Rick Yancey
Author of The 5th Wave
About the Author
Rick Yancey was born in Miami, Florida on November 4, 1962. He received a B.A. in English from Roosevelt University in Chicago. Before becoming a full time writer in 2004, he worked as a field officer for the Internal Revenue Service. His first book, A Burning in Homeland, was published in 2003. He show more is the author of several series including The 5th Wave, The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, The Highly Effective Detective, and The Monstrumologist. He wrote a memoir entitled Confessions of a Tax Collector. In 2010, he received a Michael L. Printz Honor for The Monstrumologist. The 5th Wave was adapted into a movie. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Rick Yancey
The Monstrumologist Collection: The Monstrumologist; The Curse of the Wendigo; The Isle of Blood; The Final Descent (2014) 17 copies
The Monstrumologist 2 copies
De laatste ster 1 copy
Alpha Dog 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Yancey, Richard
- Birthdate
- 20th century
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Miami, Florida, USA
- Places of residence
- Florida, USA
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Gainesville, Florida, USA - Education
- Roosevelt University
- Occupations
- Internal Revenue Service tax collector
theater critic
playwright - Awards and honors
- Michael L. Printz Honor
- Short biography
- Richard Yancey (born November 4, 1962)[citation needed] is an American author who writes works of suspense, fantasy, and science fiction aimed at young adults.
Rick Yancey was born in a Miami suburb, Florida.
Yancey wrote his first short story in seventh grade while attending Crystal Lake Junior High School in Florida. After graduating from Lakeland Senior High School, he was accepted to Florida Southern College and majored in Communications. After a year at Florida Southern College, Yancey transferred to Florida State University and ultimately graduated from Roosevelt University with a B.A. in English. After graduation, Yancey planned on attending law school.
Ultimately, Yancey decided against law school and began teaching English classes as well as acting and directing in local community theatres. In 1991, Yancey applied for a government job and was hired by the Internal Revenue Service, where he worked as an agent for twelve years.
Yancey also spent 10 years of his life in Knoxville, Tennessee, where two of his books are set.
While working at the IRS, Yancey wrote screenplays in his spare time. At the suggestion of his wife and collaborator, one of his screenplays became his first professionally published book, A Burning in Homeland (Simon and Schuster), published in 2001.
With the success of A Burning in Homeland, Yancey resigned from the IRS in 2004 to concentrate on writing full-time. His memoir, Confessions of a Tax Collector (HarperCollins, 2004), chronicles his days working at the IRS.
After the release of his memoir, Yancey began work on two series of books—one for adults, and one for children.
The Alfred Kropp series tells the story of an awkward teenager who saves the world when he comes into possession of King Arthur's famed sword, Excalibur—pursued by the secret cabal of knights who have hidden it for centuries. Published by Bloomsbury Children’s Publishing in the U.S. and the U.K., and in fifteen foreign language editions, the series comprised three books: The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp (2005), The Seal of Solomon (2007), and The Thirteenth Skull (2008).
His Highly Effective Detective books (St. Martin’s Press) are whodunits for adult readers, featuring a charming but barely competent private investigator based in Tennessee. That series consists of four titles: The Highly Effective Detective (2006), The Highly Effective Detective Goes to the Dogs (2008), The Highly Effective Detective Plays the Fool (2010), and The Highly Effective Detective Crosses the Line (2011).
By 2010, Yancey had completed the first book in The Monstrumologist series. The tetralogy tells the tale of a 19th-century doctor and his young apprentice, who race around the world chasing—and being chased by—monsters. This highly acclaimed series, published by Simon and Schuster Children’s Books in the U.S. and the U.K, and in eight foreign language editions, comprised four books: The Monstrumologist (2009), The Curse of the Wendigo (2010), The Isle of Blood (2011), and The Final Descent (2013).
Members
Reviews
Review also found on my blog! :)
I am completely plowing through this series. I almost feel gluttonous – I've already checked out the last book from the library, but have yet to start it because I'm afraid of that empty feeling when there's no more left. (Like when you binge-watch a show on Netflix.) But it's going to be hard waiting, because this series has been pretty irresistible for me.
The Isle of Blood is much longer than the last two books, at least by a couple hundred pages. And it feels longer too. But that's not entirely a bad thing. This volume is much, much more introspective than its predecessors, and it's very heavy in character development. There is less a focus on monsters, more a focus on characters. But, not to worry, it still bears the same spooky goodness. There is definitely a significant Lovecraftian vibe to things – Yancey even uses the word "stygian" at one point. The primary monster in the story is an unknown, faceless, horribly indescribable creature that has driven mad the few who have seen it. Anybody who's read a Lovecraft tale will feel this familiarity. I personally enjoy it.
Will gets a ton of character development in this story. Because for at least half of the novel, Warthrop is not even present. For the first time in two or so years, Will gets the chance to look inside himself and see how his life has changed being in the doctor's presence. He discovers what he is like, what he is turning into... he sees what his life has become, and will become. This novel is full of choices for Will, and he sees he has two paths to choose: stay in New York, lead a normal life, or stay with the doctor, and lead a life that is dark and dangerous, yet extraordinary. Will also becomes conscious of a darkness inside him that is a main theme throughout: a disturbing desire to see things that are horrible, and relish in them.
But not only does being without the doctor help Will discover himself, but he also learns how to cope with situations on his own, which to me is equally as important for his character. He starts to see himself as an independent being, and realizes how selfishly the doctor has treated him on many occasions. On the flip side, Warthrop realizes how invaluable Will really is, and sees how his selfishness has affected Will. I mentioned in my last review how the relationship between the two had become more complex, but it develops even more so in this book.
Another interesting aspect of The Isle of Blood is there is less of a focus on monsters, and more of a focus on the monster inside us all. The message is that sometimes human beings can be scarier than anything that we might normally define as a "monster." Despite this, the story remained to be just as scary and skin-crawling as the last two. I do emphasize the skin-crawling aspect of things; some scenes in this book genuinely gave me the heebie-jeebies. One thing to keep in mind though, is the big reveal of the story is much different than the last two novels – it is less literal, and more metaphysical.
And finally, perhaps my most favorite thing about this novel, was when I discovered that Socotra was a real place!! I mean, just look at this, how is this not the perfect setting for a monster story??:
(Image credit: TechnoCrazed)
The Isle of Blood definitely delivered in all the aspects I enjoyed about the previous books, with an added bonus of further character building that I really loved. Despite this, I couldn't give it a full five stars. I found it to be a bit slow in parts. There was a lot of repetition in some parts, especially how Will keeps referring back to his inner demons. He goes on a lot about his newfound awareness of them, and waffles a lot about making decisions – especially when it comes to the decision he must make about whether to lead a normal life, or a strange one. I felt all the repetition about it was somewhat unnecessary, and could've been cut down on. There were also some dream sequences thrown in-between narratives that really threw me off, and made the flow of the story disjointed in some scenes.
Despite flaws, in the end this volume was just as rewarding and satisfying as the last two, and I would highly recommend it and continuing the series. The Isle of Blood is much more in-depth, philosophical, and introspective, which was personally something I really liked about it. And of course, it held true to the creepy and gory aspects that we know and love. I definitely plan on finishing off the series... despite the inevitable emptiness I will feel at the end!
Final Rating: ★★★★… (more)
I am completely plowing through this series. I almost feel gluttonous – I've already checked out the last book from the library, but have yet to start it because I'm afraid of that empty feeling when there's no more left. (Like when you binge-watch a show on Netflix.) But it's going to be hard waiting, because this series has been pretty irresistible for me.
The Isle of Blood is much longer than the last two books, at least by a couple hundred pages. And it feels longer too. But that's not entirely a bad thing. This volume is much, much more introspective than its predecessors, and it's very heavy in character development. There is less a focus on monsters, more a focus on characters. But, not to worry, it still bears the same spooky goodness. There is definitely a significant Lovecraftian vibe to things – Yancey even uses the word "stygian" at one point. The primary monster in the story is an unknown, faceless, horribly indescribable creature that has driven mad the few who have seen it. Anybody who's read a Lovecraft tale will feel this familiarity. I personally enjoy it.
Will gets a ton of character development in this story. Because for at least half of the novel, Warthrop is not even present. For the first time in two or so years, Will gets the chance to look inside himself and see how his life has changed being in the doctor's presence. He discovers what he is like, what he is turning into... he sees what his life has become, and will become. This novel is full of choices for Will, and he sees he has two paths to choose: stay in New York, lead a normal life, or stay with the doctor, and lead a life that is dark and dangerous, yet extraordinary. Will also becomes conscious of a darkness inside him that is a main theme throughout: a disturbing desire to see things that are horrible, and relish in them.
But not only does being without the doctor help Will discover himself, but he also learns how to cope with situations on his own, which to me is equally as important for his character. He starts to see himself as an independent being, and realizes how selfishly the doctor has treated him on many occasions. On the flip side, Warthrop realizes how invaluable Will really is, and sees how his selfishness has affected Will. I mentioned in my last review how the relationship between the two had become more complex, but it develops even more so in this book.
Another interesting aspect of The Isle of Blood is there is less of a focus on monsters, and more of a focus on the monster inside us all. The message is that sometimes human beings can be scarier than anything that we might normally define as a "monster." Despite this, the story remained to be just as scary and skin-crawling as the last two. I do emphasize the skin-crawling aspect of things; some scenes in this book genuinely gave me the heebie-jeebies. One thing to keep in mind though, is the big reveal of the story is much different than the last two novels – it is less literal, and more metaphysical.
And finally, perhaps my most favorite thing about this novel, was when I discovered that Socotra was a real place!! I mean, just look at this, how is this not the perfect setting for a monster story??:
(Image credit: TechnoCrazed)
The Isle of Blood definitely delivered in all the aspects I enjoyed about the previous books, with an added bonus of further character building that I really loved. Despite this, I couldn't give it a full five stars. I found it to be a bit slow in parts. There was a lot of repetition in some parts, especially how Will keeps referring back to his inner demons. He goes on a lot about his newfound awareness of them, and waffles a lot about making decisions – especially when it comes to the decision he must make about whether to lead a normal life, or a strange one. I felt all the repetition about it was somewhat unnecessary, and could've been cut down on. There were also some dream sequences thrown in-between narratives that really threw me off, and made the flow of the story disjointed in some scenes.
Despite flaws, in the end this volume was just as rewarding and satisfying as the last two, and I would highly recommend it and continuing the series. The Isle of Blood is much more in-depth, philosophical, and introspective, which was personally something I really liked about it. And of course, it held true to the creepy and gory aspects that we know and love. I definitely plan on finishing off the series... despite the inevitable emptiness I will feel at the end!
Final Rating: ★★★★… (more)
Review can also be found on my blog. :)
After much procrastination (and struggle waiting for it to show back up at the library) I've finished Rick Yancey's series, The Monstrumologist. If any of you have been following my reviews for a while, you'll know that I've been a big fan of this series. The writing, the characters, the monsters, the setting: this series has really outdone itself. However, I'm sad to say that this last book was a bit of a disappointment for me. I'm honestly left a little confused, and feeling like this series should have been a trilogy. This review has very minor spoilers for the rest of the series!
So to start with the good, the biggest thing that stood out to me (as always with Yancey) was the writing. We have some seriously beautiful prose going on here. Yancey also outdid himself with the many thought-provoking themes of humanity versus monstrosity: what makes us human, and does that actually set us above lesser, so-called "savage" beasts?
While this book is extremely quotable, it unfortunately was the high point of the story for me. In fact, in many ways I felt like this book was a betrayal to the rest of the series.
The main way that this book left me disappointed was that it did not do the characters justice. The characters were completely unlike the ones I'd grown familiar with, and only their negative traits were focused on. Will Henry was the starkest difference – he was pretty much a complete stranger. Yes, he is a teenager now, not a child anymore, but there is absolutely no essence of the Will Henry I came to love from the prior books. Will has become a completely cruel person, inflicting pain and death with no remorse, and blaming it on the way Warthrop raised him.
While there are many ways in the prior books that Warthrop was neglectful, and could have been kinder to Will, I always thought that deep down Warthrop harbored a fatherly affection towards Will. The writing always seemed to hint at that, and hinting that Will seemed to understand this himself. I figured that Yancey was taking inspiration from Sherlock Holmes when he created Warthrop, and meant for the character to be incapable of socializing and showing affection like a normal person. But in The Final Descent, all those notions seem to have been thrown out the window, and Warthrop uses Will purely for his own gains. While on the other hand, Will can't stop talking about how much he loathes Warthrop.
It wasn't just the characters, but the story itself really wandered. We have about three (or four? I don't know?) timelines going on, and they switch back and forth almost every chapter. Towards the end of the book, the writing gets really muddy and the action was very vague and hard to follow. I honestly had a hard time understanding right away what was going on throughout most of the story. Another way the story disappointed me had to do with the monster-hunting aspect – Yes, there was a monster, and it did intrigue me, but it really becomes more of a footnote than anything. Instead, the story mainly focuses on Will's contemplations on humanity... and his hatred for Warthrop. It honestly got tiresome. The monster seemed to merely be there out of necessity over anything. All of this climaxes to an ending that was quite predictable and a giant disappointment.
And one final aspect of the story that left me frustrated had to do with the "story within the story." If you're not familiar with the series, the main story comes from these notebooks "found" by Yancey, which were written by anonymous author, believed to be Will Henry. So Yancey presents the story as these notebooks he's edited, and discusses his search for the truth about Will in prologues and epilogues. Throughout the series, I was really expecting Yancey to "discover" who Will really was. Sadly, this secondary story is wrapped up just as confusing and unsatisfying as the ending to the main story.
So while the writing was excellent, pretty much everything else did not live up to the rest of the series. The entire story is just one depressing scene after another, and the ending felt like a betrayal. I do not by any means expect every book to end happily, but I at least expect characters to remain true to themselves, or at least be given the same quality of treatment that they received earlier in a series. Considering these factors, and the delightful way that Isle of Blood wrapped up, I truly believe this should have been a trilogy. In The Isle of Blood, we're left with a sense of hope for Will and Warthrop, and they seemed to finally have a true bond and understanding of each other. Since the writing was really the only high point for me in The Final Descent, I honestly can't give it more than 2.5 stars... with a recommendation to not read it, (unless you're one of those people that HAS to finish things, like me). And I feel terrible, because I highly, highly recommend the first three books.
Final Rating: ⭐️⭐️½… (more)
After much procrastination (and struggle waiting for it to show back up at the library) I've finished Rick Yancey's series, The Monstrumologist. If any of you have been following my reviews for a while, you'll know that I've been a big fan of this series. The writing, the characters, the monsters, the setting: this series has really outdone itself. However, I'm sad to say that this last book was a bit of a disappointment for me. I'm honestly left a little confused, and feeling like this series should have been a trilogy. This review has very minor spoilers for the rest of the series!
So to start with the good, the biggest thing that stood out to me (as always with Yancey) was the writing. We have some seriously beautiful prose going on here. Yancey also outdid himself with the many thought-provoking themes of humanity versus monstrosity: what makes us human, and does that actually set us above lesser, so-called "savage" beasts?
"We are vain and arrogant, evolution's highest achievement and most dismal failure, prisoners of our self-awareness and the illusion that we stand in the center, that there is us and there is everything else but us. ... We are no more beautiful and essential or magnificent than an earthworm. In fact – and dare we go there, you and I? – you could say the worm is more beautiful, because it is innocent and we are not."
While this book is extremely quotable, it unfortunately was the high point of the story for me. In fact, in many ways I felt like this book was a betrayal to the rest of the series.
The main way that this book left me disappointed was that it did not do the characters justice. The characters were completely unlike the ones I'd grown familiar with, and only their negative traits were focused on. Will Henry was the starkest difference – he was pretty much a complete stranger. Yes, he is a teenager now, not a child anymore, but there is absolutely no essence of the Will Henry I came to love from the prior books. Will has become a completely cruel person, inflicting pain and death with no remorse, and blaming it on the way Warthrop raised him.
While there are many ways in the prior books that Warthrop was neglectful, and could have been kinder to Will, I always thought that deep down Warthrop harbored a fatherly affection towards Will. The writing always seemed to hint at that, and hinting that Will seemed to understand this himself. I figured that Yancey was taking inspiration from Sherlock Holmes when he created Warthrop, and meant for the character to be incapable of socializing and showing affection like a normal person. But in The Final Descent, all those notions seem to have been thrown out the window, and Warthrop uses Will purely for his own gains. While on the other hand, Will can't stop talking about how much he loathes Warthrop.
It wasn't just the characters, but the story itself really wandered. We have about three (or four? I don't know?) timelines going on, and they switch back and forth almost every chapter. Towards the end of the book, the writing gets really muddy and the action was very vague and hard to follow. I honestly had a hard time understanding right away what was going on throughout most of the story. Another way the story disappointed me had to do with the monster-hunting aspect – Yes, there was a monster, and it did intrigue me, but it really becomes more of a footnote than anything. Instead, the story mainly focuses on Will's contemplations on humanity... and his hatred for Warthrop. It honestly got tiresome. The monster seemed to merely be there out of necessity over anything. All of this climaxes to an ending that was quite predictable and a giant disappointment.
And one final aspect of the story that left me frustrated had to do with the "story within the story." If you're not familiar with the series, the main story comes from these notebooks "found" by Yancey, which were written by anonymous author, believed to be Will Henry. So Yancey presents the story as these notebooks he's edited, and discusses his search for the truth about Will in prologues and epilogues. Throughout the series, I was really expecting Yancey to "discover" who Will really was. Sadly, this secondary story is wrapped up just as confusing and unsatisfying as the ending to the main story.
So while the writing was excellent, pretty much everything else did not live up to the rest of the series. The entire story is just one depressing scene after another, and the ending felt like a betrayal. I do not by any means expect every book to end happily, but I at least expect characters to remain true to themselves, or at least be given the same quality of treatment that they received earlier in a series. Considering these factors, and the delightful way that Isle of Blood wrapped up, I truly believe this should have been a trilogy. In The Isle of Blood, we're left with a sense of hope for Will and Warthrop, and they seemed to finally have a true bond and understanding of each other. Since the writing was really the only high point for me in The Final Descent, I honestly can't give it more than 2.5 stars... with a recommendation to not read it, (unless you're one of those people that HAS to finish things, like me). And I feel terrible, because I highly, highly recommend the first three books.
Final Rating: ⭐️⭐️½… (more)
I’ll be super honest, I got really excited about reading this book mainly when I first saw the trailer for the movie [last winter??]. So I really wanted to read it before I saw the movie. I still haven’t seen the movie, and at this point I probably won’t see it, based on the poor ratings it received. Which makes me really sad because after reading this, I really wanted to see a good visual adaptation. I guess some wishes don’t come true.
So for those of you who don’t know, The 5th Wave follows teenager Cassie, who believes she’s the sole survivor of a devastating alien invasion to Earth. The invasion occurs in four waves, each more devastating than the last, and resulting in the death of the majority of the planet’s population. When we meet Cassie, her situation is extremely isolated and she genuinely believes she’s the last true human on Earth. But, needing a goal, she decides she will go out and search for her younger brother, who was separated from her. Despite thinking he may be dead, she made a promise to him that she would come for him. Throughout the story, the main characters feel an impending dread towards what the aliens may have planned next... will there be a fifth wave, and what exactly does that entail?
One of my favourite aspects of this book is that it's not told solely from Cassie’s perspective. We also get to read the story from the perspective of Cassie’s brother and our other two protagonists, Evan and Ben. Evan is a serious, stoic young man who, like Cassie, is extremely isolated and has experienced devastating loss. By “chance” chance he finds Cassie, and has a strange fascination with her. (Which I won’t spoil!!) Additionally we have Ben, Cassie’s former classmate whom she harbored a crush on, when times were simpler. Without divulging much of the plot, Ben finds himself on the brink of death, only to be saved by a militaristic group with ulterior motives.
Now, I’ve read a lot of books where the plot is told from multiple perspectives, but Yancey writes his characters’ perspectives quite masterfully. Each character has their own voice, their own personality, which I could clearly perceive in my head while reading. It's detailed even to the point that each character has their own speaking mannerisms, and even senses of humor. I feel that and issue many authors have when writing from multiple POVs, is that the characters end up sounding too similar. In The 5th Wave this is not the case.
Another thing that makes this book stand out to me is the alien-invasion theme. Every aspect of the invasion that the aliens use to devastate humanity,from EMP blast, to flu epidemic, to destructive earthquakes, are all things that are more or less (un)conscious fears today. To me, this made the book feel more *real*, or scary, because of the prevalence of these subjects in real-life media.
And lastly – a simpler thing to appreciate about the book – was the romantic aspect. First of all...
ALL THEM FEELS.
But it's also not predictable! I don’t necessarily enjoy when a story has a romance I can guess at from the first third/half of the book. And from what I understand about the next book, it doesn’t totally seem like my predictions will come true…. BUT I won’t know until I read it!
Overall, I would completely recommend this book, especially if you’re looking for a young adult novel that’s refreshing and different. I would say it’s one of my top favourite books of this year, so far.… (more)
So for those of you who don’t know, The 5th Wave follows teenager Cassie, who believes she’s the sole survivor of a devastating alien invasion to Earth. The invasion occurs in four waves, each more devastating than the last, and resulting in the death of the majority of the planet’s population. When we meet Cassie, her situation is extremely isolated and she genuinely believes she’s the last true human on Earth. But, needing a goal, she decides she will go out and search for her younger brother, who was separated from her. Despite thinking he may be dead, she made a promise to him that she would come for him. Throughout the story, the main characters feel an impending dread towards what the aliens may have planned next... will there be a fifth wave, and what exactly does that entail?
One of my favourite aspects of this book is that it's not told solely from Cassie’s perspective. We also get to read the story from the perspective of Cassie’s brother and our other two protagonists, Evan and Ben. Evan is a serious, stoic young man who, like Cassie, is extremely isolated and has experienced devastating loss. By “chance” chance he finds Cassie, and has a strange fascination with her. (Which I won’t spoil!!) Additionally we have Ben, Cassie’s former classmate whom she harbored a crush on, when times were simpler. Without divulging much of the plot, Ben finds himself on the brink of death, only to be saved by a militaristic group with ulterior motives.
Now, I’ve read a lot of books where the plot is told from multiple perspectives, but Yancey writes his characters’ perspectives quite masterfully. Each character has their own voice, their own personality, which I could clearly perceive in my head while reading. It's detailed even to the point that each character has their own speaking mannerisms, and even senses of humor. I feel that and issue many authors have when writing from multiple POVs, is that the characters end up sounding too similar. In The 5th Wave this is not the case.
Another thing that makes this book stand out to me is the alien-invasion theme. Every aspect of the invasion that the aliens use to devastate humanity,
And lastly – a simpler thing to appreciate about the book – was the romantic aspect. First of all...
ALL THEM FEELS.
But it's also not predictable! I don’t necessarily enjoy when a story has a romance I can guess at from the first third/half of the book. And from what I understand about the next book, it doesn’t totally seem like my predictions will come true…. BUT I won’t know until I read it!
Overall, I would completely recommend this book, especially if you’re looking for a young adult novel that’s refreshing and different. I would say it’s one of my top favourite books of this year, so far.… (more)
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Ahhh this series is very quickly becoming one of my favourites of all time. I don't have a review for the first volume, The Monstrumologist, so I may touch on parts of that in this review. There also may be minor spoilers from The Monstrumologist, because when talking about a sequel it's somewhat inevitable. I'll try to avoid anything major, though.
For those not familiar with the series, it centers around Will Henry, an orphan boy being raised by one Pellinore Warthrop. Warthrop is a monstrumologist – a scientist specializing in the study of "aberrant biology", (a.k.a. monsters). Will's father worked under Warthrop, but because he died more or less by working for him, Warthrop feels responsible and takes Will under his wing. Acting as Warthrop's assistant, Will aids him in all monstrous endeavors. One unique aspect to the book is that it's a story within a story. Yancey introduces the series as if they are journals, given to him by an associate who works in a nursing home. So the story is presented as if someone claiming to be the real Will Henry has written them and left them behind after his death. In the prologues and epilogues, Yancey reports on his progress in trying verify the "accuracy" of the stories, which I find to be really fascinating!
The Curse of the Wendigo picks up about a year, (if I remember correctly), after the events of the first book, when Will Henry and Warthrop hunted down the terrifying anthropophagi. This second book takes a more northerly turn, focusing on the myth of the wendigo. For those who don't know, the wendigo is an Native American legend. It's basically a monster that human beings turn into after resorting to cannibalism. In The Curse of the Wendigo, Yancey takes it a step further, with a wendigo having the ability to turn other humans into wendigos (even if they haven't cannibalized another human being).
The story begins with Warthrop responding against a paper written by his former teacher – Abram von Helrung – that proposes the existence of mythical beings such as wendigos, vampires, and more. Warthrop refuses to believe in creatures that no one has found any biological evidence of. But everything changes when his ex-fiancée begs for his help in finding her husband, John. John went searching months before for hard evidence of the existence of wendigos in the Canadian wilderness, on von Helrung's behalf. Despite Warthrop's vehement wish to believe in the wendigo's nonexistence, what he and Will Henry witness out in the wild may just convince him otherwise.
This second book plays out much differently from the first. The setting is the most notable difference, because the hunt spans over a much wider territory. The first half of the book takes us into Canada, and the latter half into New York City. The first half was probably the most frightening part for me, because Yancey is really playing off our primordial fears of what could be hiding out in the darkness of the woods. (It probably didn't help that I was set to go camping a couple days later, haha). But the latter half, in New York, is also really interesting and scary. Not only do we get more of an insight into the Monstrumological Society, but we also experience the stress of hunting a bloodthirsty monster in the crowded, dingy streets of New York. While there are two drastically different settings, it still really meshes together quite well. Another difference from the first book, is the amount of blood and guts. I didn't find The Curse of the Wendigo to be quite as nauseating or gory as the first book – it did have its share of those scenes, of course, but in it we definitely see some more character development and world-building, which I think was really necessary.
As with the last book, The Curse of the Wendigo is very readable. Yancey is an excellent writer – he has weaved an intricate, fascinating story that is nearly impossible to put down. His characters are wonderful – they really have grown on me, and I'm so glad we got to know more of their backstories, particularly in Warthrop's case. The relationship between Warthrop and Will also develops quite a lot in this volume. In The Monstrumologist, they are rather pitted against each other, and neither one really seems to understand the other. But in The Curse of the Wendigo, they realize how much they actually need each other. Will for obvious reasons, Warthrop for more complex ones. Warthrop has a past full of loss, and has chosen a dark path to follow in life – he more or less needs Will as a light that keeps him human. It's a very touching relationship between the two, and adds complexity to the story.
Overall, this was a great read! It was easy to read, yet the plot was very engaging. The story is just as unique as the first volume, which leads me to conclude that this is a series worth sticking with. If you're someone who enjoys either Sherlock Holmes or Supernatural, you would probably love this series. Warthrop's sardonic attitude often reminds me of Holmes, and the terrifying monsters they hunt makes it definitely a complementary story for fans of Supernatural. Either way, I'd definitely recommend this to almost anyone who loves a good, scary story with compelling characters.
Final Rating: ★★★★★… (more)