The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is loosely inspired by The Island of Doctor Moreau and partly inspired by the history of vivisection in the late 1800s, Yucatan, and native Maya people.

I enjoyed it enough to finish, but it felt like something was missing for it to be a favorite of mine. It may be that I'm not the greatest fan of sci-fi elements, although I enjoy medical horror. I feel like this book was a bit all over the place, instead of focusing on a singular thing - it was like a jack of all trades, master of none type of situation. I liked Carlotta, to an extent, she struggled with being in the shadow of her father, caring for the hybrids her father created, while also struggling with herself internally - not knowing much about her past or herself really. However, with her struggling with this and constantly wanting to be meek and docile, both due to her upbringing and her fearing her father, she racked my nerves with the decisions she made. Like yes, do you, fall in love with who you want, but Eduardo, really????? Montgomery was pitiful, cowardly, and with all his flaws - I really enjoyed him. The ending was meh between the two, like yes no lies told and no feelings mutually shared - but tell me why the author tended to focus on them and a bit of romance to end with that? Doctor Moreau has a god complex - which is befitting for his line of work and mad scientist character type. and then you have all the hybrids, including Lupe and Cachito that Carlotta was raised around.

Although this book progresses through the lenses of Carlotta and Montgomery, there are so many elements to grasp in this - part medical horror, part coming of age, part inner struggles, part loss and grief, part romance; parts of parts.

I'm quite indifferent to it; this isn't something I enjoyed enough to give 5 stars but not something particularly I hated to give 1-2 stars.