A review by grey_jayne
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This is a problematic book. I first experienced Wells' racism in The Invisible Man but it's also pretty bad here. Here's the proof:
Dr Moreau creates a "negroid" beast person by mutilating a gorilla.


As a document of foundational sci-fi, it is important.  The transformations don't make a lot of sense but what this story brings with it in buckets is...body horror. Moreau's "science" is gory torture and later events, which I won't spoil, bring more body horror. I was surprised how gruesome this book was.

For HG Wells, I'd recommend Food of the Gods, War of the Worlds and The Time Machine over this one. This is still worth a look for where Wells started.
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