Monstrumologist

Monstrumologist

Yancey, R. (2010). Monstrumologist. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Monstrumologist was my first exposure to Rick Yancey and I’ve been hooked ever since!  Will Henry is a poor orphan who has been taken in and apprenticed to Dr. Warthrop, who  has a bit of a monstrous personality which we see in his maniacal tangents when he’s in the midst of his research.  Often abused by the doctor by today’s standards, Will is ever-faithful to him anyway and does his bidding, no matter how terrifying or dangerous, without question.  When Will finds himself knee-deep in a monster-hunt for a pack of man-made monsters who have begun terrorizing the area where he and the doctor live.  Will eventually finds himself on the monster-hunt to end all when he has to go to what seems to be the middle of the Earth to find the monster’s nest and kill them.  Being a little claustrophobic, I found myself urging Will to get the heck out of dodge!  Gothic fiction is usually not my cup of tea, but I found myself obsessed with this book—it’s THAT good!! Junior high students on up to adults will enjoy this book as long as they can suspend their ties to reality, and Yancey went on to write an entire series based on Will and his life (which I look forward to reading) as well as many of the other characters introduced in book one.  Also, the Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children series is very similar to this book.