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The world of Pellinore Warthrop and Will Henry almost ended before the fans of the Monstrumologist and his apprentice fought back and demanded an ending. The Final Descent might not be the ending you pictured or hoped for, but was there any other way to end their story? Rick Yancey ends this phenomenal series with more devastating heartbreak than I was ready for. But for the life of a monstrumologist, you have to be ready for anything.
When a man seeks out Warthrop to sell him the greatest find in generations of the field of monstrumology, Warthrop assumes it is a fraud. But Will Henry takes it upon himself to check it out. What he finds is quite possibly the most terrifying and most ground breaking creature they have ever seen: the last of its kind. While still unhatched, the egg, stolen from its seller, must be cared for with the utmost of precision. Warthrop and Will Henry are brought back together through the care for the egg and the future implications such a find could bring them. But the damage to their relationship is too big for one find to cure.
Flash forward years. Will Henry finally returns to the man who made him what he has become, but what he finds is not the strong, confident, aloof Warthrop. Instead he finds a broken man surrounded by the horror he has wreaked upon himself. For all of Warthrop's determination in his field has left him broken and determined to find the end that he deserves- one without the love of another human being. The story of Will Henry and Warthrop didn't end with that egg, but the connection between them had never been so fragile. Warthrop's created the Will who now stands before him, but he can't bring himself to take credit for the man Will Henry has become.
If you have followed this series, you know you weren't ready for it to end. But I bet you also weren't ready for this kind of ending. Warthrop and Will Henry's story was too complex and tumultuous not to have a similar ending, but I could never have imagined the kind of ending Yancey gave us. It was gut wrenching. It ripped out your very soul, did a Mexican hat dance on it, stuffed it back in and sewed it up with a rusty spoon. I do not exaggerate, my friends. This was the most difficult ending to a series I loved that I have ever read. But it wasn't bad. Nope. Not at all. It was perfect. Heartbreaking, but the perfect end to their story. Yancey may have loved his characters, but he knew the proper way to end their story wasn't going to be all sunshine and tulips. Nope. It was going to be ugly, brutal, and awful. It was going to destroy them, you, and everyone in between. And it did.
The biggest question in this book is who the monster really is. The easiest thing would be the incredibly poisonous thing ready to hatch from that leathery egg, but nothing with a Yancey book is easy. No, the monster was inside them all. Warthrop's monsters, or inner demons, were different from those Will Henry harbored, but both were hell-bent on destruction. We saw Warthrop struggle to love Will Henry in every way he could, even if that meant leaving him, throughout this series, but we always knew he loved the boy. Even when he showed it in the most counterproductive ways, he still always needed to make sure Will Henry was safe. But the man Will Henry grew into is the most terrifying thing Warthrop ever encountered, and for a momstrumologist, that is saying a lot. And Will Henry blames no one but Warthrop himself.
So, I have to say, if you want a pretty ending all tied up in a neat little bow, then skip this book. You are going to upset. But if you need to see the way Will Henry and Warthrop finally end, then you need to prepare yourself. This series ending was phenomenal and heartbreaking all swirled together like a miserable ice cream sundae. It made me grieve for these characters I loved so much, but I know a happy ending would have been too unrealistic for the lives they lived. I really loved this series, I am not happy to see it go, but it was hard to see how it ended. Still, it is just one more bit of proof in the large collection of evidence that Yancey is a genius. Pure Genius.
With so many myths and stories of hairy beastlies and mysterious creepers, we all rest a little easier thinking there is a monster hunter (hunt in the biological sense, not the skin and eat sense) out there keeping things together. But when that Monstrumologist is Pellinore Warthrop, you know being his apprentice is going to be adventurous, and seriously dangerous. In Rick Yancey's The Isle of Blood, the third book in the Monstrumologist series, you get to see just how far Warthrop will take his young apprentice, Will Henry.
When a "wild card" colleague of Warthrop's tricks a man into delivering an artifact, a nest made out of human bits, Warthrop realizes he now possesses evidence of the great white whale of Monstrumology. Unfortunately, the highly contagious nature of this nest causes the distraught messenger to succumb to the illness and attack Will Henry. In order to prevent the same fate for Will Henry, Warthrop must do something unthinkable. While he saves Will Henry's life, he can't get past the fact that he has put Will Henry in danger, and as he goes off in search of the greatest monster that ever lived, the Faceless One, he leave Will Henry behind and takes the eager new apprentice who arrived conveniently before this big adventure.
But when the apprentice returns and claims Warthrop is dead, Will Henry refuses to accept the news. He knows his master is alive, and he is willing to go to great lengths to find him. Unfortunately, no one wants to believe a young kid when chances are the Monstrumologist finally succumbed to the very monsters he focuses his life around. Of course, monstrumologists are used to believing in the long shot, and one Will Henry pokes holes through the new apprentice's claims, they are able to get a lead on Warthrop. Where that lead takes them and what they have to do to get there, of course, are the stuff of nightmares. But then again, isn't that the world of Monstrumology?
It amazes me how Yancey can take such a small wisp of an idea and create such a story. A rumor of a beastlie can lead you down a road of visceral trauma and imagination like you never thought you could experience. And the characters? I continue to love them more and more with each passing book. In particular, I love the relationship between Will Henry and Warthrop. Where I could never put my finger on who Warthrop reminded me of, I finally realized it as I was describing the story to my sister... he is Sheldon from "Big Bang Theory"! He is not heartless or uncaring, but rather very clinical and devoted to his work. But when his work poses a threat to Will Henry, he cannot being himself to lose the boy and you get to see glimpses of how much this man truly does love his "adopted" son. He may call Will Henry his apprentice, but the love between father and son is obvious to those of us on the outside looking in, which makes their story even better, in my opinion.
This is truly a magnificent series, and it is perfect for those quirky students who have grown out of typical YA stories. It has a gothic feel to it, but the story transcends anything you have read before. I am excited to hear the publisher was bullied into letting Yancey write a fourth book after trying to stop him at three, and I can't wait to read the final book in the series. Yancey has an imagination that will only twist and warp your own imagination in ways you didn't think possible, so I say, "Let him have it!"
Will Henry has lost his family, but the Monstrumologist, Dr. Pellinore Warthrop took him in. Will Henry's father was Warthrop's assistant, and after his death the doctor kept Will Henry on as his assistant. While it might not seem like a young teen would be the best assistant, Will Henry is the only person in Warthrop's life who truly cares about him... even if he isn't thrilled about all the monsters. In Rick Yancey's sequel to The Monstrumlogist, The Curse of the Wendigo, Will Henry and Warthrop aren't trying to find a monster. They are trying to convince everyone it doesn't exist...
When Warthrop's best friend and arch nemesis goes missing, Warthrop agrees to go to Canada to find John Chanler. Chanler was sent by the head of the Monstrumology Society, Dr. von Helrung, to find tangible proof that the Wendigo truly did exist and have it entered into the list of existing monsters. Warthrop knows the Wendigo is just a myth, but nonetheless, Chanler has still gone missing. He and Will Henry set off to find the missing scientist only to find themselves lost in the wilderness and being hunted by something that neither of them can explain. They find Chanler, but returning to civilization is no easy feat.
When they finally find their way back to the town, Warthrop refuses to admit anything was hunting them. He convinces Will Henry it was all dehydration and exhaustion playing tricks on their minds, but Will Henry can't forget those yellow eyes. Chanler is returned to his wife in New York City and Warthrop and Will Henry head to the same city for the annual Monstrumologist convention. But went they find Chanler being kept under guard in von Helrung's house, not a hospital, Warthrop accuses the old scientist of losing his mind and endangering Chanler's life. What they don't expect is for Chanler to quickly devolve into more beast than man. Can you still question the existence of a Wendigo when it is rampaging through the city and hunting your own apprentice? Dr. Pellinore Warthrop can!
When I try to describe Dr. Pellinore Warthrop, I always find myself claiming him to be a male Temperance Brennan, from the television show "Bones". He isn't heartless, he is just very scientific and logical, to the point of seeming to be without emotion. In the first book, however, it became very clear that he cared very much for the orphan boy he took in. In this book, that fatherly devotion grows to the point where Warthrop even considers sending Will Henry away to protect him from the dangerous profession of Monstrumology. In fact, the relationship between the young apprentice and the doctor is what makes me love this series so much. Warthrop doesn't care much about the lives of other people, but he would do anything to keep Will Henry safe- even send away the only person he actually cares about. And sometimes, when Warthrop is describing something very clinically, and Will Henry is struggling to maintain his composure and not laugh out loud in front of the doctor, I found myself cracking up! The very dynamic between the two is hilarious.
I think this is a good series for most junior high through high school students. It is set at the turn of the century, so the historical aspects of New York City at that time are very interesting (giant piles of horse poo from the carriages!). There is certainly some violence with the rescue and escape of John Chanler and Will Henry always seems to find himself in grave danger, much to the irritation of Dr. Warthrop. There are some times when the story slows a little bit, so a stronger reader with a little stamina might be necessary. Still, these are great books that have a subtle humor that will keep you sniggering and giggling right along with Will Henry!
Can you imagine living with a mad scientist? Now imagine living with a mad scientist who studies Monstrumology! That is the life of Will Henry, the young apprentice of Pellinore Warthrop, Monstrumologist of New England. Rick Yancy's first novel in this spunky series, The Monstrumologist, is a great first novel to a fun and intriguing trilogy.
Will Henry isn't exactly happy to live with Dr. Warthrop, but he doesn't have any choice since his parents died in a horrible fire that burned their house. He knows Warthrop has a strange profession, but he doesn't know the extent of his studies until a grave robber brings a horrifying fond to the doctor's doorstep- a young corpse found alongside a large creature that had obviously been feeding on her before it died suddenly. The doctor explained it was an Anthropophagi, a creature that originated from Africa and solely hunts humans. They can be up to 7 feet tall, appear to be headless, have mouths full of thousands of shark-like teeth in their abdomen, and can only be stopped with a brain shot- which is right below their mouths. Did I mention they were vicious and territorial human eaters?
After dissecting the specimen the grave robber gave him, Warthrop convinces him to go to the cemetery looking for the remaining few creatures. When they get there, though, they had clearly underestimated the size of the group and are rushed by 30 or so creatures that wanted nothing more than to eat them. Barely escaping with their lives (the grave robber wasn't quite so lucky), they try to figure out how such a large family group got there without any attacks in the area. Warthrop is concerned his own Mosntrumologist father may have had something to do with their presence there since he studied the Anthropophagi up until his recent death.
When a local family is attacked, all torn apart and mutilated, the local police come to fetch Warthrop and Will Henry for help, knowing they are the only ones who might explain the brutal murders. They arrive to find one lone survivor, a boy so traumatized all he can think about is killing what was responsible for killing his family, even Warthrop when it is revealed he knew about their presence in the town. Now the local law enforcement needs Warthrop's help in trying to get rid of the monsters, even if that means calling in a hunter who has less than ethical means of doing his job. But how far will they all go to get rid of the monsters? How did such a large group get to New England in the first place? Can Will Henry survive the Anthropophagi?
This book wasn't what I expected at first, but I really liked it! It started off a little confusing for the first few pages, but then it grabbed a hold of me and I couldn't put it down! It is a long book, but it feels short because the story is so sordid and engrossing. Will Henry is an interesting character, as he deals with Warthrop's eccentricities with such aplomb. Warthrop is your typical mad scientist who seems almost surprised with Will Henry and his basic needs. They oddly work well together, making a strange dynamic little team to conquer the ugly beastlies of the world.
I think this is a great book for a wide range of readers. Some of the monster encounters are bloody and gory, but most kids encounter worse on regular television or video games- it isn't gratuitous violence. The story is very engaging and any reader would be sucked into Will Henry's world with Dr. Warthrop. And the good news? Two more books!
