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earthier's review
5.0
This book is very much in its own lane. The monstrumologist is sort of a Dr. House character mixed with Victor Frankenstein or just in general a strong INTJ personality type. It was interesting the whole way through and there wasn’t a lack of depth or complexity to characters. It also felt reminiscent of the Series of Unfortunate Events to me. And as an avid consumer of shows like Grimm, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel I found the choice of creature unique since it has nonfiction historical nuance. The gore didn’t bother me at all, partly because I think the creatures are too ridiculous
narcissia's review
5.0
The Monstrumologist has monsters, gore, conspiracy, mayhem, creepy crawlies, insane asylums, and characters that range from lovable to heinous and everything in between.
Will Henry is a great protagonist. He's part young and naive and part hardened and experienced. I love that he retains his innocence even though he's become desensitized to Dr. Warthrop's work as a monstrumologist. He's seen horrible things but he remains ever hopeful, and his character is very easily likable. Dr. Warthrop is a fascinating character, both to the reader and to Will Henry. He is aloof. He is a work in contradictions. At times he seems wholly indifferent and preoccupied, and in others he exhibits an obvious care for Will. And Will speaks and acts in contradicting ways regarding the doctor as well. I find their relationship to be intriguing and very symbiotic. The secondary characters are well-written as well. Even briefly encountered characters have a distinct identity and none of them fall flat. Some of them are pretty vile and detestable in the best way.
The setting is absolutely perfect for this story. It's set in the late 1800s, which I love because it allows for a certain superstition to exist where today that sort of thing does not. I think that the old fashioned setting also aids in creating a classically horrific mood to the story. Insane asylums are scarier. Tools are less advanced. The world is wilder, less civilized, not as small as today's technologies make it. All of these things make the story feel a lot more believable, like just maybe it is possible, and I love that.
The plot is presented as a framed narrative. Will Henry tells his story through a series of notebooks, or folios. I like this approach, because it reinforces the mood created by the setting of the story to have these events related to the reader in the form of what is essentially a journal. It gives it an historic vibe that I enjoy. The pacing is quick. Once the Anthropophagi are discovered it's basically one task after another until BLAM there's a huge anthropophagi vs human epic battle to the death. And, by the way, there's a lot of death. And a great deal of gore as well. You're not going to get through this story without having to read about somebody's brain matter being splattered a wall or on someone else. But, unless you're really sure that you can't deal with that, don't let that deter you from picking up this book. In addition to the horror, it's got some great literary aspects to it as well. There are some great insights into humanity and monstrosities in the story. At the end of this book, there is a feeling of resolution. You can read it and be satisfied to stop there or continue with the next adventure as you see fit.
I admit that initially I wasn't sure if this book would be my sort of thing, but I picked it up after repeated recommendations from a friend who adored it, and I can honestly say that I absolutely love it. The characters are great, the writing is great, the plot is awesome and is very different from pretty much everything else that is getting written for YA today. And it's the perfect book for Halloween. Try it, if you haven't. Get a sample of the e-book and see if it doesn't suck you in. I'd highly recommend this book to fans of horror, monsters, great characters, and YA books that are fast-paced and action-packed while maintaining a literary quality.
Will Henry is a great protagonist. He's part young and naive and part hardened and experienced. I love that he retains his innocence even though he's become desensitized to Dr. Warthrop's work as a monstrumologist. He's seen horrible things but he remains ever hopeful, and his character is very easily likable. Dr. Warthrop is a fascinating character, both to the reader and to Will Henry. He is aloof. He is a work in contradictions. At times he seems wholly indifferent and preoccupied, and in others he exhibits an obvious care for Will. And Will speaks and acts in contradicting ways regarding the doctor as well. I find their relationship to be intriguing and very symbiotic. The secondary characters are well-written as well. Even briefly encountered characters have a distinct identity and none of them fall flat. Some of them are pretty vile and detestable in the best way.
The setting is absolutely perfect for this story. It's set in the late 1800s, which I love because it allows for a certain superstition to exist where today that sort of thing does not. I think that the old fashioned setting also aids in creating a classically horrific mood to the story. Insane asylums are scarier. Tools are less advanced. The world is wilder, less civilized, not as small as today's technologies make it. All of these things make the story feel a lot more believable, like just maybe it is possible, and I love that.
The plot is presented as a framed narrative. Will Henry tells his story through a series of notebooks, or folios. I like this approach, because it reinforces the mood created by the setting of the story to have these events related to the reader in the form of what is essentially a journal. It gives it an historic vibe that I enjoy. The pacing is quick. Once the Anthropophagi are discovered it's basically one task after another until BLAM there's a huge anthropophagi vs human epic battle to the death. And, by the way, there's a lot of death. And a great deal of gore as well. You're not going to get through this story without having to read about somebody's brain matter being splattered a wall or on someone else. But, unless you're really sure that you can't deal with that, don't let that deter you from picking up this book. In addition to the horror, it's got some great literary aspects to it as well. There are some great insights into humanity and monstrosities in the story. At the end of this book, there is a feeling of resolution. You can read it and be satisfied to stop there or continue with the next adventure as you see fit.
I admit that initially I wasn't sure if this book would be my sort of thing, but I picked it up after repeated recommendations from a friend who adored it, and I can honestly say that I absolutely love it. The characters are great, the writing is great, the plot is awesome and is very different from pretty much everything else that is getting written for YA today. And it's the perfect book for Halloween. Try it, if you haven't. Get a sample of the e-book and see if it doesn't suck you in. I'd highly recommend this book to fans of horror, monsters, great characters, and YA books that are fast-paced and action-packed while maintaining a literary quality.
mehsi's review against another edition
1.0
Dropped at 41%.
So, I was definitely eager to read this and was happy that I got a chance when there was a challenge on my group and my buddy and I picked this one. We were both excited, but our excitement quickly turned sour with this book. On the one hand, I am glad we both didn’t like it, as we can now switch books. \o/
Here is why I found this book absolutely urghhhhhh.
Let’s start with our MC, Will Henry, or as I would call him Will (though I also gotten to the point of calling him wimpy and a puppy (as he does everything the doctor tells him to do and tries to please him)). He was just so boring and bland. The way he told us his story, man, I even noticed I was falling asleep, and sometimes I just tuned out, because I know I was reading but I had no clue what I was reading. :P Which had me re-reading again. Urgh. I wish he would just go away from his master, maybe then I would appreciate him a little bit more.
It also didn’t help that the story was told in an old-fashioned way and had words that were unfamiliar to me, and I normally have a pretty good grasp of English, but here I was, looking up words left and right. Some words, I found out, were just fancy words for something simpler. I can tell you it didn’t make reading the book easier, having to look up words quite a few times.
And then there are the sentences, they just seemed to go on, having to describe everything. Please, leave something for the imagination.
And, once again, I just can’t handle gore any more. I know years ago, I would probably have loved the gore, because back then I even watch Elfen Lied (search for it or try an episode). Due to the long descriptions, everything that happened when someone was attacked by those things/monsters, was there. From the arms being ripped off in detailed disgustingness to monsters popping out of people’s backs. shivers And with my imagination and my mind loving to turn words > images, I had to hold my food in for quite a few scenes. is still sick now she thinks of those scenes
The doctor. What a dickwad. I hated him from the first page, and it only got worse with every Snap to.. Which he loved to say to his slave… um I mean assistant, Will. Then there are the countless times that he doesn’t feed the boy (or just gives him some water with 2 vegetables (if lucky)), sleep is for the weak, and he doesn’t care if the boy has his own opinions or has questions. He is constantly being mean to Will, constantly putting him in his place. There was even one time that Will decided to make food for himself and his master, but instead of gratitude he was berated, told he was an imbecile, and the doctor even asked if he had a mental illness for asking things when he was confused why the doctor wasn’t happy. Then the doctor continues his berating, and really, I just wanted to dunk the freaking asshat in the soup. And this is just one scene, I could give you many more examples.
The horror? Well, sure, there were some parts that were interesting (albeit gory) but they were few and far between. I believe the only times I actually was interested in reading it was during the graveyard scene, and the one on the boat. Sure, both times I had to stop myself from puking, but hey, at least I wasn’t falling asleep! Which is an upgrade. :P
So I could go on, but I just want to get rid of this book and not think about it any more. What a terrible waste of time this one was. Not recommended.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
So, I was definitely eager to read this and was happy that I got a chance when there was a challenge on my group and my buddy and I picked this one. We were both excited, but our excitement quickly turned sour with this book. On the one hand, I am glad we both didn’t like it, as we can now switch books. \o/
Here is why I found this book absolutely urghhhhhh.
Let’s start with our MC, Will Henry, or as I would call him Will (though I also gotten to the point of calling him wimpy and a puppy (as he does everything the doctor tells him to do and tries to please him)). He was just so boring and bland. The way he told us his story, man, I even noticed I was falling asleep, and sometimes I just tuned out, because I know I was reading but I had no clue what I was reading. :P Which had me re-reading again. Urgh. I wish he would just go away from his master, maybe then I would appreciate him a little bit more.
It also didn’t help that the story was told in an old-fashioned way and had words that were unfamiliar to me, and I normally have a pretty good grasp of English, but here I was, looking up words left and right. Some words, I found out, were just fancy words for something simpler. I can tell you it didn’t make reading the book easier, having to look up words quite a few times.
And then there are the sentences, they just seemed to go on, having to describe everything. Please, leave something for the imagination.
And, once again, I just can’t handle gore any more. I know years ago, I would probably have loved the gore, because back then I even watch Elfen Lied (search for it or try an episode). Due to the long descriptions, everything that happened when someone was attacked by those things/monsters, was there. From the arms being ripped off in detailed disgustingness to monsters popping out of people’s backs. shivers And with my imagination and my mind loving to turn words > images, I had to hold my food in for quite a few scenes. is still sick now she thinks of those scenes
The doctor. What a dickwad. I hated him from the first page, and it only got worse with every Snap to.. Which he loved to say to his slave… um I mean assistant, Will. Then there are the countless times that he doesn’t feed the boy (or just gives him some water with 2 vegetables (if lucky)), sleep is for the weak, and he doesn’t care if the boy has his own opinions or has questions. He is constantly being mean to Will, constantly putting him in his place. There was even one time that Will decided to make food for himself and his master, but instead of gratitude he was berated, told he was an imbecile, and the doctor even asked if he had a mental illness for asking things when he was confused why the doctor wasn’t happy. Then the doctor continues his berating, and really, I just wanted to dunk the freaking asshat in the soup. And this is just one scene, I could give you many more examples.
The horror? Well, sure, there were some parts that were interesting (albeit gory) but they were few and far between. I believe the only times I actually was interested in reading it was during the graveyard scene, and the one on the boat. Sure, both times I had to stop myself from puking, but hey, at least I wasn’t falling asleep! Which is an upgrade. :P
So I could go on, but I just want to get rid of this book and not think about it any more. What a terrible waste of time this one was. Not recommended.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
stephen_arvidson's review
5.0
Easily one of the best books—and unquestionably the best series—I’ve ever read, The Monstrumologist is a throwback gothic-style horror tale and first in an unputdownable quadriology. Dark and exceeding gruesome, the narrative is conveyed in the found-journal style of a diary authored by Will Henry, abject orphan and 'indispensable' assistant to an eccentric doctor, Pellinore Warthrop; his uncanny specialty: hunting monsters. Set in 1880's New England, a miserly grave robber consults Dr. Warthrop after discovering the interred corpse of a young woman partially consumed by a deceased Anthropophagus—a hulking, headless monstrosity from The Histories of Herodotus with eyes atop its shoulders and a hideous mouth in its chest cavity. Realizing that the monsters have somehow made their way to the Americas from Benin, and that their numbers are steadily increasing, Warthrop and his young apprentice find themselves faced with the abhorrent task of eliminating these bloodthirsty grotesqueries before the body count rises.
A crimson-stained cornucopia of viscera-slicing drama that's all the flavor of Sherlock Holmes, Indiana Jones, H.P. Lovecraft, and Stephen King, The Monstrumologist is full of rich characters, vivid descriptions, eloquent prose, and gore…lots and lots of gore. If that’s not enough, the monsters are undoubtedly the stuff of nightmares. While the story contains elements of YA fiction—namely, the pre-adolescent adventures of a plucky young orphan boy with admirable courage and surprising resourcefulness (it doesn’t get more YA than that, right?)—on the other hand, this tale contains detailed depictions of gruesome death, maggoty decay, and savage mutilation—incredibly graphic and unsuitable for neither younger readers nor the faint of heart, although older teens and adults with a penchant for the macabre will definitely savor this literary feast of horror!
The Monstrumologist is not only deliciously scary, but also a promising launch to a horrific series. I myself was practically drawn to this story from page one, the prologue of which transports readers into the world of Monstrumology through the framework of a “found journal”—much like a found-footage horror flick but without all the shaky camera work. Interestingly, this stirring work of fiction reads almost like a lost autobiography of Will Henry’s time with Dr. Warthrop, learning the finer points of this lesser known, under-the-table scientific field. Who would’ve thought there’s no money to be made from monster-hunting?!
Readers will delight in the raving, obsessive Dr. Warthrop with his Sherlockian brilliance and irascible egomania; his eccentricities make him almost likeable, though some readers might have misgivings about his questionable treatment of Will Henry, his young apprentice-assistant. Author Rick Yancey also includes a compelling Victorian-era setting and even throws in references to actual persons and lore that helps to blend the line between fact and fiction. Additionally, themes of morality are brought into play as the characters are forced to work alongside “John Kearns”, a psychopathic megalomaniac whose dark sense of humor makes him almost as terrifying as the creatures they’re hunting. This book is quite unlike most other YA works with shallow characters and superficial plot-lines.
Simply put, The Monstrumologist is a tense, exhilarating ride through a crimson curtain of offal, effluvia, and viscera. Squeamish readers need not apply. If you’re not exactly a fan of the horror genre, Rick Yancey’s imaginative series is sure to change your mind.
A crimson-stained cornucopia of viscera-slicing drama that's all the flavor of Sherlock Holmes, Indiana Jones, H.P. Lovecraft, and Stephen King, The Monstrumologist is full of rich characters, vivid descriptions, eloquent prose, and gore…lots and lots of gore. If that’s not enough, the monsters are undoubtedly the stuff of nightmares. While the story contains elements of YA fiction—namely, the pre-adolescent adventures of a plucky young orphan boy with admirable courage and surprising resourcefulness (it doesn’t get more YA than that, right?)—on the other hand, this tale contains detailed depictions of gruesome death, maggoty decay, and savage mutilation—incredibly graphic and unsuitable for neither younger readers nor the faint of heart, although older teens and adults with a penchant for the macabre will definitely savor this literary feast of horror!
The Monstrumologist is not only deliciously scary, but also a promising launch to a horrific series. I myself was practically drawn to this story from page one, the prologue of which transports readers into the world of Monstrumology through the framework of a “found journal”—much like a found-footage horror flick but without all the shaky camera work. Interestingly, this stirring work of fiction reads almost like a lost autobiography of Will Henry’s time with Dr. Warthrop, learning the finer points of this lesser known, under-the-table scientific field. Who would’ve thought there’s no money to be made from monster-hunting?!
Readers will delight in the raving, obsessive Dr. Warthrop with his Sherlockian brilliance and irascible egomania; his eccentricities make him almost likeable, though some readers might have misgivings about his questionable treatment of Will Henry, his young apprentice-assistant. Author Rick Yancey also includes a compelling Victorian-era setting and even throws in references to actual persons and lore that helps to blend the line between fact and fiction. Additionally, themes of morality are brought into play as the characters are forced to work alongside “John Kearns”, a psychopathic megalomaniac whose dark sense of humor makes him almost as terrifying as the creatures they’re hunting. This book is quite unlike most other YA works with shallow characters and superficial plot-lines.
Simply put, The Monstrumologist is a tense, exhilarating ride through a crimson curtain of offal, effluvia, and viscera. Squeamish readers need not apply. If you’re not exactly a fan of the horror genre, Rick Yancey’s imaginative series is sure to change your mind.
abaugher's review against another edition
4.0
approx halfway through: Victorian horror, some parts kinda gross to the point of flinching and saying "Eeeeewwww!" while laughing at just how grossed out i'm getting. fun!
finished: good one. i need to go back to the prologue again to remember what the scenario was behind the narrator getting the journals that made up the bulk of the story. got so caught up in them that i forgot about that. i think there is another book after this one. should be interesting reading/listening!
finished: good one. i need to go back to the prologue again to remember what the scenario was behind the narrator getting the journals that made up the bulk of the story. got so caught up in them that i forgot about that. i think there is another book after this one. should be interesting reading/listening!
badseedgirl's review against another edition
2.0
January 8, 2015. That is when I added Rick Yancey's The Monstrumologist to my reading list. It has sat there for literally 6 years. I read books of questionable merit and I am in no hurry to do it! Read as part of my 2021 Mount TBR Challenge.
So my thoughts about this book, Imagine if you will: Sheldon Cooper decided to time travel back to the Victorian United Sates, take up the study of monsters, and take in a former assistance child (who he may or may not have had a hand in causing the death of the boy's parents.) as his ward. He goes on to treat this 12 year old child just like he would treat Leonard. That is the plot of this book. Did I enjoy the book? Sort of; in the same way I enjoyed The Big Bang Theory even though I never understood why no ever punched Sheldon in the throat. (although come to think about it, Penny did punch Sheldon in the nose in the episode "The Precious Fragmentation.") Will I be continuing on in the series..... I'm not sure, but am leaning towards doubtful. I really disliked Dr. Sheldon Cooper, I mean Pellinore Warthrop.
So my thoughts about this book, Imagine if you will: Sheldon Cooper decided to time travel back to the Victorian United Sates, take up the study of monsters, and take in a former assistance child (who he may or may not have had a hand in causing the death of the boy's parents.) as his ward. He goes on to treat this 12 year old child just like he would treat Leonard. That is the plot of this book. Did I enjoy the book? Sort of; in the same way I enjoyed The Big Bang Theory even though I never understood why no ever punched Sheldon in the throat. (although come to think about it, Penny did punch Sheldon in the nose in the episode "The Precious Fragmentation.") Will I be continuing on in the series..... I'm not sure, but am leaning towards doubtful. I really disliked Dr. Sheldon Cooper, I mean Pellinore Warthrop.
roseleaf24's review against another edition
3.0
This book is gross. There is adventure, and the characters are strong and layered. Fans of Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, etc. will enjoy this dark book of Victorian science and monster-hunting. But the story never escapes the dark, and there is no pause in the gore, it just veers from animal brutality to human cruelty to the ravaged if disease.