The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I would like to thank Jo Fletcher Books for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Jo Fletcher Books

Published – Out Now

Price - £16.99 hardcover £7.99 Kindle eBook

Carlota Moreau: A young woman, growing up in a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatán peninsula, the only daughter of a genius - or a madman.

Montgomery Laughton: A melancholic overseer with a tragic past and a propensity for alcohol, an outcast who assists Dr Moreau with his scientific experiments, which are financed by the Lizaldes, owners of magnificent haciendas with plentiful coffers.

The hybrids: The fruits of the Doctor's labour, destined to blindly obey their creator while they remain in the shadows, are a motley group of part-human, part-animal monstrosities.

All of them are living in a perfectly balanced and static world which is jolted by the abrupt arrival of Eduardo Lizalde, the charming and careless son of Doctor Moreau's patron - who will, unwittingly, begin a dangerous chain-reaction.

For Moreau keeps secrets, Carlota has questions, and in the sweltering heat of the jungle passions may ignite.

I often tend to think fantasy and science fiction are the genres that explore power. In epic fantasy and science fiction this is often quite a simple act of overthrowing some Dark Lord ™ , Evil Empire or establishing a new hereditary monarch for the greater good. But power and more specifically control can be very subtle and that requires a different approach. In Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s we get an intelligent and subtle science fiction novel The Daughter of Doctor Moreau we meet a small cast of characters test the relationships that all bind them together and ultimately their hidden world will be tested and may not survive much longer.

Doctor Moreau and his daughter Carlota live in the remote Yucatan peninsular in the 19th century. They are well hidden from everyone as the Doctor’s work must be kept secret. He is working with a wealthy landowner to produce hybrids – animals mixed with human DNA that have sentience and human emotions but ultimately, he wants to make as strong as humans to work as cheap labour. A science that for many reasons moral and financial he wants few to know about just yet. In his household the drunken and guilt-ridden Englishman named Montgomery Laughton has found a place he can work, drink, and try to forget as well as settle down. But Carlota is now a beautiful young woman and a chance encounter with Eduardo the son of the man who pays for Moreau’s work leads to a change in all the dynamics of their little world and the secrets of the hybrids my not be kept for much longer.

It is worthwhile to note that this is more a psychological thriller despite the SF element of the hybrids. While they are ever present in the background and the story it’s the relationships between Carlota, Montgomery, Doctor Moreau, and Eduardo that take centre stage. You do feel the hybrid element grow throughout the tale but for good reason they are not a mass special effect they are the genteel and strange inhabitants of a world the others all have an interest in. Moreno-Garcia instead gives us a focus on characters who all owe the others something – Carlota is the obedient daughter of her strange father and sees him initially as infallible and doing great work. For Montgomery the Moreaus are his employers and give him a way to live and yet also allow him his self-destructive urges to drink and lose himself. But the story shows all is not quite as it seems. Moreau is not a God just massively dependent on his patron for money, a place to live and his patron just wants an advantage in having a genetically produced slave labour force. Carlota finds the young and dashing Eduardo offering her a chance of freedom, passion and also long-term control over the holding and a place her hybrids can live in peace. Montgomery though knows too well young men can promise the world and never deliver and feels often obligated to save Carlota from what he feels will be a terrible mistake.

Moreno-Garcia’s skill in plotting here comes evident and through rotating chapters focused on Carlota’s and Montgomery’s own parts of the story we get to see the world through each other’s eyes. The young innocent woman starting to realise she is no longer a child and the cynical and yet puzzled Montgomery who feels increasingly the need to get involved in the Moreau’s story even if no good can come of it. This duo’s relationship is not quite a romance but more two very different characters who strangely complement each other and bring out their respective human/impulsive sides. They cycle through arguing, distrust and almost affection for each other that pushes and pulls them tina strange orbit throughout the story.

His leads to that exploration of power that for me was at the heart of the book. The father daughter dynamic that gets to be more where Moreau expects obedience of Carlota just as much as he wants his Hybrids to obey him not just through work but also his strict Christian faith (and idea of punishment for disobedience) and yet this man who seems so large at the start of the tale is soon revealed hollow and hypocritical. More wealthy and crueller men are instead in control and Moreno-Garcia notes that this period of what will become modern Mexico is torn with revolution as the native Mayan population start to revolt against their landowners. In contrast we find Hybrids who we gently get to know despite their strange animal appearances just seem fully human in their emotions and way of life. Only Carlota and Montgomery tend to see them as family and friends. Just like Carlota they are expected to do what others want with no say and as the story progresses the outer world offers both a way of escape and also entrapment for both Carlota and the hybrids. There is a sense of escalating tension that these power relationships are pulling too heavily on one another and soon in a fairly action packed and bloody finale it all erupts to a satisfying conclusion.

I really enjoyed reading The Daughter of Doctor Moreau. It questions is anyone ever in control bar the forces of capitalism and can ever find our own way out? Delicate character work combines with the rising tension all create a brisk focused and intimate tale hurtling towards its conclusion. Another fine tale from one of the genre’s best writers at the moment.