Humans Are Just Another Type of Beast, Are They Not?

"Sometimes you have to embrace the darkness to stop it"
--Megan Shepherd, Her Dark Curiosity

Genre: YA Historical Fiction, Horror

Publisher: Balzer + Bray, 368 pages

Publication Date: January 28th, 2014

Source: eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss
Goodreads
Previous Books in Series: The Madman's Daughter

Goodreads Description

To defeat the darkness, she must first embrace it.

Months have passed since Juliet Moreau returned to civilization after escaping her father's island—and the secrets she left behind. Now, back in London once more, she is rebuilding the life she once knew and trying to forget Dr. Moreau’s horrific legacy—though someone, or something, hasn’t forgotten her.

As people close to Juliet fall victim one by one to a murderer who leaves a macabre calling card of three clawlike slashes, Juliet fears one of her father’s creations may have also escaped the island. She is determined to find the killer before Scotland Yard does, though it means awakening sides of herself she had thought long banished, and facing loves from her past she never expected to see again.

As Juliet strives to stop a killer while searching for a serum to cure her own worsening illness, she finds herself once more in the midst of a world of scandal and danger. Her heart torn in two, past bubbling to the surface, life threatened by an obsessive killer—Juliet will be lucky to escape alive.

With inspiration from Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, this is a tantalizing mystery about the hidden natures of those we love and how far we’ll go to save them from themselves.

My Thoughts

I read this book while I was on vacation and this book was smashed between 2 long bus rides. I really enjoyed this book and kept wanting to know what happens!! I have my overall thoughts and feels above from right after I read it. I do want to touch on a few more things though.

The Belle

The Fight Within. I LOVED the discussion of evil and the beast we all have within. Whether we believe it to be madness or evil or our natural human (animal?) instinct, I loved this theme. I felt the Jekyll vs Hyde foundation and I just could not get enough of the focus on the madness we have inside us. It is so interesting to think about and talk about that I feel like this was my favorite part of the book...hands down. I could talk all day about how this argument throughout the book was handled. I seriously loved the conflict between the inner instinct and what we perceive as right, wrong, and morally correct. I think Megan Shepherd is brilliant for exploring this topic because I personally find it so fascinating.

Juliet. I talk about what doesn't work with me and Juliet below but I do believe that Juliet really (eventually) comes into her own. She begins to accept herself and what she is capable of. She learns to defend herself and take action in order to protect those around her. I loved seeing her embrace what she is, what she believes, and what she wants. The ending is unexpected and I am really looking forward to seeing how the story ends!

The Beast

The WHS. I did not love that Juliet definitely suffered from WHS--Whiny Heroine Syndrome. She was quite down on herself for most of the book. Her relationship with Edward was a little irritating...only because I was hardcore rooting for someone else...But even if I wasn't, her back and forth between liking him, fearing him, protecting him, etc. got to be too much. I didn't know which way was up or down and I couldn't follow her train of thought on the matter.

Should You RSVP To This Ball? 

If you loved The Madman's Daughter--definitely. The themes of this book are great even if our main girl suffers from WHS.