
A doomed vessel crashes on an uncharted reef, leaving only three survivors clinging to a battered lifeboat. As they struggle against relentless seas and dwindling supplies, they finally sight a volcanic speck on the horizon—a barren island that promises refuge but holds far more than rock and sand. The narrator, one of the few who lived through the disaster, recounts the frantic drift, the loss of their companions, and the eerie calm that follows the storm.
Upon reaching the shore, the castaways discover a landscape populated by strange, almost engineered animals—white beetles, oddly shaped rats, and other hybrid creatures that defy natural law. The island, known only as a solitary outpost of a reclusive scientist, becomes a living laboratory where the boundaries between humanity and beast blur. As the survivors explore this unsettling domain, they confront questions of identity, morality, and the cost of playing god, all while trying to piece together the fragmented memories of their harrowing escape.
Language
hu
Duration
~3 hours (205K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Albert László from page images generously made available by the Hungarian Electronic Library
Release date
2021-12-23
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1866–1946
Best known for imagining time travel, alien invasion, and invisible men, this pioneering English writer helped shape modern science fiction. His stories are thrilling on the surface, but they also question class, power, progress, and the future of humanity.
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