Monday, February 18, 2013

Book Review- The Madman's Daughter

I finished reading The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd over the weekend for an Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

In the darkest places, even love is deadly.

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.

Inspired by H. G. Wells's classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman's Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we'll do anything to know and the truths we'll go to any lengths to protect.


I'm really not sure how I feel about this book.  On the one hand, the creations of Juliet's father intrigued me.  I wondered about how that could have worked.  But then on the other hand, the idea that the animals were in so much pain horrified me.  I'm not really sure which side won out.

The characters were always a little distant to me.  I'm not sure if it was the topic or the time setting, but I never really connected to them.

That being said, the ending completely threw me.  I kinda figured out one tiny part of it, but not the major surprise.  And I love being surprised.  Anyways, the book was..interesting to say the least.

I gave this book a rating of 3/5.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2013 150+ Reading Challenge: 10
2013 ARC Reading Challenge: 7
2013 Debut Author Challenge: 3
2013 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 8

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.

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