{Review} The Madman's Daughter - Megan Shepherd

The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd
Genre: YA Historical Fiction & Horror
Release Date: Jan 29 / 2013
Publisher: Balzer + Bray

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.

I really wanted to like this book. I really did. Going in, I had high expectations because of the stellar reviews I've read and all the awesome comments from everyone. I thought I'd give this horror story a try since the sequel is coming out soon.

The scientific part of it was great. I loved reading about Dr. Moreau's experiments on the tribe and doing cellular operations on the animals. There's something truly astonishing about the progress and the end results are for the betterment of technology. Many people are quite horrified (many readers might be too) but it isn't that gory for me to stomach. I didn't like how Juliet never tried to understand her dad's motive even when she felt that dark part of herself. She just kept pushing it away and away. She never faced her personal issues head-on and I was really frustrated with that. 

While the scientific part fascinated me, the romance was a bore. You see, there were two love interests named Montgomery and Edward. She was torn and went back between the both. Just imagine tearing my hair out. It was really annoying. I'm just like, pick a damn boy already. What was even more annoying was that Montgomery was the childhood crush and Edward is the alluring and sexy stranger. Could you see how cliche that is?

Despite my problems with the book, it had its strong points and I think Juliet has the room to grow in book 2. I will definitely still give the sequel a try. This wasn't much of a horror book for me but it's definitely worth reading if you're looking for something fresh in the YA community.

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