Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

This fourth and final volume of the series (a blend of gothic horror, cryptozoology, and Sherlockiana) features apprentice Will Henry in the throes of adolescent rebellion as he seeks to escape the jealous, domineering monstrumologist Warthrop and wrest the affection of Lilly Bates away from a rival suitor. Yancey has taken some considerable risks here, ones that should thrill his ardent fans. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The Monstrumologist quartet wraps up in a haphazard, patchworked finale. Even though Yancey offers a tone-setting disclaimer via an "editor's note" at the forefront of the novel that the manuscripts he "translated" into this work were "nearly indecipherable, physically as well as contextually," fans will still come away ultimately unsatisfied--possibly even feeling cheated--by this disjointed conclusion. In the main narrative (there are at least three), Will Henry, now 16, often drunk and colder than ever, helps Monstrumologist Pellinore Warthrop track down the T. cerrejonensis, a giant, snakelike critter that poisons its human prey then swallows them whole. At the same time, the novel also fast-forwards decades later to 1911, when Will returns to care for an elderly Warthrop and then reverts back to when he was first taken in by his employer. All this makes for a confusing read, and the future plotline serves as a spoiler to the central narrative. Also inserted are broken stanzas of poetry and italicized rants on the meaning of love and life that connect at a much more simplistic level than the earlier books. Still, parts of the novel are quite exciting and will induce just as much stomach-turning if not full-on gagging. At the end, the results feel rushed, as if Yancey were trying to quickly finish the job. Even the relatively anemic page count implies it. A fizzling anticlimax. (Horror. 14 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.