Release Date: January 29th  2013
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Thriller,
Publisher: Balzer & Bay
Pages: 432
Goodreads Page: Click here
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars
Summary:In the darkest places, even love is deadly.

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father’s gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father’s handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father’s madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island’s inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father’s dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it’s too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father’s genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H. G. Wells’s classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman’s Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we’ll do anything to know and the truths we’ll go to any lengths to protect.

Review: 

I am usually not one for horror, I tend to stray away from anything that might make me have to keep all the lights on in my house when I’m alone. So what made me pick up The Madman’s Daughter despite the fact it is clearly a horror story? Simple, a few years ago I read The Island of Dr. Moreau and haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. There’s something about a mad scientist that struck a cord inside me and after hearing there was going to be retelling of the story with a female teenager as the protagonist I knew I had to read it. Megan Shepherd’s debut surpassed my extremely high expectations and I’m already eagerly anticipating book two in the series!

Juliet Moreau has become another one of my all time favoruite heriones. She’s strong, intelligent and seeks answers for herself. She is no damsel in distress and makes it a point to let everyone know. Juliet stands up for herself and when put in very unfortunately cruel situations she doesn’t wait for anyone to come save her, she finds a way to save herself. Her determination to always do what’s right and her curiosity towards science keeps her in a constant battle with herself. Juliet’s characterization alone made the novel.

The Madman’s Daughter features a love traingle between Montgomery James and Edward Prince. Mongtomery an ex-bestfriend of Juliet’s is an ex-servant. He’s extremely intelligent for his lower class status and poor upbringing. Meanwhile Edward Prince is an extremely weathly son of a general who ran away from home and was found in a dinghy after being at sea for 20 days. Now dare i say it, this love traingle may have just furthered the plot. Both boys touched Juliet deeply and in completely different ways. What I love about these two boys was how they never appeared perfect either— both are far from perfect and have their faults which made me like them even more. There isn’t any obvouis choice between the two boys or any childhood drama but instead just the confusion Juliet feels whenever she’s with either of the boys. Juliet flip-flops between the boys and I liked how it genuinly felt like a real love traingle.

Megan Shepherd’s writing style was just beautiful. Her words held me captive until the very last sentence and the lengths Shepherd took the story were unimaginable. The number of times my heart stopped or my mouth dropped were too many to count. Honestly the twists this book took were mind boggling, I haven’t read such a mind twisting book in a while! The ending just ripped my heart out and stomped it! Ah Megan Shepherd why would you do that too me? I don’t know how I’m going to wait a whole year before reading book two! It just doesn’t seem possible.

The Madman’s Daughter left it’s print on me, a beautifully written horror story of sorts. I really enjoyed this one and will be recommending it to anyone who has a love for horror and thrillers. A beautiful retelling of a classic horror story that will surely have me cringing whenever I see a scientist again! Like the original story The Island of Dr.Moreau, The Madman’s Daughter stuck a chord in me, there’s just something about a madman that’s so genuinly intriguing to read about.