The Madman's Daughter (Madman's Daughter, 1)
For fans of Libba Bray, this first book in a gothic suspense trilogy is inspired by H. G. Wells's The Island of Dr. Moreau and has been hailed by New York Times bestseller Carrie Ryan as having "beautiful writing, breakneck pacing, a pulse-pounding mystery, and an irresistible romance."
Following accusations that her scientist father gruesomely experimented on animals, sixteen-year-old Juliet watched as her family and her genteel life in London crumbled around her—and only recently has she managed to piece her world back together. But when Juliet learns her father is still alive and working on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the old accusations are true. Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward, Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's insanity. 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.
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Community Reviews
Spoilers Ahead.
(My first review)
The book had a wonderful start with a gritty heroine fallen from high society’s grace into manual labor and a boarding house. Haunted by her family’s scandal and horrifying memories that only continued to surface, she did her best to make it day by day. This was fantastic, she was smart and tough, nothing like the empty faceless MCs I’ve been seeing a lot of lately. The story progressed nicely from here. Every now and then I felt it would focus on certain details unnecessarily, IE: her best friends cousin. I believe it balanced out though thanks to some of the really intense and darker scenes. A few in particular were extremely vivid to me. The rabbit on the table, the professors hand, and every scene with a needle gave me chills.
The next thing you know shes off to the creepy island with a hot farmhand. Love interest #1, my personal favorite. I have a habit of picking and shipping pretty early on though. They pluck Love interest #2 out of the ocean and she’s instantly attracted to him.
No (；^＿^)ッ☆( ゜o゜) and I hope it hurt.
Yes, this makes the story more interesting. No, I don’t have any problems with love triangles. What bothers me is how her fascination with him is almost forced upon the reader. Not to mention the constant reference every time they were together. It felt out of place, especially after how she was introduced as an independent survivor. It’s explained as a “deep connection” each time and left at that. I understand that there is only so much you can give away without ruining plot twists, but I had a hard time believing in this without further explanation or feeling.
Island arrival, further digging into her obvious daddy issues, back and forth between LI1 and LI2, basically your usual middle filler. What caught me was the amount of exciting suspense. Running through the jungle, the cabin in the clearing, leaving the women alone, water creatures, the village, it was all very intense.
I don’t want to go too deep and ruin a lot of plot, but I really did enjoy this book. About 70% in I couldn’t put it down, reading it everywhere I could. The last plot twist blew me away as well. Even after figuring out all the others before hand, this one just came out of left field.
Then there was the ending… /omgwhat. I had to reread the last page in utter disbelief that the book had ended. I was flabbergasted. It leaves you almost begging for more. No unanswered questions but a definite cliff hanger.
Overall it’s not making it onto my favorites list, but it still deserves good recognition. It fit well into sci-fi/paranormal suspense/horror. This is what I get for reading the start of a new series. I’m horribly impatient and now I have to wait another year to continue. Torture I tell you!
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