I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the sequel.
I found some pasages were very reminiscent of Mary Shelley.
My favorite part is the character of Jack Kearns, who is both an excellent foil to the monstrumologist and a monster in his own right
A really fun read ( )

Lots of explicit gore and monsters of both the human and inhuman variety made this a fun story to read. Add in the pathos of an orphan boy so starved for love and belonging that he clings to an abusive, neglectful father-figure. The writing style was a bit overwrought. This might be because the author was attempting to mimic the florid descriptive style of a man born in the late 1800's, but I was mightily tired of it before long. I could not bring myself to rate this more than 2 stars, however, because the backstory of the (inhuman) monsters took me so aback and left such an awful taste in my mouth that it flavored the entire book for me. I explained myself in the buddy read, but as I seem to be the only person who is interpreting the monster backstory as an incredibly tasteless parallel with the history of African slaves and white fears of their descendants in the Americas, perhaps it's just me. But once seen, I could not un-see it.

Explanation:
The author based these monsters on the mythical Blemmyes who were either a peaceful people, or tribe of warriors, or cannibals, or headless monsters, depending on whose account you're reading. Yancy's version are mindlessly savage monsters, native to coastal West Africa, bought by a white man from a regional ("savage") king and transported in the hold of a former slave ship to America. They escaped and began multiplying, representing a terrible threat to the residents of New England. The story opens with a huge male (native west African) creature embracing and devouring the corpse of a beautiful young (white) woman while inserting his progeny into her belly to gestate.

I read this for the Reads with Booklikes Friends square for the 2016 Halloween Bingo.
( )

This was clearly some form of Victorian horror. There are dug up graves, autopsy tables and organs being put in jars in the name of science. At the start I had no idea what the creatures were, which made every bit of new information part of a twisted, creepy puzzle.
The writing style also matches the time period, but not to the point that it becomes hard to follow for the modern reader. It also comes with a few... dated stereotypes and phrases, especially when discussing people from other countries and mental patients. Not really enjoyable, but very much period-accurate.

The main character is just a 12 year old whose responsible adult is a mad scientist dissecting monsters? He was appropriately terrified for his age and appropriately desensitized from having witnessed nercopsies.
His guardian, the doctor is rather mean, ordering him around all the time and sparing no thought to the fact that this boy is a literal child.
I liked that the book addressed multiple times that this relationship is far from good, and why the boy refuses to leave the doctor's side. However, it felt rather hard to care for this doctor or the boy when their relationship was clearly not ideal. They're strangely attached, can't leave wach other but don't truly love for each other either.

In the second half the plot became 'find and kill the monster', and I really missed the macabre science side of the first half. ( )

2.5 Stars ( )

Well, I didn't really read it. I read part of it, and I was completely absorbed because the writing was great and the story is incredible, but the nightmares I was having were too much! I had to stop reading it for my sanity. A lot of kids are tougher than I am about that kind of thing, and fans of Cirque du Freak books will probably love it.