The Monstrumologist - Review

So, I've been meaning to write this for a couple of weeks, but life got hectic there for a minute. I read Rick Yancey's The Monstrumologist. Yes, it's written for younger readers than I, but I'm not going to lie; I like reading YA fiction.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It's a little long for younger readers (448 pages), and it takes a little while to get into the action, but once it gets going it's hard to put down. There are some pretty gruesome scenes, so it's definitely not one for the weak-stomached reader.

The most interesting part, in my opinion, was the almost homoerotic way in which the narrator describes his guardian, for whom the book is titled. Will Henry is a 12 year old boy whose parents have died in a fire. His father's employer, the Monstrumologist - Pellinore Warthrop, takes him in and employs him as an apprentice. Because of Will Henry's age, maybe I'm reading a little too much into it, but throughout the book, his descriptions of Warthrop call to mind those of an admirer. And towards the end of the book, Will goes so far as to deny, rather weakly, his love for Warthrop. He does so in such a way as to make the reader wonder who he's trying to convince, himself or the audience? It's also possible that Warthrop has similar feelings for Will. Many times he declares that Will Henry is "indispensible" to him, and while this could just be because he relies on Will Henry to take care of him and his home, when coupled with Will Henry's descriptions, it's clear that the two have a very strange relationship.

Another possibility is that Will Henry, having lost his dearly-beloved father, is just looking for someone to fill that space. Because both parents were ost in such a traumatic experience, peraps this need borders on obsessive, which would explain the doting sketches of Warthrop.

Either way, something is happening between these two, and it isn't "normal."

The ending leaves room for a sequel, which has been publilshed under the title, The Curse of the Wendigo. I'm anxious to see if Yancey intends to turn this into a series, and if so, where Warthrop and Henry's relationship is going.