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A review by falconforhire
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells
3.0
Would give a 3.5 if Goodreads allowed half stars like any self respecting reviewing website should but whatever. Honestly the beginning was just a bit too slow and it was about halfway through before I was truly hooked. And it's not a long read! But it still took me a bit to get through as a result.
Once it gets going the actual themes are really interesting and it's a solid piece of sci-fi that is clearly the inspo for so many other works of art that I love. Love the body horror that was genuinely unsettling. The questions about how fragile society might be were framed in a way that felt worth considering. The presentation of religion as a means to keep our animal instincts in check was sort of a praise of it as a tool but also a critique of it as a trick to keep us fearful of revolt? I thought that was neat.
Overall I'm glad I read it and it's worth reading but it's not an all-time fave for me. There's enough here though that I could conceivably be compelled to reread and reconsider it at some point.
Once it gets going the actual themes are really interesting and it's a solid piece of sci-fi that is clearly the inspo for so many other works of art that I love. Love the body horror that was genuinely unsettling. The questions about how fragile society might be were framed in a way that felt worth considering. The presentation of religion as a means to keep our animal instincts in check was sort of a praise of it as a tool but also a critique of it as a trick to keep us fearful of revolt? I thought that was neat.
Overall I'm glad I read it and it's worth reading but it's not an all-time fave for me. There's enough here though that I could conceivably be compelled to reread and reconsider it at some point.