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Richard Yancey
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The Monstrumologist (1) Hardcover – September 22, 2009

by Rick Yancey (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 662 ratings
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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 more than forty 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 begins the journal of Will Henry, orphaned assistant to Dr. Pellinore War throp, a man with a most unusual specialty: monstrumology, the study of monsters. In his time with the doctor, Will has met many a mysterious late-night visitor, and seen things he never imagined were real. But when a grave robber comes calling in the middle of the night with a gruesome find, he brings with him their most deadly case yet.

Critically acclaimed author Rick Yancey has written a gothic tour de force that explores the darkest heart of man and monster and asks the question: When does a man become the very thing he hunts?

Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 4
    The Monstrumologist
  2. Print length
    448 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
  5. Publication date
    September 22, 2009
  6. Grade level
    9 - 12
  7. Reading age
    14 years and up
  8. Dimensions
    6 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches
  9. ISBN-10
    1416984488
  10. ISBN-13
    978-1416984481
  11. Lexile measure
    990L
  12. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

With a roaring sense of adventure and enough viscera to gag the hardiest of gore hounds, Yancey’s series starter might just be the best horror novel of the year. Will Henry is the 12-year-old apprentice to Pellinore Warthrop, a brilliant and self-absorbed monstrumologist--a scientist who studies (and when necessary, kills) monsters in late-1800s New England. The newest threat is the Anthropophagi, a pack of headless, shark-toothed bipeds, one of whom’s corpse is delivered to Warthrop’s lab courtesy of a grave robber. As the action moves from the dissecting table to the cemetery to an asylum to underground catacombs, Yancey keeps the shocks frequent and shrouded in a splattery miasma of blood, bone, pus, and maggots. The industrial-era setting is populated with leering, Dickensian characters, most notably the loathsome monster hunter hired by Warthrop to enact the highly effective “Maori Protocol” method of slaughter. Yancey’s prose is stentorian and wordy, but it weaves a world that possesses a Lovecraftian logic and hints at its own deeply satisfying mythos. Most effective of all, however, is the weirdly tender relationship between the quiet, respectful boy and his strict, Darwinesque father figure. “Snap to!” is Warthrop’s continued demand of Will, but readers will need no such needling. -- Daniel Kraus

Review

"This gothic thriller will appeal to kids who like scary with high brow Dickensian writing...Yancey builds the action towards the climactic cemetary scene while also deftly handling the changing interpersonal dynamic between the doctor and Will. REaders who enjoyed Yancey's Alfred Kropp series...won't want to miss this one. Recommended."--Library Media Connection

"Yancey takes...gore and violence...to thrilling new levels in this sophisticated tale."--School Library Journal

"This story is gothic horror at its finest and most disturbing. A cross between Mary Shelley and Stephen King, the tale will force readers to stay up late to finish and then remain awake, afraid to shut off the lights...The richness of the language, the strain of wry humor, and the perfectly drawn characters make it a marvelous read...This book is perfect for readers who want their nightmares in a literary package."--VOYA

"This has all the elements of the best Victorian mystery and horror...Readers who like their horror truly horrible and yet archly distant and peppered with ecstatic Victorian-scented comments on the woes of the human condition will jump right in and not emerge until the last relieved gasp."--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; First Edition (September 22, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1416984488
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1416984481
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 years and up
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 990L
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 9 - 12
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.16 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 662 ratings

About the author

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Richard Yancey

Richard Yancey

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Rick Yancey is the author several books for adults, including The Highly Effective Detective. He is also a produced playwright and former theater critic. He lives in Gainesville, Florida with his wife and three sons. Visit him at www.rickyancey.com.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
662 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Sunny
5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifically spooky and gory.
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2014
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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!
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Danny Norbury
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Prose and Wicked Gore Expertly Placed Side by Side
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2016
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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.
3 people found this helpful
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Reluctant Writer
5.0 out of 5 stars It's a monster.
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2011
Verified Purchase
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.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars L'inizio bellissimo di una saga stupenda
Reviewed in Italy on August 14, 2019
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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.
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will
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book!
Reviewed in Mexico on October 21, 2017
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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
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on April 10, 2017
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Love this author!
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Frutti Tuti
5.0 out of 5 stars Lieblings-Buch (reihe)!!!
Reviewed in Germany on December 26, 2016
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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
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old jim
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 2, 2016
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