Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Island of Dr. Moreau (H.G. Wells: The Science Fiction Collection) by H.G. Wells

31 reviews

captain_capslock's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

1.5

Wow. I did not expect this book to be so brutal.

Something that everyone, including every adaptation, gets wrong is that they think he's combining humans and animals. He's not. He's vivisecting animals and surgically deforming their bodies to look more human, believing that if they look at least humanoid they'll suddenly 'become' human. They're just innocent animals living in horrific pain and existential terror. None of this is their fault.

The parallels with colonial racism are obvious, and the metaphor here is so ugly I'm not going to touch it with a ten foot pole, not here at least.

The narrator, Edward Prendrck, is... well, he's evil. Horribly, painfully evil. He's borderline more evil that Moreau himself. Reading the book is made all the more difficult because we're having to listen to his burning hatred for everyone around him, especially the animals. He H A T E S the animals, only because they look weird. He actually uses the word 'hate' on practically every page. Knowing that this is a metaphor for colonialism, this paints a reeeally bad light on our protag here. The part that gave me pause was when he and Montgomery commit a genocide. Here's how he describes it:

"Then we went into the laboratory and put an end to all we found living there."

That's it. They shoot up what is essentially the animal (occupied nations) version of Unit 731 and that's all we get about it. No remorse. No sadness. No Guilt. NO EMPATHY. It never even comes up again.
Absolutely brutal.

Extremely disturbing book. That's not a compliment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

lanid's review against another edition

dark mysterious

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, and Murder

tmholsman_1994's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.0

First I want to say that this was not as gruesome as I thought it would be. Now it was still hard to read at some parts, but it wasn't as detailed as I thought it would be given the subject matter.

I like the twist at the end where you kind of find out that the whole story was written like a letter, but you aren't sure if it really happened or not. Was there really an island with a mad scientist who experimented with animal/human creatures? Who knows.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder

bookforestsprite's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Racism and Antisemitism

lorraine19's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

I wasn't overly thrilled with this story - it wasn't awful, but kinda boring to me. 

If you're not a fan of HG Wells then you may be turned off by the writing style because this is definitely in his usual, somewhat dry, style. It also covers a dark aspect of humanity, like most of his work, so don't expect a happy read. As someone who has read some Wells stories before, I found War of the Worlds (which I recommend to anyone reading Wells for the first time) much more entertaining. It just kinda felt like this one was trying too hard to be deep but didn't really go anywhere or state anything that hasn't been said a hundred times before. 

That being said, this may be more appealing to those with a strong interest in biology or philosophy that examines what it means to be human vs animal. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Minor: Alcoholism, Violence, and Alcohol

Animal vivisection, some outdated language/slurs

devermismysteris's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

darumachan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

3.5

Unsettling meditation on the relationships between humanity, nature, and science

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Colonisation

Moderate: Slavery

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

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

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