I was going through some Amazing Stories and found out that they reprinted H.G.Wells's classic The Island of Dr. Moreau. I had never read it before, so I thought I'd give it a try!
The book was originally published in 1896, and there's a famous 1996 film that I never saw, but I did hear a bit about. Still, I knew little enough that the story was a bit of a surprise.
It combines a shipwreck story--a popular form back in the day--with dark, biological science fiction. It's written from the point of view of Edward Prendick, an English natural historian.
The story has a solid mix of action, tension, and mystery, with plenty of grotesque, stomach-turning body horror. The characters are simple but plausible, the plot has a couple of good turns but is otherwise fairly straightforward. The pacing is generally good, a little slow, but with enough events to stir up excitement that you stay involved and interested. It's a short book, too. It only took me about two hours to read, maybe a bit less.
One interesting fact is that this book was written in the short period where Gregor Mendel had written his description and published his data about heredity, but his original publication in the 1860s was in an obscure German journal. His work was rediscovered and popularized starting around 1900, so Wells has a few incorrect ideas about heredity on the verge of Lysenkoism, but we can forgive him because it was highly unlikely he knew about it.
Moreau is not a sympathetic character but Wells makes an effort to portray him as not a monster. His philosophy and his detachedness are horrifying but well-justified in the story.
A very good read as long as you're not too close to a meal.
As usual, more spoiler coverage in the Spoiler Section of the embedded video.
Read the pulp versions here: Part 1 Part 2
Or a book version here.
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