Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells

68 reviews

gasoline_allie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Better and MUCH creepier than I expected.  There are so many trigger warnings that apply and are worth looking into before reading, but I'm glad I went in mostly blind.  The concept of exploration and experimentation without ethics remains relevant, as does the question of what it means to be human and how we relate to the natural world. I thought the different ways Prendick and Montgomery interacted with Moreau's creations and Moreau himself was subtly done and interesting.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Racism and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Alcoholism and Cannibalism

jaimemt_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

belovedsnail's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Very disturbing. I don’t know what to make of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

trin's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

Not Wells' best, and yet indubitably a classic. ("The house of pain!") Moreau's original methods of creation manage to be far creepier than anything later films have come up with -- cloning? Yawn. Unfortunately, there also manages to be a lot of casual racism/antisemitism, including several lines that had me saying "yikes!" and making the grimace emoji 😬 irl. It's not entirely clear how much of this is actually Wells and how much his -- clearly and intentionally -- flawed narrator, but it still takes the modern reader aback. Nevertheless, this remains a swift and effective piece of horror. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Racism and Antisemitism

katenovah's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

asphodelrose7's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Blood, and Stalking

Minor: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

alienexpert's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

A decent classic read, but left me wanting a bit more substance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Physical abuse, Torture, and Alcohol

irene_addler's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

 "But there are times when the little cloud spreads, until it obscures the whole sky. Then I look about me at my fellow men, and I go in fear."

On my journey through the classics of horror, I knew I would need to traverse The Island of Doctor Moreau. Despite getting fairly short, this story is quite the ride. 

We start by knowing how the story ends. While there's potential for that to ruin the story, this story is absolutely not made worse for it. In fact, watching how Prendick gets to the island and simply following the journey was wonderful. I believe that helps offset some of the harder moments in the book. No matter what, the reader always knows there is hope.  

I didn't find Prendick very likeable. He felt quick to judge others--though he is one of the most likeable characters in the book. However, most of his decisions make sense, and there are periods of humor in what could have been a horribly depressing book. 

The body horror in this story had me literally cringing, and I wouldn't say it was a particularly graphic book. It's one of those stories where what is not shown makes it all the worse. 

I think there's more in this story which could have been dug deeper into, but not every horror has to have deep discussions about morality--though that certainly is a topic. I'm also still confused as to why the experiments were happening. Moreau has a long monologue about it and perhaps the length made me glaze over and miss the point, but my understanding leaves me confused and thinking that his goals make no sense with his experiments. 

I listened to the audio book narrated by Jonathan Keeble, and I think he's a great at creating unique voices, but there were times I wasn't sure who was talking and sometimes it was a bit much for me, but given how picky I am with narrators and that I finished this book, I think he was definitely a solid narrator. I wouldn't seek a book out to listen to him specifically, but I would absolutely listen to him narrate a book again.

Overall, this is a great book for those who want to dive into classic horror, but I wouldn't say it's a must read for everyone else. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

fallknitt's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Medical content

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racial slurs and Suicidal thoughts