Author: Megan Shepherd
Publication Date: January 29, 2013
Book Description
Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.
Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.
Book Review: 4 out of 5 stars
For everyone who loves to read and talk about books, I'm sure no one has been able to escape people talking about "The Madman's Daughter." I heard so much about it, bloggers raving, that I had to read it. The book is a variation of "The Isle of Dr. Moreau" by HG Wells. If you're not familiar with the story, it doesn't matter as Ms. Shepherd lays the story out very well.
I plunged into this book, riveted by the beginning and what leads Juliet to have to leave London. The characters are extremely well-written, and throughout the book you're questioning who is the "bad guy" and who is the "good guy."
Ms. Shepherd goes fully into the story, describing the island, the inhabitants, the procedures, and the housing. Some things you start to pick up on very quickly and guess what is happening, others not so much. Until the end, I wasn't sure how it was going to end!
The only problem I had with the story is probably with my lack of patience. There were just so many jaunts in and out of the woods, describing trees and journeys to such a degree that I got bored. I think I probably would have enjoyed it more if all the jaunts were just combined into one single jaunt, where the important information could have been gleaned, but not have extraneous things cluttering it up.
Also, the heroine's dilemma between Montgomery and Edward was drawn out a bit much. I found myself muttering a few times to just make a decision already. I must admit that the ending threw me for a bit of a loop. I didn't expect it to end that way, but really, there was no way other than that ending that would have been true to the story and the characters.
I would definitely recommend the book. It was quite interesting, and really forces you to think about humanity and what constitutes human.
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