The Final Descent (The Monstrumologist)
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 9/14/2013
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 9/14/2013 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
2 journalers for this copy...
I enjoyed the first three books in this series - The Monstrumologist, Curse of the Wendigo, and The Isle of Blood, and I became very fond of the main characters, young Will Henry and his eccentric, dedicated, insensitive, and troubled boss, Dr. Warthrop, and was delighted when I saw that a fourth book was coming out - though the feeling's bittersweet, as I believe this is the last book in the series. I pre-ordered this hardcover when I first found out about it, and it arrived today.
The series premise: a set of "found" journals contain the account of a professional monster-hunter and his young assistant in the late 1800's. The story presumes that some varieties of mythological monsters really do exist and are studied by a small group of scientists who call themselves monstrumologists. [They deal in creatures that, however fantastical they may appear or behave, are still natural creatures; Dr. Warthrop, young Will's employer, is especially disdainful of attempts to discover supernatural beings such as vampires.] The story is told by young Will, who, having lost his parents in a singularly awful accident, has taken his father's place as assistant to Warthrop, who tends to treat him like a machine when he isn't ignoring him. (He's not deliberately cruel, just so focused on his work that he doesn't seem capable of normal human interactions.) Will doesn't like him - in fact, in his journals he goes to great lengths to repeat that he does NOT love the doctor - yet he seems bound to him, and is unwilling to leave him even to be given a home and schooling more suitable to his age.
This difficult relationship is the heart of the series, and leads inexorably to the events of this book - events including the final rupture between the two, Pellinor's last (and potentially most dangerous) investigation, and his eventual fate. We learn a bit more about Will's fate, too, at least in the years immediately following his parting from Warthrop - and we know more from the circumstances surrounding the finding of the diaries in the first place, though there's still a big chunk of time unaccounted for. And, sadly, the impression given is that everything Will suffered and endured and learned has conspired to change him into someone very... frightening. (The events of the previous book crystallized this, and while at the time he seems to have had very little choice - indeed, I applauded his actions then - by the events of this book he's become something of a monster himself.
The storyline here gets a bit more convoluted than I liked, and while there's some justification for it (the monstrumologists as a whole tend to be stealthy and duplicitous to defend themselves from the fallout of their bizarre activities) it left me unsatisfied. But I didn't read the book for the "will they rescue the last, most rare monster or not" aspect: I wanted to know what become of Will and Pellinor, and while I'd hoped that their rough and difficult relationship might mellow a bit, possibly changing to a more equitable one, I admit that I didn't think it likely. As it was, I found their last time together very moving, if with an undercurrent of helpless horror.
The epilogue touches on Will's later life in very haunting terms, and includes a rant by the author-as-transcriber-of-Will's-diaries when he discovers why it's been so difficult to track down any evidence of Will or Warthrop {wry grin}. Not the conclusion to the series that I'd have hoped for, but still a very involving one.
[There's a TV Tropes page for the series, rather brief so far but it may be of interest. Oh, and the author has a web site here.]
The series premise: a set of "found" journals contain the account of a professional monster-hunter and his young assistant in the late 1800's. The story presumes that some varieties of mythological monsters really do exist and are studied by a small group of scientists who call themselves monstrumologists. [They deal in creatures that, however fantastical they may appear or behave, are still natural creatures; Dr. Warthrop, young Will's employer, is especially disdainful of attempts to discover supernatural beings such as vampires.] The story is told by young Will, who, having lost his parents in a singularly awful accident, has taken his father's place as assistant to Warthrop, who tends to treat him like a machine when he isn't ignoring him. (He's not deliberately cruel, just so focused on his work that he doesn't seem capable of normal human interactions.) Will doesn't like him - in fact, in his journals he goes to great lengths to repeat that he does NOT love the doctor - yet he seems bound to him, and is unwilling to leave him even to be given a home and schooling more suitable to his age.
This difficult relationship is the heart of the series, and leads inexorably to the events of this book - events including the final rupture between the two, Pellinor's last (and potentially most dangerous) investigation, and his eventual fate. We learn a bit more about Will's fate, too, at least in the years immediately following his parting from Warthrop - and we know more from the circumstances surrounding the finding of the diaries in the first place, though there's still a big chunk of time unaccounted for. And, sadly, the impression given is that everything Will suffered and endured and learned has conspired to change him into someone very... frightening. (The events of the previous book crystallized this, and while at the time he seems to have had very little choice - indeed, I applauded his actions then - by the events of this book he's become something of a monster himself.
The storyline here gets a bit more convoluted than I liked, and while there's some justification for it (the monstrumologists as a whole tend to be stealthy and duplicitous to defend themselves from the fallout of their bizarre activities) it left me unsatisfied. But I didn't read the book for the "will they rescue the last, most rare monster or not" aspect: I wanted to know what become of Will and Pellinor, and while I'd hoped that their rough and difficult relationship might mellow a bit, possibly changing to a more equitable one, I admit that I didn't think it likely. As it was, I found their last time together very moving, if with an undercurrent of helpless horror.
The epilogue touches on Will's later life in very haunting terms, and includes a rant by the author-as-transcriber-of-Will's-diaries when he discovers why it's been so difficult to track down any evidence of Will or Warthrop {wry grin}. Not the conclusion to the series that I'd have hoped for, but still a very involving one.
[There's a TV Tropes page for the series, rather brief so far but it may be of interest. Oh, and the author has a web site here.]
I'm sending this to BCer hyphen8 in Hawaii to fill a wish (and complete the set); enjoy!
*** Released as part of the 2014 D for December release challenge. ***
*** Released as part of the 2014 What's In A Name release challenge, for the embedded "Al" in the title. ***
*** Released as part of the 2014 D for December release challenge. ***
*** Released as part of the 2014 What's In A Name release challenge, for the embedded "Al" in the title. ***
What a nice surprise! Thank you so much Gory - for introducing me to the first book in this series and then feeding me all the others. :D
Journal Entry 4 by 
hyphen8
at Hawaii Book & Music Festival in -- Mail or by hand-rings, RABCK, meetings, Hawaii USA on Monday, April 30, 2018
hyphen8 at Hawaii Book & Music Festival in -- Mail or by hand-rings, RABCK, meetings, Hawaii USA on Monday, April 30, 2018
Released 6 yrs ago (5/5/2018 UTC) at Hawaii Book & Music Festival in -- Mail or by hand-rings, RABCK, meetings, Hawaii USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Saturday, May 05, 2018: released somewhere on the Civic Center grounds during the HBMF. (Larger photo here.)I'm so glad you've found this book!
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