The Monstrumologist (1) Paperback – Illustrated, July 20, 2010

While I am a complete chicken when it comes to watching scary movies, I usually have no problem reading scary fiction. That being said, I had to put down "The Monstrumologist" more than once because it got to be too much. It is a worthwhile read, it just may not be the easiest read for the chickenhearted. (Like me.)I was surprised by how eloquent and well-versed the author was in Victorian-era language and mannerisms. He certainly did his research, and I found myself having to use my Kindle's in-dictionary function to look up more than few colloquialisms. Still, the text flowed so well and the plot made for an extremely addictive read. Even when the plot takes a break to focus on a single man's narrative for over thirty pages, it was not disjointed but became almost like an interesting (and superbly creepy - this was one of the times I had to set down my book) side story.I also like the philosophical and psychological themes that run through this book and this series in general, and how they are ever present but do not overshadow the story itself. You often find Will making comparisons between humans and monsters that might seem beyond his twelve years of age but are still cleverly appropriate and accounted for by Yancey.The insertion of the author as a character is also an interesting way to frame the series - Yancey wants you to be that much more scared, by questioning, even for a fraction of a second, "Wait. Did this really happen?" Even though there is absolutely no evidence to suggest so, he offers narrative that covers that argument. Brilliant!

Rick Yancey is no stranger to the strange. As creator of the award winning Alfred Kropp series, he has more than dabbled in the fantastic and has spun many entertaining yarns for the YA reader. In the Monstrumologist, Mr. Yancey kicks off a new series set in 19th century United States featuring Monstrumologist Pellimore Warthrop and his young apprentice Will Henry. Once again aimed at the YA crowd, Yancey overshoots his target audience and makes a book that will be deemed a great read by discerning adults as well.Yancey expertly tells the story of Will Henry through a series of journal entries detailing an infestation of monsters in the fictitious New England town of New Jerusalem. Orphaned by a father who also apprenticed to driven monstrumologist Dr. Warthrop, Will Henry has inherited his father’s line of work. It is not an ideal situation. Young Will is often left to his own devices by the fanatical doctor and seems little more than a slave to the doctor’s passions. But Yancey clearly portrays the doctor as an unwittingly bad parent, not a bad human being; he knows much about monsters but little about human interactions which makes him a tough boss and an even harder father figure.Together this mismatched duo will face down a herd of monsters known as Anthropophagi. Make no mistake, monsters these be, with mouths like sharks with rows upon rows of teeth in the middle of their stomachs, eyes black as night in each shoulder blade, razor like claws ten inches long and legs that propel them to incredible speeds and leaping heights of thirty feet, these beasts eat one thing…man. How a herd of thirty remained undetected and in the same town as a man whose sole job it is to study such creatures is a mystery at the epicenter of the plot.Broken into three folios each with about a half dozen chapters, Mr. Yancey does a wonderful job of propelling this fantastically gruesome tale to a very satisfying conclusion. A sure footed writer, Yancey is more than capable of juxtaposing the gruesome, the beautiful, the profane, and the profound in admirable ways. There are philosophical musings on mortality, about man versus nature, and about human abandonment that stand in stark counterpoint to the numerous vivisections, beheadings, and brain matter. And while the plot veers towards the serpentine as the pieces of the puzzle fall into place to explain the origins of the monsters, Yancey never loses the reader to careless plotting.That is not to say that there is not a misstep or two in this first outing. As a one star reviewer noted the characters are a little cliché and at times one dimensional. You have your usual crazed monster hunters, bungling gentlemen constables, the mad scientist, and the orphaned apprentice. However, Yancey more than makes up for these common set pieces with the most fantastical of monsters that are at once foreign and familiar and whose ruthless pursuits are described in gore soaked detail that will appeal to the most jaded of horror fans.There is much to like in this first outing. I cannot say it is a must read, but it is a solid story told with extraordinary skill. Definitely not for all audiences, but if you are at all curious I suspect you will find it worthy of the price and will be looking forward to the next installment.

100 pages in and I was appropriately horrified. Despite the positive reviews. Despite the shiny silver award sticker on the jacket (which means Capital-L-Literature). Despite the author, whose work we had so enjoyed in other young adult novels, I was ready to toss this book into the trash, thinking it not even worthy for donation to the public library. I mean, how much brain matter and blood and rotting corpses do I really need to wade through? And yes, I had an actual nightmare starring headless corpses--thank you very much, Mr. Yancey-- that I could have done without.Vivid and gritty, yes, but also...pass me the brain bleach, please.Nonetheless, I kept reading. And reading. And wading through the splattered brain bits and decapitated children...and discovered why this book deserved the shiny silver sticker.Mr. Yancey transports us through a "discovered journal" of a deceased transient to a 19th Century New England having Dickens overtones (and in Dickens style, there is a high expectation of men's curses foreshadowing certain ends). The journal's author is Will Henry, a man who claimed, impossibly, to have been born in the latter part of the 19th Century. Will, after all these many long decades decides to record his life as a young apprentice to a monstrumologist, a researcher and killer of monsters, the great and legendary Dr. Pellinore Warthrop. Will tells us his parents have died in a fire, a fire which may be attributed to the work of the good doctor. With no family and nowhere to go, Will becomes the ward of Dr. Warthrop. But this is no act of charity on the part of Dr. Warthrop, nor a debt to be paid for the work Will's parents provided: No, Will is an "assistant" to Dr. Warthrop, and here the designation is important in two ways: First, Will is not an apprentice--there is no assumption that Will will be taught a profession, as would be required of his age; and secondly, Will's function is only to assist the doctor in his work in all manner necessary, including all housework and cooking and running errands and note taking and dissecting creatures...and, perhaps worst of all, be the silent, obedient audience for the doctor's one-sided conversations and violent tantrums at all and any hours of the day or night. So, why does Will stay? Well, as Will admits, the doctor is all he has. And, as codependent relationships go, the inverse is also true: the doctor openly states, Will Henry would never leave him. If, for no other reason, perhaps I kept reading to see if Will would escape the monster in his midst, if he could escape the Doctor, who is a kind of parasite and vampire in his own right, though much less immediately recognizable and, therefore, perhaps more dangerous still.For younger readers, this is a dandy good adventure of a pre-adolescent orphan (are there ever any other kind of YA hero?) with pluck and resourcefulness and a deep well of courage and resolve. (Because of the ick factor, perhaps save this book until Junior has had some dissection in biology class first). The climatic battle at the end has twists and turns and plenty of nail biting, as well as unexpected heros (Jack the Ripper even makes a cameo appearance and in a twisted, sick way does his part to save the day). For older readers, this book could be an allegory: What are monsters? Do they hide in graveyards and dark basements? Are they the parasites living off our flesh as an essential part of the balance of nature? Or are monsters also the know-it-all, never-admitting-wrong, charismatic narcissists in life, who demand undivided commitment, devotion and love--without ever giving any in return--to feed their own personal monsters? And which monsters should we really be battling? The monsters, which killed Will's father in a most horrid manner, conversely gift Will with supernatural longevity. So, are all monsters all bad? And are all heroes all good? No, and those shades of grey are surely what lead to awarding the shiny Michael Printz sticker.In this novel and in the following Monstrumologist novel, Mr. Yancey explores from which human emotions and human flaws the monsters of legend were born. The headless humanoid cannibals might be a symbol of that line where protecting the ego supplants reason to disastrous ends (how often do we see that among politicians and public figures?). The Wendigo in the following novel is an allegory of unrequited love.To stretch this metaphor further still, the book at 400+ pages is a monster. And perhaps the reader, so much like Will Henry, needs to hold down his queasy stomach to complete the dissection, so he can get past the viscous and the rotting flesh to find the heart and find what makes this monster tick. So finally, yes, I'll give this grody, gooey, gorey, gross-out book very high marks.

Saga stupenda, molto più da adulti che molti libri horror "da adulti" che ho letto. E ne ho letti parecchi. Non fidatevi se cercando l'autore trovate che scriva libri per giovani adulti, magari "the fifth wave" che non ho nessuna intenzione di leggere sì, questa saga no, è meravigliosa.

It was an interesting read , the whole world around the book is so interesting and it's monsters. The shipping was fast and the books came in good conditions

Love this author!

Ich liebe die Roman-Reihe und meiner Meinung nach wird dieser Reihe / bzw dem Autor zu wenig Beachtung geschenkt!!Der Monstruologe erzählt eine Geschichte über einen Jungen, der bei einem charakterstarken Doktor unweigerlich in die Lehre der Monstererforschung geht.Packende Reihe und ich liebe sie! <3

Gift