Review: The Album of Dr. Moreau by Daryl Gregory

Title: The Album of Dr. Moreau
Series: n/a

Author: Daryl Gregory
Source/Format: Won from a Twitter contest; Paperback
More Details: Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Tor.com; May 18, 2021

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble     Target

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Daryl Gregory's The Album of Dr. Moreau combines the science fiction premise of the famous novel by H. G. Wells with the panache of a classic murder mystery and the spectacle of a beloved boy band. 

It’s 2001, and the WyldBoyZ are the world’s hottest boy band, and definitely the world’s only genetically engineered human-animal hybrid vocal group. When their producer, Dr. M, is found murdered in his hotel room, the “boyz” become the prime suspects. Was it Bobby the ocelot (“the cute one”), Matt the megabat (“the funny one”), Tim the Pangolin (“the shy one”), Devin the bonobo (“the romantic one”), or Tusk the elephant (“the smart one”)? Las Vegas Detective Luce Delgado has only twenty-four hours to solve a case that goes all the way back to the secret science barge where the WyldBoyZ’ journey first began—a place they used to call home....

The Album of Dr. Moreau was a short, occasionally strange, and enjoyable mystery steeped in speculative elements right from The Island of Dr. Moreau. Except it had a music angle, with the genetically engineered people being in a popular but troubled band called the WyldBoyZ. When the band’s sketchy manager winds up dead, the mystery launches from there.

In terms of mysteries, The Album of Dr. Moreau was a pretty good read. The speculative elements were handled well, and if you know anything about The Island of Dr. Moreau, then you’ll sort of know what to expect going into this one.

The characters were interesting. In particular, the detective, Luce Delgado, was a personal favorite of mine. Her style of questioning was as razor sharp as her deductions.

I did like Gregory’s decision to make this a multiple POV story, which added another layer to the mystery and tension. And as the story progressed—with more and more of the past of the WyldBoyZ being revealed—there were sufficient motivations all across the board for almost every character.

In a general sense, the story delivers on everything mentioned in the synopsis, and it did feel like a loose reimagining of The Island of Dr. Moreau. I liked this one.  

The Friday 56 (201) & Book Beginnings: The Album of Dr. Moreau by Daryl Gregory

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Daryl Gregory's The Album of Dr. Moreau combines the science fiction premise of the famous novel by H. G. Wells with the panache of a classic murder mystery and the spectacle of a beloved boy band. 

It’s 2001, and the WyldBoyZ are the world’s hottest boy band, and definitely the world’s only genetically engineered human-animal hybrid vocal group. When their producer, Dr. M, is found murdered in his hotel room, the “boyz” become the prime suspects. Was it Bobby the ocelot (“the cute one”), Matt the megabat (“the funny one”), Tim the Pangolin (“the shy one”), Devin the bonobo (“the romantic one”), or Tusk the elephant (“the smart one”)? Las Vegas Detective Luce Delgado has only twenty-four hours to solve a case that goes all the way back to the secret science barge where the WyldBoyZ’ journey first began—a place they used to call home....

Beginning: "The penthouse rooms were decorated in a midwestern car salesman's idea of how rich people live: glass, chrome, mirrors, enough marble to bury a small village, track lights bouncing off every surface. Call it Modern American Lens Flare." 

56: "Luce reached the landing at the penthouse level—and nearly bumped into a man in cargo shorts."

Comments: The Album of Dr. Moreau was pretty good. I liked a lot of the elements of the story. What are you reading this week?

Music Monday (159): Twenty One Pilots, DMX, Tye Tribbett

 Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: I'm still listening to Scaled and Icy. I really like this album, and another one of my favorite songs from it is called The Outside. 

Andrea: Hi all! This week I'm listening to Letter to My Son (Call Your Father) by DMX featuring Usher and Brian King Joseph (one of my favorite violinists) and  We Gon' Be Alright by Tye Tribbett. Have a safe Memorial Day!

What are you listening to this week?

Short Stories I Read In March & April

In March, I didn’t read many short stories, and the ones I did get to I didn’t have much to say about. So, I’m combining March and April’s short stories post into one. It’s the twenty-ninth of May. And it’s time to talk about all the short stories, miscellaneous posts, and podcast episodes I read or listened to in March and April. 

Las Girlfriends Guide to Subversive Eating by Sabrina Vourvoulias (Apex Magazine; Issue 122, March 2021)

This one was an interesting read to go through. It was all about a specific place with a side bonus of some light magic elements. It read like a menu at times, but mostly it was kind of like a travel brochure. It was fun, and I liked the interactive choose-your-own-adventure style aspect.

Mouth by Sasha Lapointe (Strange Horizons; Issue: 1 March 2021)

The second and final story I read in March was Mouth by Sasha Lapointe. This was a fantastic story. I really don’t want to say too much about it, because it’s better to experience it yourself. What I will say is that I liked how the author approached the themes of the story. It was straight to the point, and well written.

Masquerade Season by ‘Pemi Aguda (Tor.com; March 24, 2021)

To start April, I went back and read one of the short stories I was meaning to read the month prior. Masquerade Season by ‘Pemi Aguda was a beautiful story about masquerades, a boy, and his mother. It explores what it means to be a “good child” and when love and care crosses the boundary into something a little more sinister with opportunistic manipulation. The questions posed by the story of right and wrong, boundaries, and difficult decisions were all around handled well. I can’t recommend this one enough.

Mysteries of Visiocherries/Misteri Visciceri by Rio Johan (Strange Horizons; Issue: April 26 2021)

The second and last short story I read in April was Mysteries of Visiocherries by Rio Johan. Here we have another story with mixed media type content. It was about an incident that took place in a laboratory involving a fire and a disappearance. It reads like a case file put together after the aforementioned occurrence took place, and I liked Johan’s approach to the thematic elements. I mean, for a story about bioengineered fruit, it had some surprisingly eerie moments. And the overall feel was one that leaned towards a somewhat cautionary tone.
 
From around the web…

• Understanding Horses: Trust Between Human and Animal (Judith Tarr; Tor.com, March 8, 2021)
• Print Run Podcast episode 138: Literary Survival
• Our Opinions Are Correct episode 80: How to write a fight scene
• Advertising for Burglars: Lord Dunsany’s “How Nuth Would Have Practiced His Art Upon the Gnoles” (Anne M. Pillsworth and Ruthanna Emrys; Tor.com, March 31, 2021)
• Print Run Podcast episode 139 (Taste and Agency) & 140 (Speculation on the Speculative)

 

Review: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

Title: The Two Towers
Series: Lord of the Rings part #2
Author: J.R.R. Tolkein
Source/Format: Purchased; Anniversary Edition
More Details: Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: First published on November 11, 1954

Goodreads     Amazon    Barnes & Noble     Target

Synopsis from Goodreads...

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them...

Frodo and his Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in a battle in the Mines of Moria. And Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force. While Frodo and Sam made their escape, the rest of the company was attacked by Orcs. Now they continue the journey alone down the great River Anduin—alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.

Reading The Lord of the Rings has been a marathon so far, but I’m making progress on my reading goal and will be done with it before this year is over. Continuing where I left off, I finally got around to The Two Towers, and so much happened in this part of the story. I wouldn’t say that anything rapidly changed, but it did get there eventually. And by the end of The Two Towers, the story does progress quite a bit. 

The scope of the story has always been broad and complicated, with a timeline that spans across years, weeks, and days at any given time. The Fellowship of the Ring was a much more linear story, going from the early days in the Shire to the end of that part. In The Two Towers, each end of the fellowship had their own undertakings. So it was broken down into two parts, Book Three and Book Four, which were individually dedicated to those aforementioned ends.  

The Lord of the Rings is a well-known story, so I won’t surmise too much about the plot. The Two Towers involved a lot of walking, long conversations, and going places by horseback—as well as eating—yet the story maintained a sense of urgency. For instance, it started right after The Fellowship of the Ring ended, and thus it felt as if the pivotal scene was just continuing instead of starting at a different point. And at times, there was some fast paced action, as well as scenes right out of a horror movie (if you’ve read The Two Towers then you know exactly what I’m referring to).

One aspect I truly enjoy about this story is the friendships. Some of them came up in unexpected places, but the one that stands out the most is between Sam and Frodo. They were in-between a rock and a hard place for much of their page time, and there was no better way to show the loyalty between the two than during tough situations.

The Fellowship of the Ring was the beginning of the war, where the threat of it was only a shadow off in the distance. Whereas The Two Towers was where it really began in earnest, and it was here where some of the most notable battles/incidents took place. 

At the end of the day, there were a lot of aspects about the story that I’m having a great deal of fun with. So I plan on reading part three sometime soon.