i think at this point my feelings are clear: i need to not read books by this author. i am always, always enchanted by the premises of the works by this author, and the execution is never for me. i wanted to like this retelling of the island of doctor moreau so much, since the themes speaking to indigeneity are so present in the original text when doing a reading thru the lens of colonialism. setting this book in the yucatan during a period when maya people were fighting for their rights was SO interesting. but the sci-fi part of the novel fell flat and was not truly explored to it's fullest extent (and sci-fi serves as a fun house mirror to our society - this book did not provide any reflection), and there was very little about the indigenous people at all. not for me, and i think ( i hope ) i have finally learned my lesson with books by this author.