My Thoughts: The Madman's Daughter

(Goodreads Summary)
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.

Genre: Gothic Horror, Young Adult
Published: January 29, 2013


My Thoughts:

"In the darkest places, even love is deadly."

I freaking LOVED this book!

The Madman's Daughter is a tragic, haunting, scary, nail-biting Gothic tale of a girl's father's descent into madness and her own struggle against following in his footsteps.

This story is a retelling of sorts of The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells. It's set in the late 1800's and there is a definite historical feel to the writing. It's about a girl named Juliet Moreau. Her father disappeared when she was 10 due to a scandal involving his experiments. People say he was creating abominations. That he was creating monsters. Juliet's mother has since died, and she has been living as a poor maid, trying to get by, ignore the rumors about her father and escape the unwanted advances of men. She goes in search of her father and ends up on a secluded island where she hopes to discover the truth about the experiments her father has been accused of.

And discover them she does! The thing is...Juliet has a lot of dark feelings herself. Part of her doesn't believe what her father is doing is completely wrong. Which makes her think that she will end up just like him.  Speaking of Juliet's father, he is dark and crazy and scary. He is obsessed with his work to the point of madness. 

AND SO MUCH MORE HAPPENS.

There is a definite mysterious, haunting air throughout this story which made it that much more exciting. There is a bit of a love triangle, which became a little annoying at times with the back and forth, but the story was so engrossing I was able to easily ignore it. There were twists and turns and things happened that I never could have guessed. The writing and pacing was spot-on and THE ENDING!! OH MY GAH! It was a big giant cliff hanger! AND I NEED the next book NOW! All the characters were interesting, even the non-human ones.
I don't want to get into too much detail about the actual story because I'm glad I didn't know much about it before reading it. It just added more excitement to the experience.

Final Thoughts: Basically,  this book is wonderfully mad, I couldn't put it down and was left guessing until the very end. 4.5/5

I originally borrowed this book from the library, but will DEF be buying my own copy!