The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Sheherd

Hardcover, 432 pages
Release Date: January 29, 2013
Published by: Balzer and Bray
The Madman’s Daughter, #1
Source: Traded
For fans of: Gothic, Horror, Retellings, Historical Fiction, Thriller,YA

     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.

*MY THOUGHTS*
     Before I read this, I had never read nor heard of Dr. Moreau’s Island. Not in class, from other readers, or anywhere. So, this was my first look into the story as a whole. In a way I wish I had just to see how the original is, but I’m also glad I didn’t because I didn’t have anything to compare it to.
     If I had read the original first, I would have spent the entire book saying “Ugh this isn’t how its done in the other book,” so I’m very happy that I got to read this first. Because of that I was able to still have all the feels while reading this and not miss anything. The surprise effect was still there.
     In this version of the book, Juliet is a maid working in London who has lost her mother and her father. Out of a weird turn of events she learns her father is alive and she makes it her duty to see if its true. And worse yet, she finds out he is still performing the very experiments that got him banished from London in the first place. As she makes it to the island she sees her father for what he really is: a madman.
     I first want to start with the characters. Each one brought so much to the story. Juliet was an amazing heroine. In the era the book was written in, women were supposed to be seen and not heard. Juliet breaks all the rules by being interested in science and talking out of turn. I LOVED that about her. I HATE weak heroines. (Especially those that are in modern time. But that’s another story lol) As for her father, I loved his character too. He was truly portrayed as the madman he was and he really creeped me out. I pictured him with the whole manic laugh and crazy black eyes. Yeahhh I scared myself I think lol But that brings me to my next favorite thing.
     Another thing that I loved about that book was the imagery. Every thing that happened I could clearly picture in my head. And let me tell you, it scared the crap out of me. It seemed like I was watching the movie and watching everything happen up close and personally. Shepherd’s words took me away from my present world and into the book as Juliet.
     The twists and turns of this book also had me on edge. I don’t have anymore fingernails because I chewed them all off because I was a nervous wreck. And at the end I found myself having to stop at the end of every chapter and actually remember to breathe because a TON of things happened that made me catch my breath.
     The only thing that I did not like about this story was the love triangle. It was the main focus of the story and it bothered me a lot. I understand that it was done for specific reasons in the plot, but even still, it seemed like the entire focus and I hated that. I would have liked it to be more on everything else that was going on at that time the plot was finally resolved.
   But even still, this was a very interesting read for my first gothic thriller! I’m looking forward to more of Sherpherd’s writing and more of this unique (to me) series!