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.

So, this series, as a whole, has me really torn. They’re an enjoyable, historic fiction read, but they have some major issues (when it comes to my taste, that is). Let’s get into it.

So, I love the way this series uses classic literature to motivate the plot. The allusions are enough that I, someone who has read most of these classics, recognizes the references, but they aren’t intense enough that it takes away from the plot for those who may not be familiar with the originals. Really, the managed to take on the perfect balance, where the original pieces just amplify the original plot (rather than driving it). This aspect, the strong plot/world building/etc etc, does make the story very enjoyable, despite some of the fundamental issues I have with it–which I will now discuss.

On the negative side, the characters drive me crazy. I know I discussed this in my review of the first book , but the issue still remains (almost more so) in this novel. The MC is in the middle of a almost painfully ridiculous love triangle. I could get past the love triangle, like, its a cliche but there’s nothing wrong with that. HOWEVER, the MC just. She seemed so painfully oblivious that the other people involved were also people (of sorts *winkwink*) that HAVE FEELINGS. Like, her treatment of them was painfully self centered. And, I know that real people have this mentality and that people mess up. However, this attitude was consistent and didn’t really apply to any character arc, so it was almost pointless cruelty.

However, despite this, I did enjoy the book overall. It was a light read, that was entertaining. This series is, overall, pretty dark and mature, so I would keep that in mind if I had younger readers.

3 out of 5 stars.

Maddie