Of Beasts and Men

The Island of Dr. Moreau
H.G. Wells, 1896

4.5 Stars

There’s something to be said about Victorian Horror. Admittedly, it has stood the test of time, mostly through immortalisation by Universal Studios, and there are a lot of classics out there. Or at least that’s what we’re told. Have any of you actually read Frankenstein? Good lord, what a load of old trite! If I wanted to read a book about a man who believes he’s upset God and then wanders around moping for a few hundred pages before dying, I’d read the ruddy New Testament. Least that way I’d get some bloody spirituality into me.

Anyway. Rant done.

My second adventure into Kindle-dom was H.G. Wells’ lesser classic, the science fiction horror The Island of Dr. Moreau. I must admit, this is one of those books that I’ve always meant to read, but simply never got round to it. Gawd bless you, Kindle free classics!

A tale, like so many literatures of the time, of scientific endeavour gone awfully awry, Dr. Moreau sees young gentleman Prendick cast adrift from his cruise ship, rescued by Doctor Montgomery and his peculiar bestial manservant M’Ling. Taken to the mysterious island of the book’s namesake, Prendick soon finds himself in the hands of a crazed scientist who has been fashioning Beast-Men from pieces of other animals.

Of course, as in all such cautionary tales, all goes a bit Pete Tong and Prendick finds himself the sole survivor of a bestial uprising. Good times all round. Told with intoxicating vigour, this really is a page turner, leaving you right up to the last moment just wondering how on earth Prendick will escape.

Horrifying and impossible to put down, The Island of Dr. Moreau is a true classic of the genre, and certainly knocks the socks of that ruddy Mary Shelley malarkey.