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captain_capslock's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
- 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
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
harveyhorse321's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
tmwarner_1994's review against another edition
- 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
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
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Racism and Antisemitism
babyfacedoldsoul's review against another edition
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Racism
draven_deathcrush's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, and Racism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, and Blood
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Alcohol
henyouise's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, and Medical trauma
lorraine19's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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/slursplyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Moderate: Animal cruelty