Hello lovelies. To begin, I'm very sorry about the neglect the blog has fallen under. My publisher has been on top of me to make the last minute adjustments to Beneath London's Fog before they start releasing free chapters on Wattpad. I have been reading my TBR list as I can so if you asked for a review from me, please continue to be patient. I read what I feel like reading so it could be a while unless you have spoken to me about a specific deadline. Without further ado, here is today's book review. Title: The Island of Doctor Moreau Author: H.G. Wells Genre: Horror Blurb: Ranked among the classic novels of the English language and the inspiration for several unforgettable movies, this early work of H. G. Wells was greeted in 1896 by howls of protest from reviewers, who found it horrifying and blasphemous. They wanted to know more about the wondrous possibilities of science shown in his first book, The Time Machine, not its potential for misuse and terror. In The Island of Dr. Moreau, a shipwrecked gentleman named Edward Prendick, stranded on a Pacific island lorded over by the notorious Dr. Moreau, confronts dark secrets, strange creatures, and a reason to run for his life. While this riveting tale was intended to be a commentary on evolution, divine creation, and the tension between human nature and culture, modern readers familiar with genetic engineering will marvel at Wells’s prediction of the ethical issues raised by producing “smarter” human beings or bringing back extinct species. These levels of interpretation add a richness to Prendick’s adventures on Dr. Moreau’s island of lost souls without distracting from what is still a rip-roaring good read. My Review:As with many of H.G Wells' works, this novella creeped me out. It has been quite a while since such a story has been able to do so.
The story follows Prendick, a man stranded on the ocean until he is picked up by a boat where he meets Montgomery, a man transporting strange cargo, sailing for an island of unknown origin . On the boat, we see our first glances of the mysterious "beast men" in the form of a man who resembles a dog. The man's appearance raises an alarm in Prendick and he begins to wonder if he'd been safer staying in the water. These suspicions become more real when Prendick encounters Dr. Moreau, a scientist known for his bizarre experiments with the art of vivisection. Prendick flees from Moreau thinking he might be the Dr's next victim and encounters more of what he describes as "Moreau's horrors." It only gets creepier from there. Prendick encounters the "beast men" of Moreau's island and becomes mortified yet intrigued at how human they appear to act towards him. As a fan of English literature, there was nothing I didn't like about this book. Even as short as it was, Wells did a masterful job at imagery, crafting deep characters and tapping into a well-known scientific infatuation -- splicing. Prendick's recounting of the events pulled my attention using the art of showing, not telling and allowing the world to develop in such a way it played out as a movie in my mind. This is something I don't see much in modern day horror and science fiction and would love to see more of. I loved everything about this book and recommend it to lover's of sci-fi horror and old English literature.
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AuthorMy name is Iona Caldwell. I'm the author of the British Occult Fiction, Beneath London's Fog set to be published by FyreSyde Publishing October 2019. When I'm not busy weaving worlds of the arcane and dark, I'm spending time out in nature. I love books. My biggest inspirations are H.P Lovecraft, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Edgar Allen Poe. I blog about many things but mostly everything bookish. Archives
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