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A review by sharperteeth
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
2.0
The premise of The Monstrumologist is pretty exciting in theory, but in reality the author is hampered by his idea of a doctor and his apprentice that focuses on the study of monsters. Although the book is about monsters, it appears that the author forgot that there should still be a strong theme of humanity within the characters (or at least the protagonists) and this book was lacking any personality or development of character in both Will Henry and the doctor. The only interesting character was the side-character, Kearns . Unfortunately the side-characters had more personality than the main characters by leaps and bounds. I understand that the doctor is supposed to be a weird, isolated, manic sort-of type of guy, but that doesn't explain him. One paragraph of back story doesn't give him context. And his idiosyncrasies are not endearing but instead annoying, tired, and ultimately cliche. Even if they weren't necessarily cliche in the beginning of the book, the author relies on them so heavily that they become their own set of cliches. Will Henry is defined by being an orphan. That's all he is and the author didn't seem to want to allow him to be more than that. They're both completely one dimensional for no reason other than lazy writing.
The monster aspect could definitely be interesting (because monsters are typically inherently curious and thus pique one's interest) but with bland characters, there just isn't enough to sustain this as a book, let alone one that is over 450 pages. It was like slogging through mud to finish the book and I hoped the whole time that there would be some sort of redemption, but it never came and the book fizzles out with utter-frustration at all of the things the narrator says at the very end. Which just seemed so unnecessary and made me grit my teeth because my eyes were rolling so hard.
I would not recommend this book. It's a waste of time to read characters that were clearly given no attention by their creator.
Redeeming qualities are:
-actually scary monsters with lots and lots of gore
-extremely well-written with great vocabulary choices and a lot description given to the feel of the atmosphere and environment. Rick Yancey is able to create a really beautiful, living and breathing world. (If only he did the same for his main characters...)
Sadly, those two things are not enough to redeem the complete disregard for character development. It's pretty disheartening to read that people found them interesting or endearing because there isn't enough about them as people to possibly draw those conclusions about them.
Spoiler
and especially the idea that he may've been Jack the Ripper but the author definitely wrote out the possibility of revisiting Kearns in the book when Will Henry said they never dealt with him againSpoiler
(of his father rejecting him as a child)The monster aspect could definitely be interesting (because monsters are typically inherently curious and thus pique one's interest) but with bland characters, there just isn't enough to sustain this as a book, let alone one that is over 450 pages. It was like slogging through mud to finish the book and I hoped the whole time that there would be some sort of redemption, but it never came and the book fizzles out with utter-frustration at all of the things the narrator says at the very end. Which just seemed so unnecessary and made me grit my teeth because my eyes were rolling so hard.
I would not recommend this book. It's a waste of time to read characters that were clearly given no attention by their creator.
Redeeming qualities are:
-actually scary monsters with lots and lots of gore
-extremely well-written with great vocabulary choices and a lot description given to the feel of the atmosphere and environment. Rick Yancey is able to create a really beautiful, living and breathing world. (If only he did the same for his main characters...)
Sadly, those two things are not enough to redeem the complete disregard for character development. It's pretty disheartening to read that people found them interesting or endearing because there isn't enough about them as people to possibly draw those conclusions about them.