Hardcover, 432 pages
Published
January 29th 2013
by Balzer + Bray
Review
The Madman’s Daughter is a refreshing take on the YA genre. There are no vamps, demons, fallen angels or mystical beings, but there is something which is far more fascinating and repulsing –strange half-human, half-animal beings created by a scientist/surgeon gone mad.
I knew The Madman’s Daughter is something to watch out for from the very beginning. The story opens with young Juliet scrubbing her youth away at the King’s College of Medical Research. She used to live in the lap of luxury, but that was before her father’s scandal hit home and they lost everything – wealth, relatives, relations and home. Her mother had to become some rich man’s mistress to support Juliet and herself when her father went missing.
Then, by fate’s arrangement, she found Montgomery, a handsome young man who used to be their home servant. Aside the romantic feelings Juliet has for him as a young girl, she also found out that her father is still alive somewhere out there. What would a desperate girl do? Beg Montgomery to bring her to her Father, of course.
However, when she arrived at the island with a castaway they saved in the ocean, her instinct was to hide from her father. And perhaps reunion with her Father was not as exciting and happy as she had imagined.
The story itself is actually a retelling of a Wells’ classic, but new characters and twists in the storyline have made The Madman’s Daughter an enjoyable read. I witnessed the horrors a madman will do to challenge God’s power of creation, even to the extent of considering to use her own daughter as a specimen for an experiment. The story contains a few reference to Christianity, but the story itself is not religious or anything. I would rather say that the reference of religion is to act as a comparative to Dr. Morreau’s horrifying acts.
Read this if you like horror, Sci-fi or YA with a twist.
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About The Author
Megan Shepherd was "born" into the book world, growing up in her parents' independent bookstore in Western North Carolina. She is the author of THE MADMAN'S DAUGHTER trilogy (Balzer+Bray/2013), and THE CAGE trilogy (Balzer+Bray/2015). When Megan is not writing, she can usually be found horseback riding, day dreaming at coffee shops, or hiking in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains. She is represented by Josh Adams at Adams Literary.
Fallen has a promising start - it's dark, mysterious and has a Gothic charm. But somehow, the author fails to present the story well enough to hold my attention. Luce was a teenager who seems normal but actually not. She was sent to Sword & Cross because of an accident that took her (boy)friend's life. I was expecting some explanation about how the fire happened, but the author never satisfy my curiousity. There was no explanation about the other fire accident that happened when Luce was at the library of Sword & Cross that left a classmate dead either.
