Scan barcode
madamryno's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Awesome introduction to a spooky series! I'm hooked! The protag sometimes gets a little lost in his monologuing, but it snaps back in good time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Child death, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Death of parent
I'm surprised that this is listed as YA given how graphic the violence gets. Boy howdyjean_atlas's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Body horror, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Violence, Kidnapping, Blood, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Abortion, and Suicide
Minor: Vomit
milesjmoran's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Child death, Blood, Violence, Body horror, Suicide, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Medical trauma, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Death
kyy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Gore, and Body horror
corvusastrum's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I’ve read this book as a teen about 10 years ago and back then, I absolutely loved it. Re-reading it again, I clearly noticed some flaws that dragged the experience down a bit, but it wasn’t a game breaker for me. Maybe it’s the nostalgia I feel for this series, or maybe the good just overshadows the bad, I couldn’t tell you, but I still quite like it.
You probably need a strong stomach for this book, because it can get absolutely gruesome and it doesn’t hold back with the nasty details just to then throw your morals into a fiery pit. Those are also the scenes where things actually speed up a little bit, as the book can be a little slow in between – maybe the “Victorian” writing style isn’t exactly helping that, even though I quite enjoyed it, but it surely isn’t for everyone. You could actually start a drinking game with this book though: every time the word “flesh” appears, take a shot. Once you notice it, you won’t be able to unsee it again, that word is ALL OVER the book.
Sadly the author tends to spoil big events that are about to happen in the story – three or four times in total, two of them are the deaths of characters with dialogue and meaning, which was pretty irritating. I’d rather get surprised with twists like that. Shocking, I know. But maybe Yancey was just doing that to underline that this book is actually the diary written by an old man? Said man obviously wouldn’t care much for shocking twists and would rather ponder about what he experienced in his youth. I’d get that, and I’m actually a big fan of these kinds of books where the author acts as a sort of chronicler or translator and the “actual” author is someone else. That being said it’s still pretty annoying to get spoiled multiple times within the book itself.
Now let’s get to the characters as a final note. Most of them are fairly interesting, not many of them are loveable though and therefore compliment the grimness of the entire setting. I really love Will Henry as a point of view character, and he’s the toughest and bravest little scrub I have ever read about while at the same time being fairly relatable. As a child character he sort of eases the reader into his dark world, because he understand just as little of what’s going on as us and we have to discover it together.
The titular person, the Monstrumologist, is a bit difficult to fully grasp and I feel like that is a mistake made by the author, it just doesn't make sense to me. Warthrop is way too fickle and you never really know where you’re at with him. At some points he’s irascible and downright inhumane, patronizing and crude. Then the next chapter he’s suddenly eaten up by self-pity and a weirdly childlike demeanour, even to a point of being downright pathetic. Then again he can be heroic, or caring, or submissive, or righteous - you literally can never tell what it’s gonna be next. Sometimes I despise him, sometimes I love him, sometimes I am completely indifferent about him. I think that’s a shame, I want to read books to fall in love with their stories, their worlds and their characters, not to leave them confused as of what to think about them.
Anyway, maybe it all steadies itself in the following books of the series, sadly (or luckily) I barely remember what’s to come.
You probably need a strong stomach for this book, because it can get absolutely gruesome and it doesn’t hold back with the nasty details just to then throw your morals into a fiery pit. Those are also the scenes where things actually speed up a little bit, as the book can be a little slow in between – maybe the “Victorian” writing style isn’t exactly helping that, even though I quite enjoyed it, but it surely isn’t for everyone. You could actually start a drinking game with this book though: every time the word “flesh” appears, take a shot. Once you notice it, you won’t be able to unsee it again, that word is ALL OVER the book.
Sadly the author tends to spoil big events that are about to happen in the story – three or four times in total, two of them are the deaths of characters with dialogue and meaning, which was pretty irritating. I’d rather get surprised with twists like that. Shocking, I know. But maybe Yancey was just doing that to underline that this book is actually the diary written by an old man? Said man obviously wouldn’t care much for shocking twists and would rather ponder about what he experienced in his youth. I’d get that, and I’m actually a big fan of these kinds of books where the author acts as a sort of chronicler or translator and the “actual” author is someone else. That being said it’s still pretty annoying to get spoiled multiple times within the book itself.
Now let’s get to the characters as a final note. Most of them are fairly interesting, not many of them are loveable though and therefore compliment the grimness of the entire setting. I really love Will Henry as a point of view character, and he’s the toughest and bravest little scrub I have ever read about while at the same time being fairly relatable. As a child character he sort of eases the reader into his dark world, because he understand just as little of what’s going on as us and we have to discover it together.
The titular person, the Monstrumologist, is a bit difficult to fully grasp and I feel like that is a mistake made by the author, it just doesn't make sense to me. Warthrop is way too fickle and you never really know where you’re at with him. At some points he’s irascible and downright inhumane, patronizing and crude. Then the next chapter he’s suddenly eaten up by self-pity and a weirdly childlike demeanour, even to a point of being downright pathetic. Then again he can be heroic, or caring, or submissive, or righteous - you literally can never tell what it’s gonna be next. Sometimes I despise him, sometimes I love him, sometimes I am completely indifferent about him. I think that’s a shame, I want to read books to fall in love with their stories, their worlds and their characters, not to leave them confused as of what to think about them.
Anyway, maybe it all steadies itself in the following books of the series, sadly (or luckily) I barely remember what’s to come.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Death of parent
bumblebeefarts's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
More...