Book Review: THE MADMAN'S DAUGHTER

In The Madman’s Daughter, debut novelist Megan Shepherd transforms H.G. Well’s classic Island of Dr. Moreau into a romantic horror story.  Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau is just a step away from homelessness after her father, the famous Dr. Moreau, fled Victorian London in disgrace and her mother died of tuberculosis.  Juliet is able to fend for herself by working as a janitress in the morgue of a medical school, a huge step down for a young woman brought up in high society.  Accused of conducting horrific experiments, Dr. Moreau abandoned his family to avoid arrest.  For ten years, Juliet thought her father died after leaving, but she discovers evidence that leads her to believe not only is Dr. Moreau alive but still living in London.  In a decrepit tavern, she does not find her father but instead encounters a ghost from her past. 

Montgomery and Juliet grew up together.  He was the son of her family’s maid.  Dr. Moreau treated Montgomery as his own child and when he left, he took the boy with him.  Juliet learns that her father is very much alive and Montgomery has been working as his assistant all this time.  The two live in a former Spanish fort on a remote Pacific island.  Montgomery returns to England just once a year to gather supplies for their research.  Dangerously close to being destitute and desperate to see her father, Juliet demands that Montgomery take her on the voyage back to the island.  No amount of arguing can dissuade Juliet, but when she arrives on Dr. Moreau’s island, she realizes living on the streets of London would have been safer than where she is now.  All the rumors about her father’s work are true, and the island’s strange inhabitants threaten everyone’s life.

This gruesome novel will appeal to fans of the Twilight series, though The Madman’s Daughter has more substance.  The themes of animal rights and genetic engineering are thoroughly explored.  Shepherd’s writing is tense and exciting.  The suspense builds through the novel and the ending is a surprise.  The only disappointment in book is the unnecessary love triangle.  Juliet seems more fixated at times with her raging hormones than her potential demise.  Her conflicting feelings for Montgomery and Edward, a castaway they discover on the voyage to the island, bog down the story.  Otherwise, The Madman’s Daughter is a gripping tale of scientist discovery taken a step too far.  Recommended for grades 8 and up. 

Four out of five stars.

Review: ORLEANS

Six hurricanes post Katrina have devastated the Gulf Coast.  Those who survived and remained in New Orleans were hit with a deadly blood disease.  Unable to find a cure and fearful that the disease would spread throughout the country, the United States government built a militarized wall around the city.  Residents behind the wall were left to die, but that’s not what happened.  New Orleans may have perished but Orleans is still fighting. 

In the years following the construction of the wall, those left behind discovered that the disease affects the various blood types differently.  O Positive and Negative types are carriers of Delta Fever but do not suffer the symptoms.  All other blood types suffer a slow, painful death unless they can receive constant blood transfusions.  This creates a dangerous situation for the O-Positives and O-Negs who must stick together to avoid being kidnapped and forced into being a blood slave.

Fen de la Guerre is the fifteen year old heroine of Orleans.  Her parents were killed and after a few horrific years of being on her own, she is taken in by an O-Positive tribe.  When her tribe's chieftain dies in childbirth, Fen saves her baby and promises to give the child a better life.  She has five days to find a way to get the newborn over the wall and out of Orleans before the child contracts the virus.

Daniel is a promising epidemiologist who lost his beloved little brother to Delta Fever.  Living in the Outer States, he has spent years looking for a cure and has come very close.  Unfortunately, his new miracle drug not only kills the virus, it also kills the host.  He does not have access to good specimens for testing and development on his side of the wall; therefore, he decides to undertake a risky, secretive mission to illegally enter Orleans to gather the necessary data to fix his cure.  He expects to find an uninhabited wasteland, but what he discovers is a very dangerous city with plenty of survivors.  If he hopes to get out of Orleans, Daniel is going to have to partner with Fen and help her save the newborn baby.

Sherri L. Smith’s new dystopian novel is a wildly imaginative adventure that would pair well with the film Beasts of the Southern Wild or the novel Shipbreaker.  The setting is both haunting and intriguing.  The pacing of the novel moves very quickly, and the intense scenes will appeal to horror fans.  There is quite a bit of violence, including a rape, which renders the book more appropriate for older teens.  In a nice change from the abundance of young adult dystopian novels published these days, Orleans does not bother with a romance storyline.   Fen is a strong main character who never veers from her mission of protecting the newborn.  Daniel is less well developed but still very interesting.  Their story will stick with readers long after the novel is over.

4.5 of out 5 stars

Recommended for grades 9 and up

New Review: THE TURNING

In a modern retelling of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw, Francine Prose’s new novel The Turning transports readers to a haunted island.  Jack has been hired by a wealthy man to babysit his niece and nephew, Miles and Flora, for two months until school starts.  The children, whose parents died when they were very young, are living with are living in their family estate on an isolated island with the family cook, Mrs. Gross.  Despite the fact that there is no Internet, television, or phone reception on the island, Jack takes the job in hopes of earning money to go to the same college as his girlfriend, Sophie.   The novel is narrated in the letters Jack and Sophie send each other.

From the ferry ride to his new job, Jack receives ominous warnings about his destination.  An elderly couple tells him that nearly a hundred years earlier, a young couple from the island tried to run away and elope because the woman’s father did not approve of the match; tragically, their boat capsized and they drown, leaving the island with a haunted legacy.  Jack finds this story spooky, but he is reassured about his decision to come when he meets Mrs. Gross.  She is a warm, calm and attractive woman who convinces Jack that there is no merit to the wild rumors about Crackstone's Landing. He finds Miles and Flora to be very different from most children but well behaved and friendly enough.   As Jack settles into life on the island though, he senses that something is not right.  He is troubled by the strange stares that the children constantly give each other, the locked room in the house, and the two strangers only he can see on the island. As he tries to get to the bottom of these mysteries, he discovers that there is indeed something evil at Crackstone's Landing.

If you had not read Henry James’s original story, you probably would find The Turning to be a spooky, enjoyable horror story. For those who are familiar with The Turn of the Screw, this interpretation will be a disappointment.  Prose never fully captures James’s creepiness and the ending falls flat.  The problem is in the epistolary format, which does not allow the tension to build.  The pacing feels too rushed; one minute Jack is fine and in the next letter he is completely mad.  Though there are plenty of scary images, reader doesn’t have the opportunity to feel Jack’s fear and terror.

Despite the shortfalls, middle grade readers looking for ghost story will enjoy The Turning.  Recommend it to those you liked Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children or The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray.

3 out of 5 stars

Grades 7 and up