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These are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for nearly ninety years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me . . . and the one who cursed me. So starts the diary of Will Henry, orphan and assistant to a doctor with a most unusual specialty: monster hunting. In the short time he has lived with the doctor, Will has grown accustomed to his late night callers and dangerous business. But when one visitor comes with the body of a young girl and the monster that was eating her, Will's world is about to change forever. The doctor has discovered a baby Anthropophagus--a headless monster that feeds through a mouth in its chest--and it signals a growing number of Anthropophagi. Now, Will and the doctor must face the horror threatenning to overtake and consume our world before it is too late. The Monstrumologist is the first stunning gothic adventure in a series that combines the spirit of HP Lovecraft with the storytelling ability of Rick Riorden.
Series: The Monstrumologist (Book 1)
Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (July 20, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416984496
ISBN-13: 978-1416984498
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.2 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (270 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #86,900 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #44 in Books > Teens > Historical Fiction > United States > 19th Century #392 in Books > Teens > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Horror #611 in Books > Teens > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Fantasy
I'm a grandmother, somewhere between menopause and death, and my usual selection of books would never include a monster book (except for the Twilight series maybe), but this was a free book for Kindle, so I downloaded it. Late one night, I finished "The Help" (excellent) and just opened this to prove to myself that I didn't like it, and I could delete it from my Kindle. I read a couple of pages, then a couple more, and before you know it, my husband is going to bed and I'm sitting up, scared to death and can't stop reading. Oh, it's gross, it will make your skin crawl at times, it's totally creepy. It's definitely not the kind of book you should read sitting up alone at night with hubby already gone to bed, but I loved it. I'll probably have nightmares for a long time over this, with the cold mist of the fog over cobblestone streets and unthinkable things that go bump in the night.The surprise was the writing style. I didn't expect eloguent language, talented writing, page-flipping suspense, but it delivered all of that. So don't rule this one because you don't think this would be your cup of tea. It just may be.
Rick Yancey's throwback gothic horror novel, THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST, takes its readers back to 1888 New England where young Will Henry narrates the strange tale of his master, Pellinore Warthrop, and their "search and destroy" mission against a bloodthirsty pod of monstrous killers called anthropophagi. These creatures are headless (though not thoughtless), vicious (though not foolish), and gourmands of human flesh (though not averse to mere animal flesh, if no human cuisine is on the menu). The creatures' mouths, located in the stomach-area (how direct!), are not unlike a great white shark's. Perfect for eating, in other words -- wholesale.While Yancey's YA gem is undeniably a "plot book," it is also blessed on other fronts. The characterization, for instance, is excellent. The key characters are not cardboard, but real, with traits both admirable and abominable. Dr. Warthrop sometimes lets science get in the way of his humanity, but he's nothing compared to the dashingly dangerous Jack Kearns, a fellow monstrumologist called into the fray when it is learned that there is not just one, but many, anthropophagi living beneath an otherwise tranquil New England cemetery. Kearns delights in the hunt, and the more dangerous, the better. The trouble is, he'll stop at nothing to accomplish his goals and, to him, the laws of church and state are more a source of amusement than reference.The novel also features a convincingly Victorian style, what with its more advanced vocabulary and numerous allusions to Greek mythology. Both doctors are cool under pressure (and pressure abounds in this creepy book), bringing to mind the unflappable Sherlock Holmes. Overall, it's a singularly well-written book, a riveting display of the horror genre, and, for young Will Henry, a nightmarish coming-of-age tale. Best of all? It's the first of a series. If we are to vicariously hunt more creatures and things that go bump in the night, then, count me in. I haven't had this much fun in a long time.
Alright, alright, so I exaggerate as I am still wearing pants as I write this. However, this book did give me a fright and I had trouble sleeping for several nights due to it. Now granted, I get scared easily. The first time I saw "The X-Files" I had trouble sleeping too so maybe I'm not as stout of heart as others when it comes to these things. But this book creeped me out so I will say it is not for the faint-of-heart since there are *many* gory descriptions and events.At 432 pages, it is not a book to breeze through considering the author's writing style can be meandering at times. While some ruminations were profound, others were long winded and made the text boring. The story was slow for the first 100 pages but picked up really quickly. Still, once the action was established I could not put it down.The characters were multi-layered, the plot was interesting, the monsters scary and the ending was satisfying. I'm trying to think of another book to compare it to, or at least to say, "If you like (blank) then this book is for you" but I just can't. This book is truly unique.I did not give this five stars as I am trying to reserve that for books that I want to read again the moment I finish them. So to be more precise, 4.5 stars. This is obviously the first in a series and I look forward to reading the upcoming books.
The Monstrumologist
