This is a problematic book. I first experienced Wells' racism in The Invisible Man but it's also pretty bad here. Here's the proof:

Dr Moreau creates a "negroid" beast person by mutilating a gorilla.

As a document of foundational sci-fi, it is important.  The transformations don't make a lot of sense but what this story brings with it in buckets is...body horror. Moreau's "science" is gory torture and later events, which I won't spoil, bring more body horror. I was surprised how gruesome this book was.

For HG Wells, I'd recommend Food of the Gods, War of the Worlds and The Time Machine over this one. This is still worth a look for where Wells started.

In The Island of Dr Moreau, HG Wells asks us: where is the line drawn between human and beast? And what would happen if that narrow line began to fray?

The tale is told by Londoner Edward Prendick, a man from London who has the misfortune to be shipwrecked, eventually coming ashore the titular island. Here he finds the amoral Dr Moreau, a once-renowned London surgeon who was chased out of town after his bizarre and cruel animal experiments were publicized. Sure enough, the island is crawling with the strange half-human, half-beast results of his experiments...

At a slim 133 pages, the book can't help but run at a good pace. Similarly, the locations and characters used are condensed to a minimal few, maintaining a strong sense of unity and cohesion. The story also ends on a strong note that ties together everything the protagonist has seen over the course of the book.

While vivid horror themes like these are not my favourite, The Island of Dr Moreau is nonetheless a strong example of the genre.

I did not get very far with this and it has some really open racism in it.