RavePasteOver the 300-ish pages that comprise The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, Silvia Moreno Garcia breaks your heart just to help you put it back together again. An emotional novel dense with both mystery and the unsettling sense that something is slightly off, Garcia instantly captivates you through vivid imagery and characters that tug at your heartstrings from the book’s first few scenes ... The novel is initially set in 1871 and spans six years, placing the characters at the forefront of the uprising and using it as a decisive plot point that makes Moreno Garcia’s historical fiction even more mesmerizing ... While Moreno Garcia borrows some elements from H.G. Wells’s original novel, she gives us the gift of Carlotta Moreau, the Doctor’s intelligent and alluring daughter who assists him with his experiments. A stunning character in her own right, Carlotta is faced throughout the book with existential and moral questions that make her ponder her faith, the way people frequently \'play god\' with others, and what exactly family means ... Moreno Garcia’s ability to write characters in a way that makes you instantly adore them despite their flaws ... While the swift action, layers of deceit, bloodshed, and fantastical creatures she concocts are intriguing, what makes The Daughter of Doctor Moreau so enchanting is the fact that it has heart. Of course, the science-fiction elements add a layer of surrealism to the novel that makes it almost impossible to put down, but the raw emotion that Moreno Garcia bestows upon her characters is what truly grabs you ... By no means a light novel, The Daughter of Doctor Moreau commands your attention at every turn and asks heavy questions about some of the beliefs we hold most dear. With sentimental character arcs and a haunting feel that will have you mulling over the novel for days, Moreno Garcia delivers one of the most evocative books of the summer, if not the year.
