The Madman’s Daughter

If you ignore the love triangle (why do all YA authors of genre pieces feel forced to do this?!) the rest of the story builds interestingly, with some good twists and turns along the way. I like that this is based on Island of Dr. Moreau and that the 2 sequels will be based on Jekyll & Hyde and Frankenstein. These are fun retellings/new plays on old classic tales. Feeling like I might skim through 2 & 3 to see who comes back from the first book.

I haven't read the Island of Dr. Moreau, but now I'm going to have to pick up a copy of it. This book and these characters are simply amazing. I have fallen in love with Juliette, Edward, Montgomery, and so many more. The questions of ethical responsibility in experiments and who is to blame are fascinating conundrums that will keep me thinking about this book long past the last page.

I felt really conflicted reading this. I wanted so badly to love it the entire time, but I just couldn't. To be frank, the first third of the book was incredibly boring. It took me days to read chapters that should have taken me minutes. Fortunately, it did start getting better in the second third. And the final third was just phenomenal. It was packed with action and suspense.

The Madman's Daughter is a Victorian horror story that left me cringing in disgust at some points. The details were extraordinary and the writing was equally lovely. The characters were also intriguing and I expected little to none of the plot twists. And that ending..... Words can't describe it.

I'm not quite sure why I found it so boring at the beginning, but I did. If you can get past the initial third of the book, I think you'd find yourself loving it. But I just couldn't give it a higher rating because of that third. With that said, I fully intend on reading the second one.