tinysharksoul's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
jsmithborne's review against another edition
3.0
Gah. Mixed feelings about this book. I liked the characters and the plot was great, but ew gross! Maybe the problem is that I'm not 17 or whatever age this YA book is aimed at, but there were sections where I had to concentrate really hard on not thinking too much about what had just been described. Also, sort of had a hard time iwth the fact that the evil monsters in this book are the same creatures as a main character in [a:Catherynne Valente|7021709|Catherynne Valente|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-251a730d696018971ef4a443cdeaae05.jpg]'s [b:The Habitation of the Blessed|8144399|The Habitation of the Blessed (A Dirge for Prester John, #1)|Catherynne M. Valente|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1283556269s/8144399.jpg|12942786], a book I liked a lot more than this one!
aliciagw's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Action-packed, exciting, and dark story, written in a somewhat old fashioned style. I am a bit surprised that this is categorized as a YA book. The main protagonist is a young person, but the story is just so incredibly gory. It was fast paced and a lot of gory fun.
mehsi's review against another edition
1.0
Dropped at 41%.
So, I was definitely eager to read this and was happy that I got a chance when there was a challenge on my group and my buddy and I picked this one. We were both excited, but our excitement quickly turned sour with this book. On the one hand, I am glad we both didn’t like it, as we can now switch books. \o/
Here is why I found this book absolutely urghhhhhh.
Let’s start with our MC, Will Henry, or as I would call him Will (though I also gotten to the point of calling him wimpy and a puppy (as he does everything the doctor tells him to do and tries to please him)). He was just so boring and bland. The way he told us his story, man, I even noticed I was falling asleep, and sometimes I just tuned out, because I know I was reading but I had no clue what I was reading. :P Which had me re-reading again. Urgh. I wish he would just go away from his master, maybe then I would appreciate him a little bit more.
It also didn’t help that the story was told in an old-fashioned way and had words that were unfamiliar to me, and I normally have a pretty good grasp of English, but here I was, looking up words left and right. Some words, I found out, were just fancy words for something simpler. I can tell you it didn’t make reading the book easier, having to look up words quite a few times.
And then there are the sentences, they just seemed to go on, having to describe everything. Please, leave something for the imagination.
And, once again, I just can’t handle gore any more. I know years ago, I would probably have loved the gore, because back then I even watch Elfen Lied (search for it or try an episode). Due to the long descriptions, everything that happened when someone was attacked by those things/monsters, was there. From the arms being ripped off in detailed disgustingness to monsters popping out of people’s backs. shivers And with my imagination and my mind loving to turn words > images, I had to hold my food in for quite a few scenes. is still sick now she thinks of those scenes
The doctor. What a dickwad. I hated him from the first page, and it only got worse with every Snap to.. Which he loved to say to his slave… um I mean assistant, Will. Then there are the countless times that he doesn’t feed the boy (or just gives him some water with 2 vegetables (if lucky)), sleep is for the weak, and he doesn’t care if the boy has his own opinions or has questions. He is constantly being mean to Will, constantly putting him in his place. There was even one time that Will decided to make food for himself and his master, but instead of gratitude he was berated, told he was an imbecile, and the doctor even asked if he had a mental illness for asking things when he was confused why the doctor wasn’t happy. Then the doctor continues his berating, and really, I just wanted to dunk the freaking asshat in the soup. And this is just one scene, I could give you many more examples.
The horror? Well, sure, there were some parts that were interesting (albeit gory) but they were few and far between. I believe the only times I actually was interested in reading it was during the graveyard scene, and the one on the boat. Sure, both times I had to stop myself from puking, but hey, at least I wasn’t falling asleep! Which is an upgrade. :P
So I could go on, but I just want to get rid of this book and not think about it any more. What a terrible waste of time this one was. Not recommended.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
So, I was definitely eager to read this and was happy that I got a chance when there was a challenge on my group and my buddy and I picked this one. We were both excited, but our excitement quickly turned sour with this book. On the one hand, I am glad we both didn’t like it, as we can now switch books. \o/
Here is why I found this book absolutely urghhhhhh.
Let’s start with our MC, Will Henry, or as I would call him Will (though I also gotten to the point of calling him wimpy and a puppy (as he does everything the doctor tells him to do and tries to please him)). He was just so boring and bland. The way he told us his story, man, I even noticed I was falling asleep, and sometimes I just tuned out, because I know I was reading but I had no clue what I was reading. :P Which had me re-reading again. Urgh. I wish he would just go away from his master, maybe then I would appreciate him a little bit more.
It also didn’t help that the story was told in an old-fashioned way and had words that were unfamiliar to me, and I normally have a pretty good grasp of English, but here I was, looking up words left and right. Some words, I found out, were just fancy words for something simpler. I can tell you it didn’t make reading the book easier, having to look up words quite a few times.
And then there are the sentences, they just seemed to go on, having to describe everything. Please, leave something for the imagination.
And, once again, I just can’t handle gore any more. I know years ago, I would probably have loved the gore, because back then I even watch Elfen Lied (search for it or try an episode). Due to the long descriptions, everything that happened when someone was attacked by those things/monsters, was there. From the arms being ripped off in detailed disgustingness to monsters popping out of people’s backs. shivers And with my imagination and my mind loving to turn words > images, I had to hold my food in for quite a few scenes. is still sick now she thinks of those scenes
The doctor. What a dickwad. I hated him from the first page, and it only got worse with every Snap to.. Which he loved to say to his slave… um I mean assistant, Will. Then there are the countless times that he doesn’t feed the boy (or just gives him some water with 2 vegetables (if lucky)), sleep is for the weak, and he doesn’t care if the boy has his own opinions or has questions. He is constantly being mean to Will, constantly putting him in his place. There was even one time that Will decided to make food for himself and his master, but instead of gratitude he was berated, told he was an imbecile, and the doctor even asked if he had a mental illness for asking things when he was confused why the doctor wasn’t happy. Then the doctor continues his berating, and really, I just wanted to dunk the freaking asshat in the soup. And this is just one scene, I could give you many more examples.
The horror? Well, sure, there were some parts that were interesting (albeit gory) but they were few and far between. I believe the only times I actually was interested in reading it was during the graveyard scene, and the one on the boat. Sure, both times I had to stop myself from puking, but hey, at least I wasn’t falling asleep! Which is an upgrade. :P
So I could go on, but I just want to get rid of this book and not think about it any more. What a terrible waste of time this one was. Not recommended.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
atlantic_reader_wannabe's review against another edition
4.0
I don't usually read a lot of Victorian teen fiction but this book was one of the good ones I've ever come across! There's monsters, arterial spray, beheadings, and gooey goodness all around! Definitely a road trip of amazingness!
clare_braganza's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book so much! It is set in Victorian times, which Rick Yancey vividly shows through his writing style and the dialogue, and the story is fast-paced with lots of action and mystery. I couldn't put it down! As soon as I finished, I ordered the next two books in the series! Some scenes are truly terrifying and there is certainly a lot of gore, but I wouldn't let that put you off because there is some comedy as well. I love the links Yancey put in with the American Civil War and Darwin, and he explains everything so scientifically that you could almost believe that monsters are real! (And maybe they are....)
nightowlreader's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
weaselweader's review against another edition
4.0
A gruesome gorefest!
THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST is many, many things. A blood-and-guts, gruesome gorefest; a Victorian fright night with superb, colourful characters on both sides of the good/evil dichotomy sketched with a most entertaining, detailed Dickensian completeness; an imaginative adventure story; and a terrifying gothic horror tale with some wonderfully atmospheric narrative description sequences .
Pellinore Warthrop is a monstrumologist - a practitioner of the little known field of arcane scientific endeavour that finds, studies and categorizes monsters but, if necessary, also hunts them down and kills them. His ward and apprentice, 12 year old Will Henry narrates the tale of a marauding band of Anthropophagi, a particularly fierce group of misshapen, bloodthirsty, man-eating hominids that have somehow managed to migrate from their native Africa to a cemetery in late 19th century New England. The story vaults immediately into a suitably horrific mood and begins down, dirty and gruesome when the corpse of the first monster is brought to Warthrop's lab by a resurrectionist who just wasn't quite certain what to make of his night's booty.
Depending on your point of view and love of the horror genre, some readers will label the characters, the plot, the atmosphere and the dialogue as melodramatic and overwritten. Others will appreciate it for its merits and label it as superbly gothic, deeply mysterious and Lovecraftian. The likes of Stephen King or Edgar Allan Poe could hardly have done better in the creation of nail-biting suspense.
My only criticism is the labelling of Yancey's offering as "young adult". Consider this excerpt, which is by no means unrepresentative of the writing style in the remainder of the novel. This is supposed to represent the sympathetic thoughts of our twelve year old narrator concerning a fourteen year old friend who had also lost his parents:
"My empathy toward his suffering was acute, for he and I were fellow sojourners in the forbidding kingdom wherein all roads led to that singular nullity of fathomless grief and immeasurable guilt. We were no strangers to that barren clime, that merciless landscape in which no oasis existed to slake our ravening thirst. What meritorious draft, what magical elixir offered by the art of men or gods had the power to relieve our agony?"
Frankly, I can't imagine the 12 year old anywhere on this planet that would think like that. Nor can I imagine the young reader that would enjoy plowing through such thickly embellished Victorian prose.
That said ... didn't hurt my readin' none! If you like your horror and you like it gruesome, you'll enjoy THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST.
Paul Weiss
THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST is many, many things. A blood-and-guts, gruesome gorefest; a Victorian fright night with superb, colourful characters on both sides of the good/evil dichotomy sketched with a most entertaining, detailed Dickensian completeness; an imaginative adventure story; and a terrifying gothic horror tale with some wonderfully atmospheric narrative description sequences .
Pellinore Warthrop is a monstrumologist - a practitioner of the little known field of arcane scientific endeavour that finds, studies and categorizes monsters but, if necessary, also hunts them down and kills them. His ward and apprentice, 12 year old Will Henry narrates the tale of a marauding band of Anthropophagi, a particularly fierce group of misshapen, bloodthirsty, man-eating hominids that have somehow managed to migrate from their native Africa to a cemetery in late 19th century New England. The story vaults immediately into a suitably horrific mood and begins down, dirty and gruesome when the corpse of the first monster is brought to Warthrop's lab by a resurrectionist who just wasn't quite certain what to make of his night's booty.
Depending on your point of view and love of the horror genre, some readers will label the characters, the plot, the atmosphere and the dialogue as melodramatic and overwritten. Others will appreciate it for its merits and label it as superbly gothic, deeply mysterious and Lovecraftian. The likes of Stephen King or Edgar Allan Poe could hardly have done better in the creation of nail-biting suspense.
My only criticism is the labelling of Yancey's offering as "young adult". Consider this excerpt, which is by no means unrepresentative of the writing style in the remainder of the novel. This is supposed to represent the sympathetic thoughts of our twelve year old narrator concerning a fourteen year old friend who had also lost his parents:
"My empathy toward his suffering was acute, for he and I were fellow sojourners in the forbidding kingdom wherein all roads led to that singular nullity of fathomless grief and immeasurable guilt. We were no strangers to that barren clime, that merciless landscape in which no oasis existed to slake our ravening thirst. What meritorious draft, what magical elixir offered by the art of men or gods had the power to relieve our agony?"
Frankly, I can't imagine the 12 year old anywhere on this planet that would think like that. Nor can I imagine the young reader that would enjoy plowing through such thickly embellished Victorian prose.
That said ... didn't hurt my readin' none! If you like your horror and you like it gruesome, you'll enjoy THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST.
Paul Weiss
cbalaban's review against another edition
5.0
One of the best books I have ever read. Since I read this novel I have been on an unending search to find another story that is as thrilling or as terrifying as this and have yet to come across a competitor. Yancey doesn't back down from giving the horrific and gruesome details of the horrors that unfold before the young narrator. This is the perfect novel for anyone in search of something to put them on the edge of their seats.
iheartpuns's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0