The Daughter of Doctor Moreau

All you need is cash.

The original Island of Doctor Moreau (Wells, 1896) book that Moreno-Garcia is borrowing characters and concept from had a title character that was playing God, torturing sentient creatures, and traumatizing the entire cast of characters in the book.

Here, Doctor Moreau is doing the same thing but rather than testing the bounds of science and technology, he just needs money. The central plan is to sell Moreau's creations to the evil capitalist pig Lizaldes so they can use them for slave labor.

When that isn't efficient enough, Moreau decides to sell his hot daughter's hand in marriage to the Lizaldes, just to ensure his financial future.

This cheapens the existential horror potential of the novel. The creatures are reduced to a commodity instead of allowing us to be frightened for, or of them. The author wants them to represent the downtrodden but she doesn't go very deep. Moreno-Garcia did a better job of bringing out the terror of genetic weirdness and the patriarchal oppression angle in Mexican Gothic.

There's no need to take this seriously, however. This is just a shallow and fast-moving book that is mostly a love triangle with some feminist messaging.

Carlota, the title character, goes from obedient daughter and property to liberated superhero in one absurd and melodramatic moment. None of the characters or relationships are developed enough for me to invest in most of the storyline.

My favorite part of the book was the last few chapters, in which the conflict and action heat up and becomes a bit more of a page-turner.

There is not a lot of science fiction in this one.