2022 fantasy. In the wilds of Yucatán in 1891, Doctor Moreau conducts
his experiments, and a minimal household staff looks after him. But
his funder wants to see results.
The viewpoint characters, who alternate chapters with some
overlap, are his daughter Carlota who's read widely but never
experienced anything away from the hacienda; and the new maiordomo
Montgomery Laughton, fleeing from a succession of failures until he's
finally found somewhere that doesn't care about the drinking as long
as he can make himself useful.
There are things one expects from a modern reenvisioning of The
Island of Doctor Moreau, and they're here, I'm glad to say that
Moreno-Garcia manages to produce a few surprises. All right, many of
the events and revelations are predictable, but the principals come to
life, the man self-loathing but not quite suicidal, the woman coming
to terms with the non-saintliness of her saintly father.
It's all very slow going, particularly in the first half; this starts
off as a book about attempts to transplant a "civilised" life into the
jungle, and how they inevitably fail. I found I appreciated it best by
soaking in the hot and humid gothic atmosphere; not a whole lot
actually happens at first, until suddenly it all happens at once.
I enjoyed it a great deal, though I'm surprised to see that it got a
Hugo nomination, even in the rather non-standard 2023 awards.