The Curse of the Wendigo
Rick Yancey doesn’t miss a beat in The Curse of the Wendigo, follow-up to The Monstrumologist. In this book, we start with Pellinore Warthrop being called on by an old lady friend from the past. FYI, there are no sexytimes so get your mind out of the gutter. Anyways, Muriel Chanler is concerned her hubby, John Chanler has been turned into a Wendigo which is like a vampire, in Canada. Pellinore is all ‘Wendigos don’t exist.’ But as he has the hots for Muriel, he agrees to go to Canada to get her hubs back. Along for the journey is young Will Henry. Spanning trips from Canada to New York City, The Curse of the Wendigo presents an eloquent story of grotesque proportions (also, I am so cliche, shut up).
I say this about a lot of authors, but I’m pretty sure I will read any YA Yancey writes. The content is fine for younger YA, minus the nightmares they may get, but the writing is more on par with adult or older YA type books. I don’t feel inferior, like my brain is on a vacation while reading this. It’s not the type of writing you tear through, but savor. It’s like reading an accessible classic, and I am positive these books will pass the test of time.
Furthermore, in relation to the Monstrumologist, Wendigos are way more scary than Anthropophagi. For serious, they do a whole lot of watching and then murder your ass and wear your skin. Like, okay, here’s what a Wendigo encounter probably seems like when you don’t wind up dead: last night I went to the bathroom after writing up some reviews, I was the only person in the room with my desk which connects to the bathroom. Anyways, I walk out of the bathroom, and my boyfriend is just standing there in the half-lit room, waiting for the bathroom. As I did not expect him to just stand there, I nearly had a heart attack. Well, that’s what a Wendigo is like, but with yellow eyes and multiply the scary factor by a million.
Will Henry continues to be endearing, brave and wonderful. Pellinore continues in his complexity between intensely caring for Will Henry and being the YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN guy. There are also female characters in this book. We meet more monstrumologists. Scary times are had all around.Tragedy occurs with no holds barred. Basically, you can expect more of the same quality as The Monstrumologist.
And here is just one quote that I had to include because it references my FAVORITE POEM EVER:
“Let us go then, you and I, like Alice down the rabbit hole, to a time when there still were dark places in the world, and there were men who dared to delve into them.
An old man, I am a boy again.
And dead, the monstrumologist lives.” pg. 5
Disclosure: Received for review.
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April (Books&Wine) – who has written 1074 posts on Good Books And Good Wine.
April is 24 years old. She is an educator. In her free time she can be found reading, working out, or eating junk food. She often wears her sunglasses at night.
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I recently received this and The Monstrumologist in the mail, apparently having won it in an online promotion I didn’t remember entering. But let me tell you I was stoked. I remembered how much you liked the first one; glad the second one was great as well!
I am so glad to see this reviewed on your blog! I have long been a fan of this series, and it is great to see others appreciate it, too. I really enjoyed the old-fashioned classic scary story element to it, but it was gruesome enough to attract a younger modern reader, too. I gave it to my 14 year old niece for her birthday (she loves a scary story) and she gave it a “thumbs up”. Great post!
-Shannon
-StorySnoops
Is it bad that the title makes me think of Supernatural? You totally have me sold on this book! I’m definitely adding it to my Goodreads! Awesome review!
My favourite poem ever as well.
I was of two minds about the first one, but might give this one a chance eventually.
Thanks for the review.
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