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Cover of The Island of Dr. Moreau (Bantam Classics)

The Island of Dr. Moreau (Bantam Classics)

H. G. Wells

Ages 14+

Readers rate it 3.6 (437 on Hardcover)

160 pages · Released May 1, 1994

Content report card

The Island of Dr. Moreau (Bantam Classics) parent’s guide: what’s inside

High confidence

LGBTQ+ themes

Substance use

What it offers

A note for parents

This classic 1896 science fiction novella combines visceral horror with philosophical inquiry, following a shipwrecked man discovering a mad scientist's grotesque animal-human hybrids. The violence is frequent and unsettling (vivisection, bestial creatures, murder), and the atmosphere is persistently dread-filled and deeply disturbing. While it offers rich themes about ethics, evolution, and the abuse of science, the intense body horror and psychological terror make it unsuitable for younger teens; most readers should be at least 14, mature, and comfortable with literary horror.

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From the publisher

Ranked among the classic novels of the English language and the inspiration for several unforgettable movies, this early work of H. G. Wells was greeted in 1896 by howls of protest from reviewers, who found it horrifying and blasphemous. They wanted to know more about the wondrous possibilities of science shown in his... Ranked among the classic novels of the English language and the inspiration for several unforgettable movies, this early work of H. G. Wells was greeted in 1896 by howls of protest from reviewers, who found it horrifying and blasphemous. They wanted to know more about the wondrous possibilities of science shown in his first book, The Time Machine, not its potential for misuse and terror. In The Island of Dr. Moreau, a shipwrecked gentleman named Edward Prendick, stranded on a Pacific island lorded over by the notorious Dr. Moreau, confronts dark secrets, strange creatures, and a reason to run for his life. While this riveting tale was intended to be a commentary on evolution, divine creation, and the tension between human nature and culture, modern readers familiar with genetic engineering will marvel at Wells’s prediction of the ethical issues raised by producing “smarter” human beings or bringing back extinct species. These levels of interpretation add a richness to Prendick’s adventures on Dr. Moreau’s island of lost souls without distracting from what is still a rip-roaring good read.

Shelved under

  • Islands
  • Survival after airplane accidents, shipwrecks
  • Fiction
  • Animal experimentation
  • Horror stories
  • Fiction, science fiction, general
  • English literature
  • Science fiction
  • Occultism
  • English Science fiction
  • Shipwreck survival
  • Animal experimentation -- Fiction

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ISBN 9780553214321 · Bantam Classics

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