Orphaned just a year before our story begins, Will Henry is the assistant to Dr. Pellinore Warthrop, a Monstrumologist studying all manner of horrible creatures. One night a grave robber comes to Warthrop with a terrible specimen – an adult Anthropophagus entwined with a half devoured teen girl. This visit sets off a terrifying chain of events set in motion years before by someone very close to our dear Monstrumologist and he and Will Henry must work quickly to solve the mystery of the monsters unheard of presence in New England before they become a large-scale menace.
Though the story gets off to a ponderously slow start and Dr. Warthtop immediately grates with his constant admonishments of Will Henry to “snap to!”, I soon found myself fascinated by this gruesome tale told in a clever faux Victorian style with obvious relish by Author Yancey.
Gruesome might even be too light a description for what transpires in this volume – be prepared for copious amounts of blood and brain matter splatter as well as bone crunching. It’s also interesting to note that the number of diabolical, shady and/or insane men far outweigh the noble, and there are in fact NO female characters who are not quickly dispatched victims (i.e. no chance for any best actress awards in a film version of this Printz Honor Book).
Fans of this volume will be pleased to note that the sequel, THE CURSE OF THE WENDIGO is now available as well, and I am greatly looking forward to immersing myself in Will Henry and Warthrop’s further adventures.
Oh, and in case you need a impetus to pick up these novels, I have two sets of both novels to give away to two of my readers in the US today. Simply fill out the form at this link to enter!
Find out more about the books at the official website: http://www.monstrumologist.com/
Read the first chapter of THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST.
Read the first chapter of THE CURSE OF THE WENDIGO.
Find out more about the author at his website: http://www.rickyancey.com
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10 comments:
I've been wanting to read these! Thanks!
My son just may be intrigued by this one!!
With all the blood and guts, this may not be the book for me.
I just got this and its sequel in the mail. I'm pretty psyched to read them, though bummed there aren't really any females. SIGH.
Aarti - Well, I guess I did forget that there is an old crone at the mental hospital that has a few lines...
All the bone crunching and gore sounds perfect for Halloween, though I wouldn't wait until then to read it! Sounds like a really interesting book!
The covers on these are gorgeous! They sound great, although the lack of strong female characters is disappointing. This may sound sexist, but I'd almost always rather read about a female protagonist than a male one.
My hubby LOVES these books, and I'm dying to get to them but I have to say I'm worried about the gross factor.
Anna Clair- you should see the first monstrumologist cover, it was awesome.
TheDiaryofaBookworm.com
It's interesting that The Monstrumologist has no female characters (worth mentioning in a review, at least)... While I understand that perhaps a female character does not fit into this story (without turning into a token girl, perhaps...?), I find it worth wondering about. This book seems very much like a guy book - perhaps Yancey felt there was no need for unnecessary girl characters...?
Bibilibio -
I thought it was remarkable because I don't know that I've ever read a book with no female speaking parts (except for one very old lady). It'd be interesting to see what Mr. Yancey had to say about why that is so.
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