Book Review: The Madman's Daughter.

Title: The Madman's Daughter.
Author: Megan Shepherd.
Series: Yes, #1.
Pages: 420.
Source: Purchased.
Publisher: Balzer + Bray.
Published Date: 1/29/13.
Links:
Book Depository
Goodreads

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."

My Thoughts:

Juliet Moreau is only sixteen years old, and is dealing with the repercussions of her father's scandal . Shortly after the disappearance of her father, her mother passed away, leaving Juliet all on her own, to survive on her own means. Juliet went from riches to rags. She went from being able to buying any and every dressed she liked, to scrubbing floors as a maid in the local university.

As a maid, Juliet works at night, cleaning up laboratories for the next day, and avoiding the creepy science professor who can't seem to keep his eyes or hands off of her. But one night after sneaking a few friends into the university, Juliet noticed a door with light shining through the cracks, very unusual considering the time of night. Opening it to see what was going on inside, she stumbled across a few students, after hours, cutting up an alive bunny rabbit, on a surgical table. After ending the entire thing in it's tracks, and getting the group of students to leave, a piece of paper with a few sketches on it, catches Juliet's eye. It' doesn't take long for her to realize that they were attempthing to reenact one of her father's experiments...

Since that night, nothing goes back to normal, and Juliet's life gets CRAZY! Especially when she gets in contact with her childhood servant, Montgomery, who informs her, that her father is still alive. He lives alone on a island, and Montgomery is planning to visit soon to drop off supplies. Juliet practically begs him to take her along, and after some thought, he agrees to.

Before she knows it, Juliet is on a ship, with nothing but a crew of fishermen, Montgomery and lots of random animals, like monkeys and large cats. After a few weeks into their travel, the crew notices a wooden plank floating towards them, with a man covered in sun blisters, lying on top of it. No one knows who this man is, or where he could possibly be from, all they know is that he must have been out on sea for WAY too long.

Finally the day comes and its time for Juliet to meet her father. When she catches her first glimpse of him, he doesn't look very different, he doesn't sound different. He seems to be the same man that would carry her to bed and tuck her in as a child. She couldn't believe her eyes, he REALLY was still alive and walking this earth.

But quickly Juliet learns that her father isn't just any man, and the island he lives on, isn't just any island. Instead animals can talk, and act like humans, and that her father is their "creator"; he even calls himself their "God". Nothing on this island is normal, and it doesn't take a genius to know it. But Juliet doesn't know what to do, she wants to trust her father and everything he is saying, but everything going on around her, makes Juliet think otherwise...

Final Verdict:

When this book came out, and when a few of my friends were already picking up The Madman's Daughter, I knew right away, that I had to jump on the bandwagon, and get it as well! Everyone seemed to be a bit creeped out by it, but overall enjoying it! I knew that I had to read it ASAP, to know exactly what everyone was raving about!

Let me just start out by saying, how creepy was that bunny rabbit scene? I've never read anything that actually made my hands shake and make me feel so light headed! I don't know how or why this scene affected me so much, but I felt sick to my stomach. But I don't want to give too much away about what happened here, because I want to allow you guys to experience the same feeling that I did!

The Madman's Daughter was so different, and odd. It isn't even comparable to anything I've ever read. The entire concept of her father, who he is, and what he does is SO out of this world!! Besides the main idea of the book, the characters were so strange and intriguing as well! Juliet is a teenage girl struggling to make small living. Her father was a scientist who was quickly shamed in society when he started these strange set of experiments on animals.

Montgomery is Juliet's childhood servant and friend, which she reconnects with after her horrifying experience of the bunny rabbit. He isn't the little boy Juliet knew all those years ago, but instead a grown man. When Edward arrived to the ship on his wooden plank, he was this mysterious character which I wanted to learn more about.

When these two guys were introduced and Juliet seemed to be interested in both of them, I feared a love triangle. But lucky me, there wasn't so much of that. There were a few small scenes here and there (which didn't bother me at all), but they didn't out shine or wash over the most important elements of the story!

While the entire book was strange, uncomfortable and weird (ALL in a GOOD WAY), I did feel a bit sad with the ending. Don't get me wrong, I truly enjoyed it! But I was hoping a few more people would be leaving the island, not just the two that did.

I have already picked up the second book, Her Dark Curiosity! I'm excited to pick it up next month, and see where the story goes from there!

Quotes I Liked:

"'Don't listen to him, Balthazar,' I said. 'You're not the monster here.' I gave my Father a cold glare and stormed into the courtyard."