A new take on the classic book "The Island of Dr. Moreau" by Edgar Allan Poe. The scene has been changed from an island to a 19th-century manor in Mexico. The main characters in the book are the titular daughter Charlotta and Mr. Montgomery, “majordomo" of the mansion, a kind of combined guard, manager, and caretaker of the buildings. He has lost his sister and is healing (and drinking vast amounts of alcohol). He has a sort of protective relationship with Charlotta, which perhaps goes slightly even beyond that. Dr. Moreau experiments with animal-human hybrids to produce cheap labor for his financier, Mr. Lizaldes, who owns the manor. When Eduardo, Mr. Lizarde’s handsome son appears, Dr. Moreau wishes that the young man would marry his daughter, who is extremely beautiful and intelligent. Charlotta is also instantly drawn to the young man, but everything doesn’t go so smoothly.
The writing of the book was good, but the pacing, especially in the first half of the book, was very, very slow. For at least two-thirds of the book, everything was more like a Jane Austen-style romance, where almost everyone was pining for someone and planning and talking about romance, taking financial facts to the accord. The science fictional (or perhaps fantasy would be a better term) content was slightly more pronounced in the later parts of the book, but not much. The focus of the book is very much on Charlotta, her feelings, and her growth. You might be happy if you read this book as a romance with an unusual background. If you read this as fantasy, much less so.
342pp.
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