Dr. Pellinore Warthrop and his young research assistant, Will Henry, return with yet another monster investigation. The creature this time is the lepto luranis, aka Wendigo, whose name means “the starving glutton.” The Wendigos eat people, the more he eats, the hungrier he gets. They stand “over fifteen feet tall…so thin that when they turn sideways they disappear.”
Warthrop is reluctant to investigate this monster for he is convinced it is simply a myth. But when his former love, Muriel Chanler, appears he cannot resist. Her husband, Jon (his former best friend) has gone missing. She’s certain the wendigo is the cause. In reality, to Warthrop the mission is more to prove the wendigo doesn’t exist than anything.
Their hunt starts in the cold, bleak wilderness of Canada but eventually ends up at in New York at an annual gathering of monstrumologists. Once the arrive, they must fight an evil out to destroy the entire city.
I reviewed the first book in this series, The Monstrumologist, yesterday. I didn’t think it was possible that I could love the second book more than the first, but I do! Yancey’s florid, descriptive language continues. Here is a brief sampling:
“It is the language of the bare bough and the cold stone, pronounced in the fell wind’s sullen whisper and the metronomic drip-drip of the rain. It is the song that fallling snow sings and the discordant clamor of sunlight ripped apart by the canopy and miserly filtered down.”
Absolutely breath-taking, yes? While The Curse of the Wendigo doesn’t have quite the scare-tactic that The Monstrumologist had, Yancey makes up for it by the continual growth in characters. While we learned quite a bit about Dr. Warthrop and young Will in the previous book, we learn a great deal about Warthrop’s past in this sequel. In addition, Warthrop and Will’s disfunctional relationship continues to grow and blossom as the two characters evolve.
I’m impatiently awaiting the arrival of the third book in the series! Fans of literary horror won’t go wrong with this series!
Following is some information about the author:
Rick Yancey is the author of The Monstrumologist series (Book #1 of which won the Michael L. Printz Honor Award in 2010) as well as the critically acclaimed series Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp. He has also written several novels for adults including The Highly Effective Detective and A Burning in Homeland. He earned a BA in English from Roosevelt University in Chicago, and worked as a field officer for the Internal Revenue Service before turning to writing full time in 2004. Rick lives in Florida with his wife Sandy, three sons, two dogs and one lizard. Visit him at http://www.rickyancey.com for more info.
Read the first chapter of The Monstrumologist.
Read the first chapter of The Curse of the Wendigo.
Check out the book’s web site & a trailer for The Monstrumologist!
Ok! On the the giveaway! Two lucky winners will receive copies of both The Monstrumologist and The Curse of the Wendigo! To enter the contest, please fill out the form below. Open to US residents only. The winners will be announced Monday, November 22nd. Good luck to all who enter!
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