For reference, see this post.
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
This is probably the content-iest book I’ll recommend on here. It is literally the “stereotypical one f-bomb,” though there’s some other words scattered in; there’s a scene where the main character and her love interest have a fling and it’s more descriptive than I like; and there’s some pretty heavy fighting.
That’s why it’s not a 5-star recommendation; it was good but not to my normal taste. If you haven’t read The Island of Dr. Moreau, do what I did and look up a summary. I think I got mine on Wikipedia.
Then, don’t go into this story expecting it to be a prequel. This is a re-imagining. Things come to a head faster in this storyline than they did in H. G. Wells’ original and the outcome has… less death but still quite a bit. The characters were pretty compelling though I did find the romances less than satisfying. One of them was “I’mma take advantage of this naive young girl oh oops I fell for her,” which to be fair is not treated well by the story either. The other has, uh, age gap problems.
I keep giving my reasonings against. Here’s my reasonings for. It’s gorgeous prose, a compelling story, the titular daughter grows strong through the book and comes to understand and accept herself, not letting herself be kept down by anyone. She stands up for her friends who rely on her and defend her in turn. The voice of each character is strong and interesting. So if you don’t have issues with the above, give it a try.
The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
This book is full of the magic of dusty attics and velvet waistcoats, the taste of caramel and the smell of an herb closet. The language is so poetic it’s almost more about the language than it is about the story. I don’t know that I could make a book this flowing if I tried.
It’s about a twelve-year-old girl named September who is “ravished” from the middle of Nebraska during WWII (given context clues) to Fairyland, where she finds fast friends but also sorrow and suffering and injustice, and what she decides to do about it.
I especially enjoyed and reveled in the scene at the bathing house where the soap golem Lye, with Truth stamped on her forehead, scrubs September’s courage, her luck, and her wishes. They’ve gotten gunked and crusted with the vagaries of life and they need to be scrubbed so they can work again like they did when you were young.
This is, from my assessment earlier, a based on/inspired by where the author clearly studied and focused on old fairy tales and used the language and the ideas and made a story all about that. About growing up and losing innocence and finding new courage and new wishes, to take your strength inside yourself in a way that it can never be taken but to find new love in those around you and learn when to trust. It’s truly a gorgeous book.
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