Scan barcode
A review by seshat59
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
5.0
What a fantastic introduction into my seasonal Halloween reading!
The Monstrumologist poses as a regular monster story: terrifying anthropophagi invade a small New England town and only the ingenious efforts of a professional monster hunter/scientist (i.e. said Monstrumologist) can save the town -- with the help of our narrator and primary protagonist, the twelve year old Will Henry. However, the novel is so much more than that. The writing is genius: As it takes place in the Victorian era, Yancey embraces and replicates the Victorian prose style very well -- and often in a very over-the-top, humorous manner that I vastly appreciated in my own love of Victorian novels and horror novels especially. The layering of the characters is also marvelously done. The Monstrumologist is a monster in and of himself, but Yancey develops him fully into a real human being with real flaws and some (just some now) redeeming qualities.
The novel is quite graphic, especially for a young adult series. The violence is described in detail, and the monsters are quite terrifying. It was refreshing to read a horror story featuring a creature I wasn't overly familiar with and that doesn't feel overdone -- vampires, anyone? (The anthropophagi even appeared in one of my dreams. I don't qualify it as a nightmare as it didn't frighten me, but they were quite vicious. Though they were combined with raptors so... go my imagination.)
Anyway, I will definitely pursue the rest of the series.
The Monstrumologist poses as a regular monster story: terrifying anthropophagi invade a small New England town and only the ingenious efforts of a professional monster hunter/scientist (i.e. said Monstrumologist) can save the town -- with the help of our narrator and primary protagonist, the twelve year old Will Henry. However, the novel is so much more than that. The writing is genius: As it takes place in the Victorian era, Yancey embraces and replicates the Victorian prose style very well -- and often in a very over-the-top, humorous manner that I vastly appreciated in my own love of Victorian novels and horror novels especially. The layering of the characters is also marvelously done. The Monstrumologist is a monster in and of himself, but Yancey develops him fully into a real human being with real flaws and some (just some now) redeeming qualities.
The novel is quite graphic, especially for a young adult series. The violence is described in detail, and the monsters are quite terrifying. It was refreshing to read a horror story featuring a creature I wasn't overly familiar with and that doesn't feel overdone -- vampires, anyone? (The anthropophagi even appeared in one of my dreams. I don't qualify it as a nightmare as it didn't frighten me, but they were quite vicious. Though they were combined with raptors so... go my imagination.)
Anyway, I will definitely pursue the rest of the series.