RaveLos Angeles Review of BooksMoreno-Garcia’s ability to evoke sympathy and empathy in readers is much closer to Geek Love than to The Island of Doctor Moreau, which initially seemed to me like a peculiar choice for extrapolation into a Mexican gothic context. I soon realized that The Daughter of Doctor Moreau dismantles Wells’s inherent patriarchy and affect ... Sometimes authors lay it on too thick and become overly didactic; Moreno-Garcia finds a good balance between storytelling and social commentary ... Moreno-Garcia has written a case study about dominant and marginalized peoples (and nonpeoples) under the auspices of patriarchal power, aggression, and abuse ... In capable, at times beautiful prose, Moreno-Garcia makes a sound feminist critique that decodes the patriarchal protocols of its source material and 19th-century attitudes in general.
Alison Stine
MixedLos Angeles Review of BooksRoad Out of Winter belongs to a tradition of apocalyptic fiction that makes a concerted effort to yank on emotional pull-strings and push the limits of what human beings can endure under extreme duress ... Stine’s perspective is relatively bleak, and there doesn’t seem to be much hope at all for men ... The focus on (or rather, the fetishization of) developing character backstories and relationships dominates the landscape of the novel’s moribund world as much as its author’s familiar modus ... Stine’s overt critique of masculinity and patriarchy is not necessarily innovative or original; then again, if men didn’t continue to act in the same ways, they wouldn’t generate the same critiques. Regardless, the novel is well written and a poignant reminder of how we chronically neglect ourselves and our world. I wanted more from the story, but sometimes I expect too much from contemporary literature. I can’t really blame authors; most publishers, agents, editors, educators, and master-class \'teachers\' compel them to write canned fiction with relatable characters that can easily be adapted into screenplays, and Road Out of Winter is certainly a good candidate for a movie ... Stine’s capable, dulcet prose makes us feel it: the lonesome monotony of a cold, slow-paced future and one woman’s struggle to navigate that future in tandem with a history that has short-changed her.
