the book. I thought both main characters were developed well, although Carlota seemed to receive more care and attention than Montgomery did. I also thought that Moreno-Garcia did a good job setting up the time period of the book and basing it in actual conflict in Mexico. Obviously, not all aspects are true, but there was just enough to make the story believable.

The Lovecraftian elements were similarly easy to follow and understand, even if you’re not a fan of the genre. I had very little experience with Lovecraftian plot lines, but I followed along easily enough. 

Overall, I thought the book was good and if you’re a fan of Moreno-Garcia’s other works, you’ll probably like this one too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

hanz's review against another edition

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

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

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

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

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

Minor: Confinement

somebooksomewhere's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

thebookcoyote's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

TW/CW: Murder, death, injury, sex, body horror 

REVIEW: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is a modern retelling of The Island of Doctor Moreau. Although I have not read the earlier book, this book works perfectly fine as a standalone story. 

The book follows Carlota, the daughter of the Doctor, who lives with her father and the hybrid creatures that he has created in his lab. 

Honestly, I was a little disappointed by this book. Not a lot happened, and the big reveal that was supposed to be a surprise was something I figured out just a couple of chapters in. The writing is good,and it’s not a bad book. It has a lot of great atmosphere and the characters are interesting and well written. The plot simply seemed pretty slow to me and there wasn’t really a big climax or anything surprising that happened during the story. 

I’m not sure I’d actually recommend this book, but other people might enjoy reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

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

writingcaia's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Horror, science fiction, history, and some romance, woman centric and coming of age, this is a gripping tale that will not let go until you drank it all in, and so I devoured this book, as I’ve all of Garcia’s, she’s a favourite and so is this book now.

I am not familiar with the original tale, although I am aware that there’re many differences in the science of the hybrids, in the location, and in the plot. This one is also a horror sci-fi but with a touching plot that mixes Mexico’s (where the story takes place) real history in the 19th century - where inequality reigned with the many castes present, and there was war with the Mayans of the Yucatan peninsula, and also the rivalry with the British nearby -, with a fair maiden lost in her own paradise in a small rancho in the Yucatan, raised by an attentive father and her books and among friends, play friends and some she cares for with their atrocious animal-like features and consequently painful deformations, doting on her father, the amazing Doctor Moreau who will save humanity with his studies of the hybrids, and surveyed by the mordoyomo, an alcoholic Englishman with a broken heart. All is perfect in her eyes, her dream world with her fantastical kin people around, that is until the day she meets the green eyed son of her father’s benefactor and discovers love… and so much more.

The writing, the choice of plot and setting, the small romance with its two POV, it is as always perfect, and even though I saw the plot twist a mile away and the ending could be more bow tied for my taste, it still ranks very high among Garcia’s books. Although, the truth is I can never choose just one fave of hers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexism, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Minor: Vomit

cozyteareads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Blood, and Gaslighting

Minor: Infertility, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Sexual harassment, and War