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The City of Doctor Moreau
A visionary new horror novel in the style of Wells' creepiest and most enduring fictions - for fans of classic horror with a modern twist.
The island was just the beginning...
In H G Wells' 1896 novel The Island of Dr Moreau a shipwrecked traveller finds himself alone on an island ruled by a mad doctor and inhabited by creatures who are at once both beast and human. He escapes to civilisation only after the scientist is dead and the beast-men have taken absolute control. Yet this is not the end of the matter. The peoples of the island are not done with humanity. Now the conflict between the two has begun in earnest.
The City of Dr Moreau presents a sprawling history of the islanders, and an alternative vision of our own times. Spanning more than a century, criss-crossing across numerous places and many lives, we witness the growth of Moreau's legacy, from gothic experiments to an event which changes the world. From the wharves of Victorian London to a boarding house with an inhuman resident, to an assassin on a twentieth-century train ordered to kill the one man who knows the truth to a diplomat whose mission to parley with beast-men will surely be her last, we follow secret skirmishes and hidden plots which emerge, eventually and violently, into the open.
A tribute to the genius of H G Wells from the author of Dracula's Child, The City of Dr Moreau is a visionary new horror novel in the style of Wells' creepiest and most enduring fictions.
The island was just the beginning...
In H G Wells' 1896 novel The Island of Dr Moreau a shipwrecked traveller finds himself alone on an island ruled by a mad doctor and inhabited by creatures who are at once both beast and human. He escapes to civilisation only after the scientist is dead and the beast-men have taken absolute control. Yet this is not the end of the matter. The peoples of the island are not done with humanity. Now the conflict between the two has begun in earnest.
The City of Dr Moreau presents a sprawling history of the islanders, and an alternative vision of our own times. Spanning more than a century, criss-crossing across numerous places and many lives, we witness the growth of Moreau's legacy, from gothic experiments to an event which changes the world. From the wharves of Victorian London to a boarding house with an inhuman resident, to an assassin on a twentieth-century train ordered to kill the one man who knows the truth to a diplomat whose mission to parley with beast-men will surely be her last, we follow secret skirmishes and hidden plots which emerge, eventually and violently, into the open.
A tribute to the genius of H G Wells from the author of Dracula's Child, The City of Dr Moreau is a visionary new horror novel in the style of Wells' creepiest and most enduring fictions.
300 pages, Paperback
First published September 14, 2021
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August 5, 2021
The City of Dr Moreau follows on the themes of HG Wells original novel. The narrative moves through time starting with a possible reason for Moreau's disappearance to the island, as time moves along we come across Edward Prendick following his return to London and witness the interest in his story from some very secretive people, I won't reveal anymore....
The themes in the novel and where the plot takes the reader is very relevant to where we are in the world today and it is an interesting take of Wells original tale. JS Barnes has done a stirling piece of work on Moreau, check out Dracula's Child which is another great read.
The themes in the novel and where the plot takes the reader is very relevant to where we are in the world today and it is an interesting take of Wells original tale. JS Barnes has done a stirling piece of work on Moreau, check out Dracula's Child which is another great read.
January 2, 2023
A bold choice by this author to write a book that doesn’t include *most* of the main plot, just some scattered scenes with the side characters over the years instead. Impressively tensionless.
I picked this book up in the SF section at Barnes & Noble while doing some last-minute Christmas shopping. Since I recently read The Island of Doctor Moreau (IoDM), which I loved, as well as The Daughter of Doctor Moreau (DoDM) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, which I hated, I thought this book might be an opportunity to use my IoDM knowledge in the context of a more satisfying reading experience. Unfortunately, the main difference between this book and DoDM is that this book (let’s call it CoDM for consistency) has fewer typos.
I’m going to be comparing this book to DoDM so there will be some spoilers for DoDM as well.
**decent writing all things considered**
I’ll start with the pros - the writing was pretty decent! For a book that seems to switch protagonists any time they threaten to exhibit character growth, I still found it to be a pretty engaging read for at least the first half of the book. At least at that point, the possibility of what CoDM *could* be was still tantalizingly out there. The second half… well, events really started happening (lol) but I ended up more skimming than reading the closer I got to the end of the book - I knew by that point it wasn’t going to get any better but I wanted to see what the author was going to do next. So that’s sort of a compliment!
**why have one plot when you can have ten**
And I guess I do have to give the author credit for being ambitious. There were so many things going on - the standard IoDM rewrite stuff, Vaughan the alienist sociopath creating Beast People sex slavery in an elite-corruption underground City, the probably-gay valet and his club of secrets (of course, that little aside about the hot waiter goes absolutely nowhere), Coral (a great character! Briefly. Until she became an adult and was suddenly Vaughan 2.0), this random rich English boy who is magically a good guy bc he’s a youngest child… then the Soviet-style revolution? A show trial? (But the actual Russian Revolution never happens because the Beast People invent technology?) A random female assassin? Then… a beast pandemic started by Beast People terrorists?? Human civilization is wiped out completely across the entire Earth?? Then the book jumps to 2035, at which point everyone is a beast-person and no one can speak human languages anymore, but some civilized ape-like beast people have magically given birth to a human baby and moved to London???
And yet somehow not one of these plot points is given any time or effort. They’re just dropped in, never unpacked, and then the book moves on to the next one. As a result, the story is somewhat entertaining but has almost no emotional resonance. And whenever it does, the author essentially reboots the personalities of the characters - primarily Coral and Berry, the valet - who were sympathetic. (Or, like M’Gari, one of the Beast People on the island, they just get killed off immediately.) Why? Truly who tf knows, I can’t imagine a single writing guide/teacher/class that would tell you it’s best to avoid having your audience get too attached to your characters but somehow this is what this guy wrote anyway.
**Elementary school-level racism metaphors - what CoDM and DoDM have in common**
But the major problem is this - CoDM, like DoDM, is limited by the author’s own imagination. Both authors can only imagine the Beast People as though they are humans in animal skin. They’re trying to use IoDM as a ham-handed racism metaphor - “they are just like us even if their outsides look different.” (In this book a bear-man living among humans in France even worries about whether the shops in his town will refuse service to him because he’s a beast-person… the attempt at a metaphor could not be more obvious.)
But the eeriness of IoDM is predicated on the Beast People NOT being that, it’s predicated on them being somehow fundamentally, uncannily different from humans - and the uncanniness comes in part from how naturally deserving of empathy they are - how relatable they are - *despite* that fact. Maybe the Beast People in IoDM are less intelligent, or less physically deft - and it’s interesting that both Barnes and Moreno-Garcia decide to make IoDM about racism rather than, say, disability - but they are no less deserving of humane (ha!) treatment than humans would be. And in fact humans are capable of a cruelty that might be unnatural, or even impossible, to these Beast People.
Honestly, both authors seem to have succumbed to a failure of empathy - they can’t (or aren’t willing to) bring themselves to relate to beings who are fundamentally different than themselves. They would rather rewrite these beings in their image than explore what such beings really might be like.
And by going with this “we’re all the same color on the inside” approach to IoDM, both authors end up with the unfortunate implication that while on Moreau’s island/while apart from human civilization the Beast People are primitive/subhuman, but when they’re around the (“civilizing”) influence of humans (and in both books, especially CoDM, this is largely synonymous with white civilization) they magically become just as smart/capable as humans. Which is just a little bit concerning if the Beast People are the people of color in your racism metaphor… And then both books fall apart completely because they try to have their cake and eat it too - turns out the Beast People are actually just as “human” as humans but they’re also violent killers - but jk no worries, it’s okay because the humans kinda deserved it.
Except that as a reader, the humans really *don’t* all necessarily deserve what they get. And when the reader just fundamentally disagrees with good/bad as the authors of CoDM and DoDM present them… that’s a problem. In DoDM, Moreno-Garcia tried to say it was cool for the Beast People to frame the Mayan rebels that are already being repressed by the government, because murdering some people in a violent personal dispute is equivalent to fighting for the freedom of your people against a repressive regime I guess. CoDM isn’t quite as flagrant, mostly because Barnes is more trying to go for a “the race war is historically inevitable, what if we burn it all to the ground and start from scratch” argument which… is still not winning any points but is less egregious mostly due to its refusal to commit to any perspective at all. If I really squint I can maybe see an interpretation that says he’s trying to argue that children are good but adults are mostly cynical and horrible… bleak but in a less specific way at least. In either case I got to the end of the book baffles by how poorly thought-through it was.
**in conclusion**
I’m just going to close this out by saying the most annoying part of this book was how Barnes rewrote Cthulhu as a Moreau creation who supposedly masterminds the whole thing but is in fact boring, not on the page much, and then dies boringly of old age. A great example of how this author, like Moreno-Garcia, took a weird idea and made it banal. Idk, I guess not everyone can be HG Wells but look, it’s not like Wells was some unbeatable genius! It really shouldn’t be this hard to write a fun spooky modern take on IoDM!
I picked this book up in the SF section at Barnes & Noble while doing some last-minute Christmas shopping. Since I recently read The Island of Doctor Moreau (IoDM), which I loved, as well as The Daughter of Doctor Moreau (DoDM) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, which I hated, I thought this book might be an opportunity to use my IoDM knowledge in the context of a more satisfying reading experience. Unfortunately, the main difference between this book and DoDM is that this book (let’s call it CoDM for consistency) has fewer typos.
I’m going to be comparing this book to DoDM so there will be some spoilers for DoDM as well.
**decent writing all things considered**
I’ll start with the pros - the writing was pretty decent! For a book that seems to switch protagonists any time they threaten to exhibit character growth, I still found it to be a pretty engaging read for at least the first half of the book. At least at that point, the possibility of what CoDM *could* be was still tantalizingly out there. The second half… well, events really started happening (lol) but I ended up more skimming than reading the closer I got to the end of the book - I knew by that point it wasn’t going to get any better but I wanted to see what the author was going to do next. So that’s sort of a compliment!
**why have one plot when you can have ten**
And I guess I do have to give the author credit for being ambitious. There were so many things going on - the standard IoDM rewrite stuff, Vaughan the alienist sociopath creating Beast People sex slavery in an elite-corruption underground City, the probably-gay valet and his club of secrets (of course, that little aside about the hot waiter goes absolutely nowhere), Coral (a great character! Briefly. Until she became an adult and was suddenly Vaughan 2.0), this random rich English boy who is magically a good guy bc he’s a youngest child… then the Soviet-style revolution? A show trial? (But the actual Russian Revolution never happens because the Beast People invent technology?) A random female assassin? Then… a beast pandemic started by Beast People terrorists?? Human civilization is wiped out completely across the entire Earth?? Then the book jumps to 2035, at which point everyone is a beast-person and no one can speak human languages anymore, but some civilized ape-like beast people have magically given birth to a human baby and moved to London???
And yet somehow not one of these plot points is given any time or effort. They’re just dropped in, never unpacked, and then the book moves on to the next one. As a result, the story is somewhat entertaining but has almost no emotional resonance. And whenever it does, the author essentially reboots the personalities of the characters - primarily Coral and Berry, the valet - who were sympathetic. (Or, like M’Gari, one of the Beast People on the island, they just get killed off immediately.) Why? Truly who tf knows, I can’t imagine a single writing guide/teacher/class that would tell you it’s best to avoid having your audience get too attached to your characters but somehow this is what this guy wrote anyway.
**Elementary school-level racism metaphors - what CoDM and DoDM have in common**
But the major problem is this - CoDM, like DoDM, is limited by the author’s own imagination. Both authors can only imagine the Beast People as though they are humans in animal skin. They’re trying to use IoDM as a ham-handed racism metaphor - “they are just like us even if their outsides look different.” (In this book a bear-man living among humans in France even worries about whether the shops in his town will refuse service to him because he’s a beast-person… the attempt at a metaphor could not be more obvious.)
But the eeriness of IoDM is predicated on the Beast People NOT being that, it’s predicated on them being somehow fundamentally, uncannily different from humans - and the uncanniness comes in part from how naturally deserving of empathy they are - how relatable they are - *despite* that fact. Maybe the Beast People in IoDM are less intelligent, or less physically deft - and it’s interesting that both Barnes and Moreno-Garcia decide to make IoDM about racism rather than, say, disability - but they are no less deserving of humane (ha!) treatment than humans would be. And in fact humans are capable of a cruelty that might be unnatural, or even impossible, to these Beast People.
Honestly, both authors seem to have succumbed to a failure of empathy - they can’t (or aren’t willing to) bring themselves to relate to beings who are fundamentally different than themselves. They would rather rewrite these beings in their image than explore what such beings really might be like.
And by going with this “we’re all the same color on the inside” approach to IoDM, both authors end up with the unfortunate implication that while on Moreau’s island/while apart from human civilization the Beast People are primitive/subhuman, but when they’re around the (“civilizing”) influence of humans (and in both books, especially CoDM, this is largely synonymous with white civilization) they magically become just as smart/capable as humans. Which is just a little bit concerning if the Beast People are the people of color in your racism metaphor… And then both books fall apart completely because they try to have their cake and eat it too - turns out the Beast People are actually just as “human” as humans but they’re also violent killers - but jk no worries, it’s okay because the humans kinda deserved it.
Except that as a reader, the humans really *don’t* all necessarily deserve what they get. And when the reader just fundamentally disagrees with good/bad as the authors of CoDM and DoDM present them… that’s a problem. In DoDM, Moreno-Garcia tried to say it was cool for the Beast People to frame the Mayan rebels that are already being repressed by the government, because murdering some people in a violent personal dispute is equivalent to fighting for the freedom of your people against a repressive regime I guess. CoDM isn’t quite as flagrant, mostly because Barnes is more trying to go for a “the race war is historically inevitable, what if we burn it all to the ground and start from scratch” argument which… is still not winning any points but is less egregious mostly due to its refusal to commit to any perspective at all. If I really squint I can maybe see an interpretation that says he’s trying to argue that children are good but adults are mostly cynical and horrible… bleak but in a less specific way at least. In either case I got to the end of the book baffles by how poorly thought-through it was.
**in conclusion**
I’m just going to close this out by saying the most annoying part of this book was how Barnes rewrote Cthulhu as a Moreau creation who supposedly masterminds the whole thing but is in fact boring, not on the page much, and then dies boringly of old age. A great example of how this author, like Moreno-Garcia, took a weird idea and made it banal. Idk, I guess not everyone can be HG Wells but look, it’s not like Wells was some unbeatable genius! It really shouldn’t be this hard to write a fun spooky modern take on IoDM!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 11, 2021
I very much enjoyed H.G. Wells work and The Island of Dr Moreau is definitely among the favourites. So when I saw this appear on Netgalley I Had to get my hands on it… especially after enjoying what J.S. Barnes did in his Dracula’s Child.
I did read Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Dracula’s Child back to back, which really made the way J.S. Barnes made Stoker’s writing style his own stand out. I haven’t read the original of Dr Moreau in quite a while now though, so I can’t quite make that comparison. The writing style in City of Dr Moreau is quite distinctive though, so I dare to say Barnes gave it a good try at least. It did take me a bit to get into, but once I was (after 10% or so) it was an easy enough read.
And I really enjoyed what he did with this story. The story after what happens on the island certainly takes some interesting twists and turns, and I really hadn’t anticipated the extend to which it all would go.
But… the way Barnes choose to sturcture this book didn’t really work for me. Again, it was distinctive and interesting, but for me it resulted in disengagement. Prety much every chapter is told from a different character’s perspective… a character with its own backstory, motivations and knowledge of the situation. But because we only spend a chapter following them there is not enough time to get to know them. This in some cases even lead to confusion on my part, where for example some major event for said character would happen but because we didn’t know them or their backstories, we didn’t know why this would be so important to them.
There are also some big time jumps between the chapters… and again no explanations given to us as to how the world has changed in those 15 years. Some big plot points and developments happen of the page, and I was just a bit lost in it all. We jump around between characters and events but the thread connecting it all seemed to be missing.
I loved how Barnes extended on Wells story and how far he managed to take it. The way he decided to tell the story is interesting and has the feel of a classic, but I personally needed a bit more explanation which lead to me never really getting sucked into the book as much as I would have liked.
I did read Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Dracula’s Child back to back, which really made the way J.S. Barnes made Stoker’s writing style his own stand out. I haven’t read the original of Dr Moreau in quite a while now though, so I can’t quite make that comparison. The writing style in City of Dr Moreau is quite distinctive though, so I dare to say Barnes gave it a good try at least. It did take me a bit to get into, but once I was (after 10% or so) it was an easy enough read.
And I really enjoyed what he did with this story. The story after what happens on the island certainly takes some interesting twists and turns, and I really hadn’t anticipated the extend to which it all would go.
But… the way Barnes choose to sturcture this book didn’t really work for me. Again, it was distinctive and interesting, but for me it resulted in disengagement. Prety much every chapter is told from a different character’s perspective… a character with its own backstory, motivations and knowledge of the situation. But because we only spend a chapter following them there is not enough time to get to know them. This in some cases even lead to confusion on my part, where for example some major event for said character would happen but because we didn’t know them or their backstories, we didn’t know why this would be so important to them.
There are also some big time jumps between the chapters… and again no explanations given to us as to how the world has changed in those 15 years. Some big plot points and developments happen of the page, and I was just a bit lost in it all. We jump around between characters and events but the thread connecting it all seemed to be missing.
I loved how Barnes extended on Wells story and how far he managed to take it. The way he decided to tell the story is interesting and has the feel of a classic, but I personally needed a bit more explanation which lead to me never really getting sucked into the book as much as I would have liked.
October 31, 2022
The island of Dr Moreau was a book that really stuck with me after my first time reading it as a child. I picked it up for a recent re-read and was excited to check out this modern “after the island” follow up. One thing that got me after reading the original, is how little sympathy the humans have for the animals who are experimented on in the Island of Dr Moreau. If that struck you, this book expands on that sentiment to dig into the animal hybrids tale. Unfortunately where it fell flat is that this story just tried to do too much. We never really got to care about any of the characters because we were still keeping track of all the tangential characters being introduced. There were too many themes explored so no main themes actually came through. The book is instead almost like a rough outline for what could have been a very interesting 2-3 book series if it had been given the opportunity to be built out. It was a creative take on an original, but there were even incorrect references to the original text that caused frustration for me and probably anyone else who just read the Island.
June 11, 2022
4 stars.
This was a compelling continuation from the classic Island of Dr Moreau.
The time line starts before H. G. Wells book then continues after the events on the island. J. S. Barnes did a good job of connecting the story to the original, with the atmosphere feeling so very similar to the sinister nature of H. G. Wells iconic work.
I really enjoyed the set up of the book, the way it is built in vignette pieces following different points of view to build one over arching story. It was a slow moving plot but one that built the atmosphere and uncertainty that I felt when I read the original classic.
Unfortunately, I found the ending lacking, I felt the pacing was suddenly sped up and after the slow build up of the story it left me wishing it had been approached slower. I also found that we had this build up but then nothing was explained to how the events at the ending came into existence (keeping it vague to avoid spoilers).
Overall I enjoyed 3/4 of this book and would recommend for anyone interested to see what our world would look like if Dr Moreaus' experiments had never ceased with the death of Dr Moreau.
This was a compelling continuation from the classic Island of Dr Moreau.
The time line starts before H. G. Wells book then continues after the events on the island. J. S. Barnes did a good job of connecting the story to the original, with the atmosphere feeling so very similar to the sinister nature of H. G. Wells iconic work.
I really enjoyed the set up of the book, the way it is built in vignette pieces following different points of view to build one over arching story. It was a slow moving plot but one that built the atmosphere and uncertainty that I felt when I read the original classic.
Unfortunately, I found the ending lacking, I felt the pacing was suddenly sped up and after the slow build up of the story it left me wishing it had been approached slower. I also found that we had this build up but then nothing was explained to how the events at the ending came into existence (keeping it vague to avoid spoilers).
Overall I enjoyed 3/4 of this book and would recommend for anyone interested to see what our world would look like if Dr Moreaus' experiments had never ceased with the death of Dr Moreau.
September 30, 2021
J.S. Barnes is no stranger to writing follow-ups to Victorian era fiction, Dracula's Child, also published through Titan Books last year, was an interesting and creative expansion upon Stoker's original work in a way that felt true to the original yet completely its own. Barnes is trying to do that again here with The City of Doctor Moreau, a companion piece to H.G. Wells' The Island of Dr Moreau.
Unlike with Dracula's Child I came to this book completely fresh, having never read the original work. As such, I don't know how well Barnes manages to recreate the writing style of Wells (something he did brilliantly with Stoker's writing); but it's easy to see how this book has a very different kind of voice to his other work, and very much feels like fiction from more than a century ago.
The book follows a number of different characters, across an ever expanding timeline as Barnes decides to focus on the world around Moreau, rather than simply trying to create what people would normally expect from a sequel. The story begins before the events of the original book, where we're introduced to several characters that will make multiple appearances across the narrative. This first time frame gives readers an insight into what led Doctor Moreau to leave his native home of London for his island home, shedding some light onto the characters past.
From here the book moves forward in time to a point that's almost running parallel to the original story, before jumping further forward to take place following the events of the book. This is really where the majority of the book takes place, as it explores the possibilities of what happened to the island and its inhabitants once the original tale had come to a close.
What's perhaps most interesting about the book and the way it's structured, however, is that it rarely focuses on the main events in its timeline. Instead, the book follows characters that are on the periphery of things, people who only discover some big event has happened after the fact. For example, we never see the inhabitants of the island taken away from their home directly, but we learn of it. We also don't see the construction or running of the titular city, but are there just after the revolution that takes place there. Barnes allows the reader to discover these major moments through outsiders looking in, much in the same way that most people learn about major events in the real world. We don't get to be a part of the revolutions, nor do we see the meetings that take place behind closed doors, but we do see the ripples these moments cause.
It's an interesting way to frame the book, and it's one that I'm not sure I've seen in other novels like this. Having been used to following characters that are the protagonists of their stories it feels unusual to have a book structured this way, though it proves to be an intriguing and entertaining way to learn about the world that Barnes is crafting here; using Wells' original work as a foundation.
As someone who hadn't read the original story I found this is be a great introduction to it. I learnt about the book, the characters, and their world without it ever feeling like it was required reading; or that the story was being spoilt for me. It was an imaginative and engaging tale that I'd have loved to have seen more of, to have spent more time with the characters to the point where I was a little sad to see it all come to an end.
Unlike with Dracula's Child I came to this book completely fresh, having never read the original work. As such, I don't know how well Barnes manages to recreate the writing style of Wells (something he did brilliantly with Stoker's writing); but it's easy to see how this book has a very different kind of voice to his other work, and very much feels like fiction from more than a century ago.
The book follows a number of different characters, across an ever expanding timeline as Barnes decides to focus on the world around Moreau, rather than simply trying to create what people would normally expect from a sequel. The story begins before the events of the original book, where we're introduced to several characters that will make multiple appearances across the narrative. This first time frame gives readers an insight into what led Doctor Moreau to leave his native home of London for his island home, shedding some light onto the characters past.
From here the book moves forward in time to a point that's almost running parallel to the original story, before jumping further forward to take place following the events of the book. This is really where the majority of the book takes place, as it explores the possibilities of what happened to the island and its inhabitants once the original tale had come to a close.
What's perhaps most interesting about the book and the way it's structured, however, is that it rarely focuses on the main events in its timeline. Instead, the book follows characters that are on the periphery of things, people who only discover some big event has happened after the fact. For example, we never see the inhabitants of the island taken away from their home directly, but we learn of it. We also don't see the construction or running of the titular city, but are there just after the revolution that takes place there. Barnes allows the reader to discover these major moments through outsiders looking in, much in the same way that most people learn about major events in the real world. We don't get to be a part of the revolutions, nor do we see the meetings that take place behind closed doors, but we do see the ripples these moments cause.
It's an interesting way to frame the book, and it's one that I'm not sure I've seen in other novels like this. Having been used to following characters that are the protagonists of their stories it feels unusual to have a book structured this way, though it proves to be an intriguing and entertaining way to learn about the world that Barnes is crafting here; using Wells' original work as a foundation.
As someone who hadn't read the original story I found this is be a great introduction to it. I learnt about the book, the characters, and their world without it ever feeling like it was required reading; or that the story was being spoilt for me. It was an imaginative and engaging tale that I'd have loved to have seen more of, to have spent more time with the characters to the point where I was a little sad to see it all come to an end.
September 17, 2023
A grand and highly expansive example of an author creating a world reflective of the inspiration with a dap of their own originality. The City of Dr Moreau makes the Island of Dr Moreau appear as merely Chapter One of this epic world.
The way the timeline is painted with dates, and locations reflective of an outsider narrator creates a realm of reality. (reminding me of how Wells wrote The Invisible Man).
The ending part of the book to me seems to happen all too fast when comparing it with the buildup. But that may be intentional to emphasize the chaos.
The way the timeline is painted with dates, and locations reflective of an outsider narrator creates a realm of reality. (reminding me of how Wells wrote The Invisible Man).
The ending part of the book to me seems to happen all too fast when comparing it with the buildup. But that may be intentional to emphasize the chaos.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2022
This is a difficult book to review. For approximately half its length (Goodreads thinks the book is 300 pages, but the edition I read was 344), it was solidly a five-star book for me. Then it seemed to waver a bit, stumble over its own weight, and probably dropped down to two stars for a fair slog. A wild and somewhat batshit crazy ending brought it back up to four. So we probably settle somewhere around 3.5 and, what the hell, I’ll round up because it certainly can’t be said the author wasn’t being ambitious here.
The thing I loved most about this book, right from the start, was its meticulous, pitch-perfect 19th-century voice. I felt like I was truly reading a new work by H. G. Wells by way of Wilkie Collins (perhaps in partnership with Arthur Conan Doyle), with the tiniest wink of homage to H. P. Lovecraft. The book feels very measured and formal and supremely thoughtful in relation to its influences and, seriously, for 170 pages or so, that craftsmanship was downright thrilling to me.
Eventually, however, the same craftsmanship becomes a bit exhausting, particularly in the long middle section between the initial setup and Barnes’s wild veer into his intriguing SF future in the book’s final wrap-up. No spoilers here, but I’d be interested to know exactly when those last fifty pages were written; they feel very ... contemporary.
I tagged a lot of material throughout the book, but now find many of the sentences feel a bit scattershot without their context. The author sets himself quite the task right at the start (and mostly succeeds):
“Events were to tend in quite other, less predictable directions, ones which would lead first to violence and then to horror before culminating eventually in despair.”
I also very much liked the novel’s initial killing: “Blood was immediate and came in great and vivid quantity.”
And a later act of violence that leaves “what’s left” of its victim’s face “clinging to him like melting cheese on hot bread.”
The book manages, in two different scenes, to conjure memories from one of my favorite books ever, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. And, elsewhere, there’s a character who almost has to be something of an homage to the narrator of The Remains of the Day. Those call-outs, if intentional, are never forced and may only be connections my own weird little brain was making, but I liked them.
There was also something about this simple line that totally enchanted me:
“He looked in many shops but bought not a single thing.”
I wish I’d written that. And this line as well:
“It was as though he had smoothed away all the elements of his youth which had been less than ideal, as though he had edited his own history to make of it a kind of child’s fable.”
This is a good novel that could be a great one with some judicious but vigorous editing, and it’s certainly better than the other Moreau novel I read this year. There are two more waiting on my Kindle, but I think I’ve had enough Moreau for a while. Unless, of course, I decide to dip back into the incomparable original, which is a definite possibility for me in almost any year.
The thing I loved most about this book, right from the start, was its meticulous, pitch-perfect 19th-century voice. I felt like I was truly reading a new work by H. G. Wells by way of Wilkie Collins (perhaps in partnership with Arthur Conan Doyle), with the tiniest wink of homage to H. P. Lovecraft. The book feels very measured and formal and supremely thoughtful in relation to its influences and, seriously, for 170 pages or so, that craftsmanship was downright thrilling to me.
Eventually, however, the same craftsmanship becomes a bit exhausting, particularly in the long middle section between the initial setup and Barnes’s wild veer into his intriguing SF future in the book’s final wrap-up. No spoilers here, but I’d be interested to know exactly when those last fifty pages were written; they feel very ... contemporary.
I tagged a lot of material throughout the book, but now find many of the sentences feel a bit scattershot without their context. The author sets himself quite the task right at the start (and mostly succeeds):
“Events were to tend in quite other, less predictable directions, ones which would lead first to violence and then to horror before culminating eventually in despair.”
I also very much liked the novel’s initial killing: “Blood was immediate and came in great and vivid quantity.”
And a later act of violence that leaves “what’s left” of its victim’s face “clinging to him like melting cheese on hot bread.”
The book manages, in two different scenes, to conjure memories from one of my favorite books ever, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. And, elsewhere, there’s a character who almost has to be something of an homage to the narrator of The Remains of the Day. Those call-outs, if intentional, are never forced and may only be connections my own weird little brain was making, but I liked them.
There was also something about this simple line that totally enchanted me:
“He looked in many shops but bought not a single thing.”
I wish I’d written that. And this line as well:
“It was as though he had smoothed away all the elements of his youth which had been less than ideal, as though he had edited his own history to make of it a kind of child’s fable.”
This is a good novel that could be a great one with some judicious but vigorous editing, and it’s certainly better than the other Moreau novel I read this year. There are two more waiting on my Kindle, but I think I’ve had enough Moreau for a while. Unless, of course, I decide to dip back into the incomparable original, which is a definite possibility for me in almost any year.
February 12, 2023
BLUF: This owes as much to the newest Planet of the Apes movies (and the first X-Men movie?) as to The Island of Doctor Moreau, but it's not nearly as enjoyable.
First chapters can be work. The reader is getting introduced to the rules of the world, to the writer's style, to (some of) the characters who'll matter, so they can be work. And that's fine because there's the implicit promise of an interesting payoff down the road. Unfortunately, The City of Doctor Moreau is about 290 pages of first chapters and then breezes through the hasty sketch of a payoff.
A few of my complaints that I can recall while typing:
1. The evil scheme is to . It makes no sense on an economic or technological level. This evil scheme is treated as an awe-inspiring revelation to the reader despite being obvious fairly early on (although I kept thinking, "No, it's gotta be something else or somehow there'll be an explanation that makes it make sense.").
2. The author was successful at mimicking the style of the 19th century novels I was required to read in school. It shows his skill (and might even be a good thing for some readers!). Unfortunately, for me, it reinforced the sense that I was completing a homework assignment.
3. The author used "doleful" incorrectly so many times (judging from the context) that I finally looked it up to make sure I wasn't wrong about the meaning of the word. It's possible, I guess, that the meaning has changed since the 19th century, but I couldn't find an etymological history to support that.
Other than the skill referred to in #2, I unfortunately don't have any positives to list.
First chapters can be work. The reader is getting introduced to the rules of the world, to the writer's style, to (some of) the characters who'll matter, so they can be work. And that's fine because there's the implicit promise of an interesting payoff down the road. Unfortunately, The City of Doctor Moreau is about 290 pages of first chapters and then breezes through the hasty sketch of a payoff.
A few of my complaints that I can recall while typing:
1. The evil scheme is to . It makes no sense on an economic or technological level. This evil scheme is treated as an awe-inspiring revelation to the reader despite being obvious fairly early on (although I kept thinking, "No, it's gotta be something else or somehow there'll be an explanation that makes it make sense.").
2. The author was successful at mimicking the style of the 19th century novels I was required to read in school. It shows his skill (and might even be a good thing for some readers!). Unfortunately, for me, it reinforced the sense that I was completing a homework assignment.
3. The author used "doleful" incorrectly so many times (judging from the context) that I finally looked it up to make sure I wasn't wrong about the meaning of the word. It's possible, I guess, that the meaning has changed since the 19th century, but I couldn't find an etymological history to support that.
Other than the skill referred to in #2, I unfortunately don't have any positives to list.
October 4, 2023
This isn’t a reimagining. This isn’t a retelling this is a follow on from the Island of Dr Moreau.
I don’t know where to begin with this book… it was in short absolutely outstanding. To say this book was atmospheric I feel that’s an insult .. & doesn’t give this book the justice it deserves.. it was claustrophobically atmospheric & so so richly detailed. This wasn’t a book this was movie! With all the gothic lighting. Around every corner is intense dread, suspicion & corruption.
Give this man a pen & he creates a masterpiece in writing. There’s different time lines, stories & characters which all blend into one overall story. It would be absolutely criminal if i didn’t mention this man’s prose .. it was outstanding! The way Barnes was able to capture the tone & prose of the 19th century was incredible. I had to keep reminding myself this is a modern day book. The essence in his prose was remarkable. Barnes excelled on every level with this book. When we come into the 20th century the entire tone of the text changes with the time shift. EVERYTHING is revealed at the perfect times with knife sharp persision . Throughout there are little subtle remarks that pay homage to Wells novella.
Barnes manages to keep what H.G Wells wrote but still added his own stamp. This is a great sequel to the island of Dr Moreau. What I also found great was at times the author himself knew he was altering the concept a little bit of what Wells wrote but right at end it goes back to exactly what Dr Moreau wanted to accomplish in Wells Novella. This was brilliant. Power & corruption doesn’t discriminate.
I don’t know where to begin with this book… it was in short absolutely outstanding. To say this book was atmospheric I feel that’s an insult .. & doesn’t give this book the justice it deserves.. it was claustrophobically atmospheric & so so richly detailed. This wasn’t a book this was movie! With all the gothic lighting. Around every corner is intense dread, suspicion & corruption.
Give this man a pen & he creates a masterpiece in writing. There’s different time lines, stories & characters which all blend into one overall story. It would be absolutely criminal if i didn’t mention this man’s prose .. it was outstanding! The way Barnes was able to capture the tone & prose of the 19th century was incredible. I had to keep reminding myself this is a modern day book. The essence in his prose was remarkable. Barnes excelled on every level with this book. When we come into the 20th century the entire tone of the text changes with the time shift. EVERYTHING is revealed at the perfect times with knife sharp persision . Throughout there are little subtle remarks that pay homage to Wells novella.
Barnes manages to keep what H.G Wells wrote but still added his own stamp. This is a great sequel to the island of Dr Moreau. What I also found great was at times the author himself knew he was altering the concept a little bit of what Wells wrote but right at end it goes back to exactly what Dr Moreau wanted to accomplish in Wells Novella. This was brilliant. Power & corruption doesn’t discriminate.
September 1, 2021
*Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for the eARC of this incredible title!**
This book operates in the universe of Well’s island, and did an incredible job creating a mini “prequel,” then running parallel to Dr. Moreau’s time on the island, and finally telling a terrifying future as well. As if Dr. Moreau’s experiments weren’t heinous enough, one “visionary” orchestrated an extension of the experiments on the island for his own gain.
Without giving away too much, this book tells a cautionary tale of people that push the edges of morality without considering the consequences. There was a significant amount of foreshadowing throughout the book, yet I still found surprises and connections around every turn.
The writing was beautiful and flowed well, my only complaint was the large gaps in time between some of the chapters. They were well labeled, but I still found myself flipping back a few pages to get caught up on where the story was at the time. This is more of a personal preference - Barnes did a great job of labeling time jumps and keeping character story lines separate, and easy to follow.
If you have read The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells, you should find this novel to be a great addition to the universe. If you have not read The Island of Dr. Moreau, this book will give you great insight into the original story without spoiling the book entirely!
I would recommend this book for fans of H.G. Wells, sci-fi, suspense, light horror, and books regarding genetic experimentation!
This book operates in the universe of Well’s island, and did an incredible job creating a mini “prequel,” then running parallel to Dr. Moreau’s time on the island, and finally telling a terrifying future as well. As if Dr. Moreau’s experiments weren’t heinous enough, one “visionary” orchestrated an extension of the experiments on the island for his own gain.
Without giving away too much, this book tells a cautionary tale of people that push the edges of morality without considering the consequences. There was a significant amount of foreshadowing throughout the book, yet I still found surprises and connections around every turn.
The writing was beautiful and flowed well, my only complaint was the large gaps in time between some of the chapters. They were well labeled, but I still found myself flipping back a few pages to get caught up on where the story was at the time. This is more of a personal preference - Barnes did a great job of labeling time jumps and keeping character story lines separate, and easy to follow.
If you have read The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells, you should find this novel to be a great addition to the universe. If you have not read The Island of Dr. Moreau, this book will give you great insight into the original story without spoiling the book entirely!
I would recommend this book for fans of H.G. Wells, sci-fi, suspense, light horror, and books regarding genetic experimentation!
May 19, 2022
*NON-SPOILER REVIEW*
The Island of Dr Moreau is one of my all time favorite stories, and seeing people work with it since it became public domain is an absolute joy.
This is done as essentially a direct sequel, and it has an array of interesting characters across a number of decades. Most excitingly, you get to see some history which is hinted at in the original story, but isn't directly discussed (I won't say what because I want to keep spoilers out of this review)! I was immediately drawn in and excited by this aspect, but I stayed for the subsequent developments in the years that follow the original story.
Lots of good characters that are well built up and I cared about them a lot more by the end.
The only significant criticisms I'd have with this text are that - the old proverbs that warn against too much exposition are generally quite correct and well warned, however there are a few moments where it feels like the story could use a little more exposition because it can be a little *too* mysterious about some aspects (which I won't detail as this is a non-spoiler review). Besides that, the other criticism would be that it feels like the final chapter could have been a bit longer. The ending all happens so quickly, and it's still a decent ending, but it does all come so fast.
J.S. Barnes has written a very enjoyable book here, which you'll enjoy especially if you're a fan of the original story. Do not miss this one if you love The Island of Dr Moreau.
The Island of Dr Moreau is one of my all time favorite stories, and seeing people work with it since it became public domain is an absolute joy.
This is done as essentially a direct sequel, and it has an array of interesting characters across a number of decades. Most excitingly, you get to see some history which is hinted at in the original story, but isn't directly discussed (I won't say what because I want to keep spoilers out of this review)! I was immediately drawn in and excited by this aspect, but I stayed for the subsequent developments in the years that follow the original story.
Lots of good characters that are well built up and I cared about them a lot more by the end.
The only significant criticisms I'd have with this text are that - the old proverbs that warn against too much exposition are generally quite correct and well warned, however there are a few moments where it feels like the story could use a little more exposition because it can be a little *too* mysterious about some aspects (which I won't detail as this is a non-spoiler review). Besides that, the other criticism would be that it feels like the final chapter could have been a bit longer. The ending all happens so quickly, and it's still a decent ending, but it does all come so fast.
J.S. Barnes has written a very enjoyable book here, which you'll enjoy especially if you're a fan of the original story. Do not miss this one if you love The Island of Dr Moreau.
September 26, 2021
This is a very engaging expansion of the world of Dr Moreau, though it does suffer somewhat from the perennial problem for stories that rely heavily on huge time jumps: is it a novel, or a gathering of short stories? Barnes does a lot of work to scaffold the connectedness of these stories, but it’s precisely this heavy-handedness with cementing this as a novel that detracts from enjoying the varied and inventive stories on their own merits.
Revisiting the Frankenstein themes of the original, the book leads us through an arch, if slightly inconsequential backstory to Moreau’s escape to the island, before moving to the far more meaty parallel story of a mystery beneath the mystery of the island itself, and then a far more meaningful look at free will and consequence in the jump to the modern day, following a unique assassin on a train.
There is a grand gallery of characters on show throughout, and Barnes shows equal attention and respect to each, augmenting his stories with a chorus of voices, but in the gaps between timelines, this can make following the overall novel thread much harder.
Not an easy book, but the author’s enthusiasm for the subject and the world means it never lacks for vitality or colour, and is a great addition to the mythology of the original. Recommended.
Revisiting the Frankenstein themes of the original, the book leads us through an arch, if slightly inconsequential backstory to Moreau’s escape to the island, before moving to the far more meaty parallel story of a mystery beneath the mystery of the island itself, and then a far more meaningful look at free will and consequence in the jump to the modern day, following a unique assassin on a train.
There is a grand gallery of characters on show throughout, and Barnes shows equal attention and respect to each, augmenting his stories with a chorus of voices, but in the gaps between timelines, this can make following the overall novel thread much harder.
Not an easy book, but the author’s enthusiasm for the subject and the world means it never lacks for vitality or colour, and is a great addition to the mythology of the original. Recommended.
October 16, 2021
My thanks to Titan Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The City of Dr Moreau’ by J.S. Barnes in exchange for an honest review.
This is a reimagining of H.G. Wells’ ‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’, that expands upon the original tale. Last year I enjoyed Barnes’ ‘Dracula’s Child’ and so was interested in how he would approach this classic horror novel. However, I won’t say too much about the expanded plot in order to avoid spoilers.
In the original story after being shipwrecked Edward Prendick becomes stranded on an island ruled over by a mad doctor and inhabited by creatures that are both animal and human. He manages to escape and return to England yet this is only the beginning. ..
In ‘The City of Dr Moreau’ J.S. Barnes continues the tale of Moreau’s legacy over the span of more than a century of alternative history.
I found this a fascinating tale told with skill and imagination by Barnes, who not only honours Wells’ original story and characters but further develops his themes. I felt that it was well written and thought provoking.
The novel is written in the melodramatic style of a Victorian penny dreadful, as its horrors are related with a breathless intensity.
‘The City of Dr Moreau’ was a chilling tale that is bound to please fans of H.G. Wells and those who enjoy classic-style horror and science fiction.
This is a reimagining of H.G. Wells’ ‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’, that expands upon the original tale. Last year I enjoyed Barnes’ ‘Dracula’s Child’ and so was interested in how he would approach this classic horror novel. However, I won’t say too much about the expanded plot in order to avoid spoilers.
In the original story after being shipwrecked Edward Prendick becomes stranded on an island ruled over by a mad doctor and inhabited by creatures that are both animal and human. He manages to escape and return to England yet this is only the beginning. ..
In ‘The City of Dr Moreau’ J.S. Barnes continues the tale of Moreau’s legacy over the span of more than a century of alternative history.
I found this a fascinating tale told with skill and imagination by Barnes, who not only honours Wells’ original story and characters but further develops his themes. I felt that it was well written and thought provoking.
The novel is written in the melodramatic style of a Victorian penny dreadful, as its horrors are related with a breathless intensity.
‘The City of Dr Moreau’ was a chilling tale that is bound to please fans of H.G. Wells and those who enjoy classic-style horror and science fiction.
October 18, 2022
I have yet to read THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, by H G Wells, a tale of a lone, shipwrecked traveler in the South Pacific who finds himself on an ‘island ruled by a mad doctor and inhabited by creatures who are both beast and human. He escapes…but that is only the beginning of the story.’
J.S. Barnes’, THE CITY OF DOCTOR MOREAU, opens on the 16th of November, in the year 1877 London, and centers around the history of the islanders …
‘In the wake of the resultant scandal, many descriptions were circulated of the laboratory, which was owned and operated by Dr Moreau in the part of the old city known then as Ratcliffe. The popular press were most exercised upon the subject and strikingly vivid in their treatment of it. “Hovel of Horrors” was one such description, “Basement of the Bizarre” another. All of the reporting at the time made it sound like some gothic extrusion, some far-flung medieval castle. The truth …’
You have to read the book and find out. ;)
I will say I gasped a few times at the unexpected—and the ending—I loved It!
Thank you, NetGalley and Titan Books, for providing me with an eBook of THE CITY OF DOCTOR MOREAU at the request of an honest review.
J.S. Barnes’, THE CITY OF DOCTOR MOREAU, opens on the 16th of November, in the year 1877 London, and centers around the history of the islanders …
‘In the wake of the resultant scandal, many descriptions were circulated of the laboratory, which was owned and operated by Dr Moreau in the part of the old city known then as Ratcliffe. The popular press were most exercised upon the subject and strikingly vivid in their treatment of it. “Hovel of Horrors” was one such description, “Basement of the Bizarre” another. All of the reporting at the time made it sound like some gothic extrusion, some far-flung medieval castle. The truth …’
You have to read the book and find out. ;)
I will say I gasped a few times at the unexpected—and the ending—I loved It!
Thank you, NetGalley and Titan Books, for providing me with an eBook of THE CITY OF DOCTOR MOREAU at the request of an honest review.
August 23, 2022
Smashing book! It is an imaginative follow-up to The Island of Dr Moreau by H G Wells. The characters are believable, intriguing and complex. The story has pace and rhythm, is scary at times, and gripping, just the way one expects from an adventure/horror yarn.
The writer's words are well-chosen and the narrative flows like the smooth Thames to its estuarial end. The timeline used is interesting and surprised me. A city like no other ... its inhabitants characterised by something quite unusual and startling.
The violence and gore, the use of animalism, the twists and turns of the plot, are all engaging and noteworthy. I had a picture of the author doing his research, thinking things through, in advance, before penning the tale. 4 stars from me and I'm sure everyone will enjoy this novel.
The writer's words are well-chosen and the narrative flows like the smooth Thames to its estuarial end. The timeline used is interesting and surprised me. A city like no other ... its inhabitants characterised by something quite unusual and startling.
The violence and gore, the use of animalism, the twists and turns of the plot, are all engaging and noteworthy. I had a picture of the author doing his research, thinking things through, in advance, before penning the tale. 4 stars from me and I'm sure everyone will enjoy this novel.
September 5, 2021
Firstly, thank you to Titan Books for providing me a copy of this book via NetGalley.
The story of the island and its inhabitants didn’t end with Moreau’s death. Not according to author J.S. Barnes, anyway.
Last year, I received a copy of Dracula’s Child by Barnes, and absolutely loved it. In that, it was immediately apparent Barnes was very well versed in classic literature, and he made Dracula’s Child really stand out for the use of the same sort of language and style Stoker himself used. Barnes achieves the same with this sequel to H.G. Wells’ 1896 The Island of Dr Moreau.
It's hard to explain too many elements of the plot, mainly because it covers such a vast space of time and a variety of different characters. From the group of men who originally discover Moreau’s experiments, thereby driving him to escape to the island, to a young woman who discovers an interesting guest in her mother’s boarding house, to an assassin stalking a twentieth-century train looking for her prey, Barnes expertly crafts a story spanning decades, and moves us seamlessly from one character to the next.
The book acts as a history of the islanders, from their beginnings through to what seems a new dawn for the whole world. Barnes carefully stacks the pieces up, allowing us to gain an understanding of every character, every motivation, and the type of world each lives in, and he combines various genres, blending them together to create something that really does read as if it could come from Wells.
It also shifts the world just ever so slightly, weaving in the alternative history aspect with sci-fi and fantasy elements, keeping it overlayed with a dose of horror. Barnes zeros in on the key moments, gradually introducing us to each character who plays a vital role in the story, sometimes leaving it a while before showing exactly the impact they have. It’s a technique he does really well, and one that stands out as reading more like an older book than something contemporary. Definitely one of Barnes’ strengths in these books.
I admit, I haven’t read Wells’ novel, and most of my knowledge of The Island of Dr Moreau comes from the Simpsons parody, so I can’t compare it to the original. But it was easy enough to read up on the plot prior to reading Barnes’ continuation, and it served well enough, but I would expect those who have read the original will get even more out of it.
Barnes has a real talent for this kind of writing, and of taking a classic and updating some of the ideas and themes while keeping grounded in the original, and it’s something he does excellently here. Both this and Dracula’s Child are well worth checking out.
The story of the island and its inhabitants didn’t end with Moreau’s death. Not according to author J.S. Barnes, anyway.
Last year, I received a copy of Dracula’s Child by Barnes, and absolutely loved it. In that, it was immediately apparent Barnes was very well versed in classic literature, and he made Dracula’s Child really stand out for the use of the same sort of language and style Stoker himself used. Barnes achieves the same with this sequel to H.G. Wells’ 1896 The Island of Dr Moreau.
It's hard to explain too many elements of the plot, mainly because it covers such a vast space of time and a variety of different characters. From the group of men who originally discover Moreau’s experiments, thereby driving him to escape to the island, to a young woman who discovers an interesting guest in her mother’s boarding house, to an assassin stalking a twentieth-century train looking for her prey, Barnes expertly crafts a story spanning decades, and moves us seamlessly from one character to the next.
The book acts as a history of the islanders, from their beginnings through to what seems a new dawn for the whole world. Barnes carefully stacks the pieces up, allowing us to gain an understanding of every character, every motivation, and the type of world each lives in, and he combines various genres, blending them together to create something that really does read as if it could come from Wells.
It also shifts the world just ever so slightly, weaving in the alternative history aspect with sci-fi and fantasy elements, keeping it overlayed with a dose of horror. Barnes zeros in on the key moments, gradually introducing us to each character who plays a vital role in the story, sometimes leaving it a while before showing exactly the impact they have. It’s a technique he does really well, and one that stands out as reading more like an older book than something contemporary. Definitely one of Barnes’ strengths in these books.
I admit, I haven’t read Wells’ novel, and most of my knowledge of The Island of Dr Moreau comes from the Simpsons parody, so I can’t compare it to the original. But it was easy enough to read up on the plot prior to reading Barnes’ continuation, and it served well enough, but I would expect those who have read the original will get even more out of it.
Barnes has a real talent for this kind of writing, and of taking a classic and updating some of the ideas and themes while keeping grounded in the original, and it’s something he does excellently here. Both this and Dracula’s Child are well worth checking out.
September 9, 2021
"The City of Dr Moreau" blew me away. Not only is it a fantastic story, but it keeps the feel of H. G. Wells's "The Island of Dr Moreau". This isn't so much a sequel as an expansion (although we do get to beyond the events of "Island"). I just loved the whole tone of the book, the characters, the story... and the writing is incredible. Classics fans should not miss this!
My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.
My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.
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August 3, 2022This one started off so good. It had the creepy vibes I was looking for, but after the first few chapters the book started to drag. There was the introduction of a lot characters and we kept moving to different locations but I couldn't keep track and I was no longer interested. I could definitely see that the author was trying to build toward something but it was taking to long, in my opinion to get there and I DNF'd this at 35%.
April 19, 2023
Well, this was better than the Dracula "sequel" by the same author. Rather enjoyed it as a matter of fact. But not good enough to make me want to read the third book, which is based on Frankenstein. My apologies to Mary Shelley, but Frankenstein bored me to tears. And since these books are supposed to be in the same style as the originals - true statement based on my reading of the two I have read - I'm going to pass on the third one.
March 13, 2024
It was a slog to get through. I read the synopsis on the back and hoped it would revolve around the island and the inhabitants - those born human and those animals made human within the original timeframe and maybe a generation beyond...it's far more convoluted and far more reaching than that....the build up to the end was a tiring trope...
Spoiler.....
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Wooo a virus gets out and kills of natural born humans die while the animal hybrids survive out in 2035 🙄
Spoiler.....
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Wooo a virus gets out and kills of natural born humans die while the animal hybrids survive out in 2035 🙄
May 9, 2024
I felt like I got peeps at a phenomenal plot that never developed l, with characters who aged in the blink of a non existent chapter, and I never got to know or love anything about this book. The CONCEPT was there. The execution was not. There was too much left up to imagination, and not enough enough actual action. Every time I got to the next chapter I was like “wait what did I miss?” Nothing. I didn’t miss anything. It just wasn’t included.
January 4, 2022
I kept this book in my car for long waits…it held up well, considering there were long lapses in my attention. The ending was a little rushed, and the cephalopod was not used to the extent He might have been….but that’s just my Providence rearing its tentacles.
April 8, 2023
I really enjoyed this 😄 I went in with no expectations as it was a spur of the moment library find. The writing was engaging and flowed well & the historical transition was nicely done. Keen to read more from Barnes.
April 22, 2024
A worthy sequel (can it be a sequel if it is written by another author?) - anyway a good story nonetheless. Rather prophetic, it's obvious that beast people will eventually take over the world. Prejudice, slavery, abuse, evil, kindness, madness, virus - it's all in there.
February 3, 2022
3.75 stars.. An interesting "after" story about what could have happened after we left the island. I enjoyed the twists.
April 28, 2022
I really enjoyed this, a great continuation to the Island of Dr. Moreau. We see the events from different characters, each one morally grey. I liked the way the plot kept twisting and changing.
January 13, 2023
Quite a rollercoaster ride where you have no idea what stage the next turn will bring. The story starts and is slow and tedious in making, though the end picture leaves you satisfied.
August 3, 2023
3.5⭐️
I'm torn on this one because The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells is one of my favorite books. If this were 50-100 pages less, it would have been better
I'm torn on this one because The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells is one of my favorite books. If this were 50-100 pages less, it would have been better
December 7, 2023
Confusing at the beginning and it doesn't get better. Nothing makes sense, too many deviations taken from the inspiration material.
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