Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Fiica doctorului Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

20 reviews

subtleassiduities's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I read this after reading Mexican Gothic, hoping for that same visceral horror; I thought that surely the premise could deliver on that. But I was surprised to find that this book was much more subdued.

Like Mexican Gothic, the middle of this book was a slog, but even more so, with nothing particularly weird happening. A good chunk of the middle is the characters nervously waiting around. And while when the waiting ends, the book gets exciting fast, the middle was almost enough for me to put it down. However, I suspected that the ending would be great, so I hung in there (again based on my experience with Mexican Gothic). And it was pretty good. So it didn't feel like a waste of my time.

Nonetheless, I cannot help but feel that the premise was wasted, knowing how well Moreno-Gaecia can write body horror. The horror of the story rests far more with the colonist white men than it does with Dr. Moreau's creations. And while entitled white men will always be horrifying, I just think that the story could also have made better use of the doctor's experiments.

I will say that the characters are very well written. Each invokes strong emotion, and that really makes the ending feel earned and satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Sexual content and Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual assault

jgalla's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

amartin48's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

This is an excellent book for lovers of fables! Nothing terribly challenging or unpredictable happens, but it is an entertaining read that takes you right where you want to go, with a pinch of mystery along the way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Medical content

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Confinement, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and War

w33nr's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, Sexual assault, and Suicide

hanz's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Colonisation

aardwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

There's a good novella in this book if you chopped out a lot of nothing. The premise is intriguing, the prose is good, and Carlota isn't a bad viewpoint character. But 2/3 of the pages are taken up by tedious romantic drama that goes nowhere and could have been set up in a chapter. Montgomery also sucks a lot of life out of the story. Silvia Moreno-Garcia has many strengths, but writing a compelling protagonist man is not one of them. The human-animal hybrids who should be the stars of the story are barely there, but in them there's the bones of something great.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cozyteareads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Blood, and Gaslighting

Minor: Infertility, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Sexual harassment, and War

ncoletti's review against another edition

adventurous tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Medical trauma

Minor: Sexual assault

melliedm's review against another edition

emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

A thrilling exploration of humanity and identity set on a hybrid background of H.G. Wells’ Moreau and  The Caste War of Yucatan 1847. Moreno-Garcia has an excellent way of merging a classic gothic style and an accessible/modern prose that almost always works well for me. I had a bit of an expectation of a darker book along the lines of Mexican Gothic, but I still enjoyed this one! 

My only dislike for this book is how the alternating perspective works in the first half. Too frequently the Carlota and Montgomery swaps spent too much time retreading the same moments before getting into something fresh. This lessened in the second half, which is when the novel began to really shine.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Sexual content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism

cait_reads_and_drinks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Violence

Thank you Ballantine, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley for the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review! QUICK TAKE: A new twist on the classic story by H.G. Wells with a focus on Dr. Moreau's daughter and her unique coming of age on her father's isolated estate and with his obscure research experiments. Silvia Moreno-Garcia has quickly become an auto-buy author for me and this one did not disappoint. It was like a historical fiction, coming of age, sci-fi horror and I was HERE for it. I kind of wish I was more familiar with the original story of Dr. Moreau prior to reading but the narrative was easy to follow nonetheless. I absolutely loved the characters and their development along with the isolated mad-scientist, almost culty kind of vibes that made up the atmosphere of the story. I also really enjoyed the dual perspectives of Carlota and Montgomery, despite a few chapters being a little repetitive. I'd definitely recommend this one, especially if you're looking for something different. Fair warning, the end is pretty gory. I will definitely be buying the physical version for my shelves. FINAL THOUGHTS: 🙌