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The Monstrumologist #4
The Final Descent
Will Henry and Dr. Warthrop have encountered many horrors together—but can Will endure a monstrumological terror without his mentor?
Will Henry has been through more that seems possible for a boy of fourteen. He’s been on the brink of death on more than one occasion, he has gazed into hell—and hell has stared back at him, and known his face. But through it all, Dr. Warthrop has been at his side.
When Dr. Warthrop fears that Will’s loyalties may be shifting, he turns on Will with a fury, determined to reclaim his young apprentice’s devotion. And so Will must face one of the most horrific creatures of his monstrumology career—and he must face it alone.
Over the course of one day, Will’s life—and Pellinor Warthrop’s destiny—will lie in balance. In the terrifying depths of the Monstrumarium, they will face a monster more terrible than any they could have imagined—and their fates will be decided.
Will Henry has been through more that seems possible for a boy of fourteen. He’s been on the brink of death on more than one occasion, he has gazed into hell—and hell has stared back at him, and known his face. But through it all, Dr. Warthrop has been at his side.
When Dr. Warthrop fears that Will’s loyalties may be shifting, he turns on Will with a fury, determined to reclaim his young apprentice’s devotion. And so Will must face one of the most horrific creatures of his monstrumology career—and he must face it alone.
Over the course of one day, Will’s life—and Pellinor Warthrop’s destiny—will lie in balance. In the terrifying depths of the Monstrumarium, they will face a monster more terrible than any they could have imagined—and their fates will be decided.
320 pages, ebook
First published September 10, 2013
82 people are currently reading
5566 people want to read
About the author
Rick Yancey
40 books9,834 followersaka Richard Yancey.
Rick is a native Floridian and a graduate of Roosevelt University in Chicago. He earned a B.A. in English which he put to use as a field officer for the Internal Revenue Service. Inspired and encouraged by his wife, he decided his degree might also be useful in writing books and in 2004 he began writing full-time.
Since then he has launched two critically acclaimed series: The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, for young readers, and The Highly Effective Detective, for adults. Both books are set in Knoxville, Tennessee, where Rick lived for ten years before returning to Florida.
Rick is a native Floridian and a graduate of Roosevelt University in Chicago. He earned a B.A. in English which he put to use as a field officer for the Internal Revenue Service. Inspired and encouraged by his wife, he decided his degree might also be useful in writing books and in 2004 he began writing full-time.
Since then he has launched two critically acclaimed series: The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, for young readers, and The Highly Effective Detective, for adults. Both books are set in Knoxville, Tennessee, where Rick lived for ten years before returning to Florida.
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September 3, 2015
Monster buddy read with Tash & Haley (August-September 2015).
It's impossible for me to say how utterly genius Rick Yancey is for writing such a conclusion for this series. I don't think I've ever read a book that has bended my mind the way this series, and especially this book, has. Only a mastermind like Yancey is capable of haunting me with the shadow of a book series for more than a year.
After this reread, some things finally snapped into focus. I was finally able to see what Yancey might have been meaning to tell his readers with writing these books. I think I have experienced some of it, actually. In fact, I am almost sure we have all gone through that. Now, turn around and face it. Read the books and you will (probably) understand what I mean.
I will end this ramble here, but not without pointing the obvious: The Monstrumologist series is the best thing I've read in my life. It played with my mind, twisted it, burnt it and rebuilt it. The best decision I've made in my life after choosing Chemistry as my career is having picked these books. You may think I am exaggerating when I say that, but if you give it a thought, you will see there is really no sense in doing that. After all, lying is the worst kind of buffoonery.
So now, why don't you snap to and read this series?
Reviews for the previous books in the series:
· The Monstrumologist
· The Curse of the Wendigo
· The Isle of Blood
...
Review originally posted here on February 2015, written somewhere between August and September 2014.
Once upon a time, there was a little boy who lost his parents in a fire. The boy had no one else in his life after this tragedy. Luckily (or unfortunately), the boy's dad was assistant to a great man called Pellinore Warthrop. This Warthrop—better known as “the doctor”, or “the monstrumologist”—decided that it was a good idea to take the orphan boy as his new assistant as a tribute to his former (and now dead) assistant, without knowing that the boy was doomed the moment Warthrop “adopted” him.
After many years of monster hunting (whether it be man-eating creatures, or wicked people), the boy was not anymore innocent. His soul had blackened, and the monsters he and the doctor hunted had gotten inside his skin and had turned to be part of him. Now, he's an old man whose dark past is such a great burden to him that he cannot resist it for any longer. Thus, he wrote some journals in which he explained his life from the moment he was cursed until the moment he became the man with the past too dark to bear.
Some people say this book was a disappointment, but I don't think so. They say it maybe because the end didn't please them, but for me, it was the best-fitting finale. What can you expect from a book about monsters "written" by a man that was exposed to them since his childhood? Would you really think he would be sane (or at least not perturbed)? Can you expect a happily ever after at the end? In my opinion, the ending is just as it should have been. It is certainly the most probable thing to happen if the things narrated had actually taken place at some time.
The writing is just as marvelous as in the previous books, if not better: It is dark, poetic, powerful and beautiful. I could almost say that the color black is not even dark enough to describe how somber the writing (and the book in general) is. Oh, and did I mention that it is also filled with a lot of philosophy? Well, if I hadn't, now I have.
There were many frightening scenes, although they are not like the ones in the previous books, that is, they're not necessarily gory. Don't expect this book to be like the preceding installments, because it is not. Rick Yancey said in the acknowledgements:
“The Monstrumologist was conceived as one thing and evolved into something quite different. (...) Man-eating monsters running amok is a simple enough concept, the impenetrable dark in us, not so much.”
And he's not fooling you. The Monstrumologist was originally about Will and Warthrop's adventures defeating monsters, nonetheless, with each book that passed, the way the series lead started to turn to another path, a darker one, that resembled more an exploration on humanity:
“It occurred to me, (...) that aberrance is a wholly human construct. There were no such things as monsters outside the human mind. 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 then there is everything else but us. But we do not stand apart from or above or in the middle of anything. There is nothing apart, nothing above, and the middle is everywhere—and nowhere. We are no more beautiful and essential or magnificent than an earthworm. In fact (...) you could say the worm is more beautiful, because it is innocent and we are not. (...), and so who are the monsters and which species shall we call aberrant?”
In this final installment, we get to see more development in the character of Will Henry. There are two of them. One, a sixteen-year-old teenager who's trying to fight the demons inside him and is still under the monstrumologist's service; and a mature Will Henry that has just come back to Warthrop after a long period of being away from him. Each one is different: The first one is troubled and resembles Jack Kearns a lot, and the last one has already his eyes completely open to the cruel reality of the world.
This book broke me. It's not a book that manipulates your feelings—don't get me wrong. It's just that you come to love everything about this series so much, you love the characters as if they were part of yourself and you think there's still hope for everyone that when everything ends, it does it in a way that makes you feel as if you've been... betrayed, and after everything, you feel dead inside. But that's good, because I think that was Mr. Yancey's intention: That you never forget about the series and that you let it live inside you.
You're going to feel angry (especially at Will Henry), sad, betrayed and empty—all at the same time. You're going to be left with more questions than answers, but again, that was fine for me. Now the ghost of this series is living inside me, haunting me, pursuing me, without letting me alone—not even for a day.
And finally, I really hope this series wins popularity one day, because I feel I'm the only person on Earth that has read it. As I said on a previous review, people don't know what they are missing with not reading this series. To tell you something else, this series is part of the slim list of books that changed my way of seeing things in life, and I'm not joking about this. It's like these books are my new glasses without which I only see blurred shadows and lights.
Snap to, readers! Give a chance to this series, let the shadow live within you too. You will not regret reading it.
“Yes, my dear child, monsters are real.”
P.S.: If the series itself didn't broke my heart, then this broke it. I knew about this conflict (and thinking about it depresses me), but I read this post until now. It makes me feel so sad to see that this masterpiece had its life threatened. It's a good thing, though, that even when this series is only appreciated by a very small group of people, we fierce in our love for it.
March 25, 2014
It occurred to me … that aberrance is a wholly human construct. There were no such things as monsters outside the human mind. 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 then there is everything else but us. But we do not stand apart from or above or in the middle of anything. There is nothing apart, nothing above, and the middle is everywhere––and nowhere.
I've put off reviewing this for a long time––partly because I'm super lazy (as always) but also because … well, I have complicated feelings about this final installment to the series. I wouldn't go so far as to call it "disappointing" because that sounds harsh––and don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it. It was just so staggeringly different from the first three books that it felt detached from the rest of the series for me.
I understand that there was some publishing drama surrounding this book, which I hadn't known about until I opened the book and saw a brief mention of it in Rick Yancey's introduction. Not knowing what he was referring to, I looked it up and found a blog post explaining the situation.
Apparently, after the third book had been released, Yancey received a letter from his agent that said something like, "Wow great job with the conclusion to the series, haha." And he was like, "… Uhh, what. There's still another book." And his agent was like, "Oh … awkward." So yeah, Simon & Schuster had randomly canceled his contract after the third book was published. Yancey noted that the same week, they made a multi-book deal with Hilary Duff.
Well … nice job, guys.
At least they changed their minds, but finding out about it still made me pretty furious. I guess what saddens me most is that the contract was canceled due to poor book sales, which is a shame because it's one of the best YA series I've ever read. Meanwhile, Yancey goes on to write The 5th Wave––which, in my opinion, seemed like something he only wrote to appeal to popular trends. And lo and behold, that book does amazingly and gets a big movie deal before it even hits bookstores.
But, I digress. The point is, I don't know whether this drama with the publisher had anything to do with how the book turned out. It just … upsets me.
Anyway, moving along:
I totally devoured the first three books in the Monstrumologist series. They were terrifying, thrilling, disgusting … Everything I could want in a book. I loved the style, the characters, and the story. I read all three of them in a row in less than a week, which something I hardly ever do when I'm reading a series; usually I wait between books. There was one day when I sat down and read the second half of the second book and then most of the third book and it totaled to about 500 pages' worth of reading in a single day. Even for me, that's pretty impressive.
So of course, I eagerly awaited the fourth book, constantly checking for updates for months on end. Waiting for it was agony. It came out a little before my birthday, and then my mom sent it to me as an early birthday present. Of course I was totally pumped to read it and soon had read the whole thing.
And … well … Hmm. I don't know how exactly to describe this book or how I felt about it.
But before I get to any criticisms, I can start off by saying that it was definitely a good book, and I definitely liked it.
First of all, I love Yancey's writing style in this series. It matches the time period of the story without seeming forced. It's full of vivid descriptions and many thought-provoking moments.
As with the first three books, the fourth book continues to explore the thin line between monsters and humans. We see Will Henry fall deeper into a dark part of his mind, to the point where he could be considered a monster himself––and that's utterly terrifying, and done very well. The story was thrilling and kept me turning the pages, wondering what on earth was going to happen.
Ultimately, though, I just didn't find myself as invested in this final book as I was in the first three. I think part of it was that it was constantly skipping around on the timeline which sometimes made it confusing, and I wasn't always sure what was happening when. Will Henry is also totally losing his mind at many points in the story, which sometimes causes a dramatic change in style––and while that felt appropriate for the situation, it made me feel kind of isolated from the story sometimes.
I think what bothered me most was that I didn't feel attached to the characters the same way as I had before. In the first three books, I adored the friendship between Will and Warthrop and found it very compelling. In this book … Will just came off as a total asshole a lot of the time. He was so different from the character he'd been before, and it was a bit jarring. On top of that, I didn't feel like there were as many powerful interactions between him and Warthrop as there had been in the previous books. In fact, there seemed to just be a lot of animosity between them for most of the story and I found that sad. I mean, their relationship had always been confusing and had its ups and downs––and I also understand Will being upset––but still … there were a lot of touching moments between them in the other books and I felt like that was kind of lacking in this one.
On top of that, the ending left me really confused––and from reading other reviews, I see I'm not the only one. I was hoping to get a better sense of closure from the end but it was just kind of like, "… Huh?" And it was over. It's been months since I read it at this point, and I'm struggling to even remember exactly what happened; it just didn't stick with me, besides that I remember it being perplexing.
The final word:
I still love this series. I love the first three books. And I really like this one as well, but just not on the same level as its predecessors. Still, even though this one was not as memorable as the first three books for me, I still thought it was very frightening, dark, and thought-provoking.
~ Flying Kick-a-pow! Reviews ~
Pre-review ranting/fangirling under the spoiler.
January 25, 2018
I take The Final Descent and what do I find at the bottom?
Indeed, my mind wasblown nuked, I don’t even know how to begin to review the finale of The Monstrumologist series. I guess I’ll start with my expectations. I had a picture in my head of one last adventure for Will and Warthrop to bag a monster of legendary proportions. Warthrop dies, Will continues the craft, opens a school for Monstrumologist hopefuls, he names it The Pellinore Warthrop School for the Strange or something, he marries Lillian Bates and Monstrumology quietly fades as the world gets smaller.
What has Rick Yancey to say about my vision of The Final Descent? (Rick Yancey will be played by Martin Freeman)
I admit that it’s somewhat uninspired and an ending that might belong to a fluffier book, but at least I got something right? Right?
It’s true. None of my expectations ever came to light in The Final Descent. Instead Rick Yancey completely, completely throws me off the loop and I can’t seem to find my way back. The general reaction for the finale seems to be that of disappointment and I understand because I guess majority had expectations in the same vein as mine, and Yancey dashed every single one of them.
Three years after The Isle of Blood, sixteen year old Will accompanies Warthrop to the Monstrumologist convention in New York to present Warthrop’s grandest discovery yet, the last Titanoboa cerrejonensis. I’ll end the non-spoiler summary here because the rest deserve to be experienced first hand by the reader.
The Final Descent did not meet any of my expectations, and I wouldn’t want it any other way because just when I thought I saw the proverbial light at the end, I’m plunged back into the darkness where I began. We are hunters all. We are, all of us, monstrumologists.
It has been a wonderful, dark, gory, puzzling and thoroughly satisfying ”vacation” in Rick Yancey’s The Monstrumologist world, made all the more pleasurable by myfanatical obsessive enthusiastic Monster Buddies Vane & Haley. All the stars for this series! ★★★★★
Indeed, my mind was
What has Rick Yancey to say about my vision of The Final Descent? (Rick Yancey will be played by Martin Freeman)
I admit that it’s somewhat uninspired and an ending that might belong to a fluffier book, but at least I got something right? Right?
It’s true. None of my expectations ever came to light in The Final Descent. Instead Rick Yancey completely, completely throws me off the loop and I can’t seem to find my way back. The general reaction for the finale seems to be that of disappointment and I understand because I guess majority had expectations in the same vein as mine, and Yancey dashed every single one of them.
Three years after The Isle of Blood, sixteen year old Will accompanies Warthrop to the Monstrumologist convention in New York to present Warthrop’s grandest discovery yet, the last Titanoboa cerrejonensis. I’ll end the non-spoiler summary here because the rest deserve to be experienced first hand by the reader.
The Final Descent did not meet any of my expectations, and I wouldn’t want it any other way because just when I thought I saw the proverbial light at the end, I’m plunged back into the darkness where I began. We are hunters all. We are, all of us, monstrumologists.
It has been a wonderful, dark, gory, puzzling and thoroughly satisfying ”vacation” in Rick Yancey’s The Monstrumologist world, made all the more pleasurable by my
July 17, 2021
کار ترجمهی مجموعه هیولاشناس بالاخره بعد از چند سال تمام شد. جلد آخر بیشترین فاصله را از حالوهوای جلد اول دارد؛ یعنی دیگر نمیشود آن را یک کتاب وحشت نوجوان در نظر گرفت. کتاب بیش از پیش به واکاوی طبیعت انسان میپردازد و در این مسیر از اسطورهی آدموحوا و سفر دانته کمک میگیرد و گریزی هم به مفاهيم نمادین هیولا و مار در دیدگاه متفکران معاصر از جمله نیچه میزند. بااینحال بیش از هرچیز انگار روایت جنون است که شوریدهوار روی کاغذ آمده است.
شخصیتهای داستان و رویدادها چنان در هم میتنند که دیگر مرزی بینشان وجود ندارد و خواننده خود باید تصمیم بگیرد چه را باور کند، چه را خزعبلات ذهنی دیوانه در نظر بگیرد؛ اصلا واقعیتی وجود دارد یا نه. نمادی در کار هست یا نه. و بسیار پرسشهای دیگر که هر خواننده به فراخور تجربه و بینش خود پاسخی متفاوت به آن خواهد داد. واپسین هبوط سیال نوشته شده و در ذهن نیز سیال میماند و تجربهای فراموشنشدنی رقم میزند.
شخصیتهای داستان و رویدادها چنان در هم میتنند که دیگر مرزی بینشان وجود ندارد و خواننده خود باید تصمیم بگیرد چه را باور کند، چه را خزعبلات ذهنی دیوانه در نظر بگیرد؛ اصلا واقعیتی وجود دارد یا نه. نمادی در کار هست یا نه. و بسیار پرسشهای دیگر که هر خواننده به فراخور تجربه و بینش خود پاسخی متفاوت به آن خواهد داد. واپسین هبوط سیال نوشته شده و در ذهن نیز سیال میماند و تجربهای فراموشنشدنی رقم میزند.
September 28, 2013
*Spoilers ahead*
With a heavy heart I have decided that I can not give this book a rating higher than one star.
The good: Beautiful prose. Rick Yancey is one of those writers whose prose is absolutely poetic and breathtakingly beautiful. Reading his written word is a pleasure, he is a wordsmith of the highest caliber. Yancey's turn of phrase is absolutely compelling and emotive. Monsters. Yancey creates some truly horrific and completely believable monsters. The return of favorite characters. Namely Lilly, Warthrop, and Von Helrung (*weeps bitterly* poor poor Von Helrung). And the setting and time period, Yancey is one of those writers who can really drop you into a world and make you feel like you are part of it. I love that.
The bad: Everything else. I've been a devoted fan of these books from the moment they came out, following along on Will Henry's journey and his dysfunctional at best, and abusive at worst, relationship with Dr. Warthrop. But, BUT, the shining star of this book for me, has always been Will's bravery, and goodness, and the love he has for Dr. Warthrop, and I believe (though at times it is so buried) Warthrop's love for him.
As much as I'm interested in monsters (YES PLEASE!), what I have always found most compelling about this series has always been the relationship between Will Henry and Dr. Warthrop.
There has always been some instance of redemption in every single book that shows Warthrop does care for Will, and that Will has not given up on Warthrop.
That was not there in this book.
Will's character is so completely changed in this book that it felt like a cruel betrayal. Where was the boy I had grown to love, who was forced to do horrible things, but did them anyways for the people he cared about? Where was the Dr. who made a million mistakes, but showed by one gesture, tiny as it may be, that he cared, in fact, loved Will Henry?
Gone.
And the ending. I've read some reviews of people who said "after all Will had been through, that was the only way it could end, it was fitting." To which I say, what a load of crap.
It did NOT have to end that way. Because the Will I know could make hard choices, could sacrifice when needed, but was not ever maliciously. . . evil.
That's something I loved about this series, that Will always showed he had the power to choose his own destiny, even when the two options were almost equally evil, he still could CHOOSE one. To say that he couldn't, that everything in all three previous books was leading up to this one heartbreaking ending is A LOAD OF CRAP.
I don't believe it was true to his character.
The ending, the whole book, had a feeling of being rushed. And the disclaimer at the beginning by Yancey, saying how difficult it was to read Will's journals, making an excuse for what was to come, was lazy writing.
I ardently believed in this series when many others didn't, but now that it's over, and THIS is the ending, I feel very, very sad that I fought so hard to see it end with one more book. I'd rather have an ambiguous ending, it could have ended at The Isle of Blood and I would have been happier then than I am now having read this 'conclusion.'
Tis a sad day for Monstrumologists everywhere.
With a heavy heart I have decided that I can not give this book a rating higher than one star.
The good: Beautiful prose. Rick Yancey is one of those writers whose prose is absolutely poetic and breathtakingly beautiful. Reading his written word is a pleasure, he is a wordsmith of the highest caliber. Yancey's turn of phrase is absolutely compelling and emotive. Monsters. Yancey creates some truly horrific and completely believable monsters. The return of favorite characters. Namely Lilly, Warthrop, and Von Helrung (*weeps bitterly* poor poor Von Helrung). And the setting and time period, Yancey is one of those writers who can really drop you into a world and make you feel like you are part of it. I love that.
The bad: Everything else. I've been a devoted fan of these books from the moment they came out, following along on Will Henry's journey and his dysfunctional at best, and abusive at worst, relationship with Dr. Warthrop. But, BUT, the shining star of this book for me, has always been Will's bravery, and goodness, and the love he has for Dr. Warthrop, and I believe (though at times it is so buried) Warthrop's love for him.
As much as I'm interested in monsters (YES PLEASE!), what I have always found most compelling about this series has always been the relationship between Will Henry and Dr. Warthrop.
There has always been some instance of redemption in every single book that shows Warthrop does care for Will, and that Will has not given up on Warthrop.
That was not there in this book.
Will's character is so completely changed in this book that it felt like a cruel betrayal. Where was the boy I had grown to love, who was forced to do horrible things, but did them anyways for the people he cared about? Where was the Dr. who made a million mistakes, but showed by one gesture, tiny as it may be, that he cared, in fact, loved Will Henry?
Gone.
And the ending. I've read some reviews of people who said "after all Will had been through, that was the only way it could end, it was fitting." To which I say, what a load of crap.
It did NOT have to end that way. Because the Will I know could make hard choices, could sacrifice when needed, but was not ever maliciously. . . evil.
That's something I loved about this series, that Will always showed he had the power to choose his own destiny, even when the two options were almost equally evil, he still could CHOOSE one. To say that he couldn't, that everything in all three previous books was leading up to this one heartbreaking ending is A LOAD OF CRAP.
I don't believe it was true to his character.
The ending, the whole book, had a feeling of being rushed. And the disclaimer at the beginning by Yancey, saying how difficult it was to read Will's journals, making an excuse for what was to come, was lazy writing.
I ardently believed in this series when many others didn't, but now that it's over, and THIS is the ending, I feel very, very sad that I fought so hard to see it end with one more book. I'd rather have an ambiguous ending, it could have ended at The Isle of Blood and I would have been happier then than I am now having read this 'conclusion.'
Tis a sad day for Monstrumologists everywhere.
December 4, 2013
Oh dear, that was rather disappointing. The monstrumologist started so well four books back, but I have to say, this concluding volume has turned out to be the worst of the lot. The deft writing is still there, the pretty prose. But our intrepid, likable protagonist, Will Henry, is gone, replaced by cold-hearted enigma. His character has taken such a 180 between books that the change is jarring, and not for the better. He is no longer a character to stand behind and cheer for. And neither is anyone else. Worse yet, the delicate relationship that Yancey had been forming between Will and Lilly Bates through three novels is dealt several harsh and undeserving body blows in the last piece, denying the reader's desire to see a satisfying resolution to that relationship. Finally, the "monsters" in the Montrumologist series have gotten less and less monstrous -- less and less mythical and interesting. What started as a fresh take on gothic horror geared toward the YA market has ended as a pseudo psychological rant on the inherent evil in us all. And it has not ended for the better.
September 3, 2025
چه پایان درخور و شایسته ای
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November 26, 2015
There were no such things as monsters outside the human mind.
A clusterfuck of mindfucks is what this book is.
The finale to The Monstrumologist left me with more questions than answers and admittedly, with more fucking heart ache than ever. Rick Yancey has truly outdone himself this time.
Reading The Final Descent is like falling into a dark gap instead of a rabbit hole that (used to) lead one to Wonderland.
This book did not make me happy. At all.
Nearly everything and everyone I have come to known has taken a 180 degree arc - particularly William James Henry himself who is no longer that brave, naive young soul. If The Isle of Blood is where the process of his transition to maturity took place then The Final Descent is where it is completed. I find it quite hard to believe that once upon a time, he was that little boy (in the tattered hat) who used to retch at the sight of a monster's innards. Replaced in that little boy's stead is a steel-hard older version of himself who has a cold, cynical view on the entire world.
Will's total transformation made the entire book even more intense to read for me. He's like a walking timebomb waiting to blow off. Even his strained relationship with Doctor Pellinore Warthrop is affected and none for the better.
Yancey's prose is as eloquent as ever in its own beautiful haunting way but even that is not enough to make me forget my crushing disappointment and feeling of betrayal.
The philosophical nature of the series took a much more darker turn in The Final Descent, Yancey again drew a line between humanity and monstrosity.
He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster.
And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.- Friedrich Nietzsche.
For how do one fight off their own demons when one battles them in reality? Perhaps that is what this series has been trying to tell its readers all along.
The fourth and final book might as well reveal all the hanging questions. But I was left to connect the dots all by my lonesome. Instead of handing all the answers on a platter and tying up the entire thing nicely with a pretty bow, Yancey has given his readers a choice to choose their own answers and interpretation. As frustrated as I am with the entire ordeal, I'd still give the author a standing ovation for doing it so well.
I am not happy with the outcome (Not in a million years. Screw you, Rick Yancey) but I had expected it, and I couldn't think of any other justifying end for The Monstrumologist series.
We have reached the bottom of it, you and I. The final descent—and this is the face of the beast that waits for us in the dark.
Turn around.
September 15, 2015
“Human...I don't know what that word means...Tell me what defines it..
Well, I've been meaning to write a proper review for this one weeks ago, but I didn't know that it would take the death of a dear friend in order for me to be pushed into writing this review.
Oh well, life's shitty that way.
We all fucking lost someone or something over the years. It may be trivial things or important things but you still lost it. The Final Descent is a book about losing something. For those who have read and loved The Monstrumologist series by Uncle Rick, we watched how Will Henry and Warthrop's relationship changed and admit it, we all loved that little shit and that cold son of a bitch.
This book is probably the worst and the best book ever. A lot has changed and some of those are not good that it gives your heart tiny little pricks.
Will Henry lost a very important thing in his life in this book.Some people say it's his humanity or maybe his soul. Some people said that it's his innocence. I say, fuck it,he lost everything. And the saddest part is we grew to love that kid from the moment he started puking his guts out when Warthrop is dissecting an Anthropophagi until he cried his heart out when Warthrop leaved him in New York. And don't you just hate it when the one you love was thrown into the dark side?
This reminds me of a quote that I really liked.
“Because in the end nothing is worse than seeing the fall of one you loved. It was somehow worse than losing a love. It made everything seem questionable. It made the past bitter and confused.”
-The Fall of the Hotel Dumort
Anyway,I'm a sucker for books that tackles the human nature so even if a lot of people hated this book, I loved it. This book is gonna make you uncomfortable and will make you angry. This book will break your heart and this book will make you question why the fuck did you read the book that I recommended.
So if somehow (and I'm sure this is gonna happen) the book would give you emotional baggage and heartache, then DEAL WITH IT. *Bwahaha*
P.S: Thank you so much Vane for making me super crazy with this series.
Well, I've been meaning to write a proper review for this one weeks ago, but I didn't know that it would take the death of a dear friend in order for me to be pushed into writing this review.
Oh well, life's shitty that way.
We all fucking lost someone or something over the years. It may be trivial things or important things but you still lost it. The Final Descent is a book about losing something. For those who have read and loved The Monstrumologist series by Uncle Rick, we watched how Will Henry and Warthrop's relationship changed and admit it, we all loved that little shit and that cold son of a bitch.
This book is probably the worst and the best book ever. A lot has changed and some of those are not good that it gives your heart tiny little pricks.
Will Henry lost a very important thing in his life in this book.Some people say it's his humanity or maybe his soul. Some people said that it's his innocence. I say, fuck it,he lost everything. And the saddest part is we grew to love that kid from the moment he started puking his guts out when Warthrop is dissecting an Anthropophagi until he cried his heart out when Warthrop leaved him in New York. And don't you just hate it when the one you love was thrown into the dark side?
This reminds me of a quote that I really liked.
“Because in the end nothing is worse than seeing the fall of one you loved. It was somehow worse than losing a love. It made everything seem questionable. It made the past bitter and confused.”
-The Fall of the Hotel Dumort
Anyway,I'm a sucker for books that tackles the human nature so even if a lot of people hated this book, I loved it. This book is gonna make you uncomfortable and will make you angry. This book will break your heart and this book will make you question why the fuck did you read the book that I recommended.
So if somehow (and I'm sure this is gonna happen) the book would give you emotional baggage and heartache, then DEAL WITH IT. *Bwahaha*
P.S: Thank you so much Vane for making me super crazy with this series.
August 24, 2023
"زمان خطی است، ما اما دایرهایم."
و در نهایت پایان...
بخشی ازش برام قابل حدس بود. فکر میکنم اواخر جلد سوم بود که به ذهنم رسید. گمونم چیزی گریزناپذیر بود! ولی بخش دیگه برام جالب بود. شگفت زدهام نکرد اما در نوع خودش جالب پیش رفت.
این جلد شامل دو بخش بود... فلش بکهایی به گذشته و اتفاقات زمان حال (اگر بشه بهش گفت حال) که خب تناسب و هم گام بودن این دو بخش رو دوست داشتم. ماهرانه پیش رفتند.
در مورد شخصیت پردازی، فضاسازی و بقیه موارد باید بگم یه جاهایی نتونستم ویل رو درک کنم... نتونستم وارثروپ رو درک کنم. نتونستم منطقِ پشتِ اتفاقاتی که میافتادند رو درک کنم و حس میکنم هدف نویسنده هم همین بود... اصلا نمیخواست که تمام اینها درک بشن. فکر میکنم تمامیت محتوای این کتاب یه اثر جانبی از جلدهای پیشین بود. انگار که سه جلد اول قصری درخشان بود که به خاطر بُن و پایهی پوسیدهاش بر سر خواننده بیچاره خراب شد.
داستان شروعی مشابه با بقیه کتابهای مجموعه داشت ولی روندش به کلی متفاوت بود. اتفاقات نسبتا سریعتر پیش میرفتند و از اضافهگویی و کُندی خبری نبود اما چیزی که این جلد بیشتر از همه خودش رو نشون داد سنگینتر شدن فضای داستان و بعد از اون روندی بود که به آرومی گُنگ شد.
نمیتونم بگم این جلد رو دوست داشتم یا ازش متنفر بودم اما حس میکنم تمامش به نوعی اجتناب ناپذیر بود... چیزهایی که نشونههاش کم و بیش توی جلدهای قبل بودند فقط دقت بالایی میخواستند.
و در مورد چند صفحه پایانی این جلد... *آه عمیق* نمیدونم ناامیدم یا گیجم یا عصبانی. شایدم هر سه. به هر حال میل زیادی دارم که سرم رو به یه جایی بکوبم!
نمیگم این جلد بد بود! چون نه، واقعا بد نبود ولی قطعا چیزی نبود که توقعش رو داشته باشم. فکر میکنم انتظاراتم خیلی خیلی بیشتر بود اما...
در هر حال، این مجموعه هم با تمام بد و خوبش تموم شد و احتمالا به لیست موردعلاقههام پیوست اما چیزی که هست اینه که برای من مجموعه توی جلد سوم تموم شد نه جلد چهارم... اما به گمونم مثل تمام چیزهای دیگهی زندگی، این پایان هم چیزی بود که گریزی ازش نبود.
و در آخر،
ویل هنری و دکتر پلینور وارثروپ عزیز، از ماجراجویی به همراه شما لذت بردم. بابت این تجربهی عجیب و در عین حال تلخ و شیرین ازتون ممنونم.
با عشق و احترام فراوان.
دوستدار شما، م.
و در نهایت پایان...
بخشی ازش برام قابل حدس بود. فکر میکنم اواخر جلد سوم بود که به ذهنم رسید. گمونم چیزی گریزناپذیر بود! ولی بخش دیگه برام جالب بود. شگفت زدهام نکرد اما در نوع خودش جالب پیش رفت.
این جلد شامل دو بخش بود... فلش بکهایی به گذشته و اتفاقات زمان حال (اگر بشه بهش گفت حال) که خب تناسب و هم گام بودن این دو بخش رو دوست داشتم. ماهرانه پیش رفتند.
در مورد شخصیت پردازی، فضاسازی و بقیه موارد باید بگم یه جاهایی نتونستم ویل رو درک کنم... نتونستم وارثروپ رو درک کنم. نتونستم منطقِ پشتِ اتفاقاتی که میافتادند رو درک کنم و حس میکنم هدف نویسنده هم همین بود... اصلا نمیخواست که تمام اینها درک بشن. فکر میکنم تمامیت محتوای این کتاب یه اثر جانبی از جلدهای پیشین بود. انگار که سه جلد اول قصری درخشان بود که به خاطر بُن و پایهی پوسیدهاش بر سر خواننده بیچاره خراب شد.
داستان شروعی مشابه با بقیه کتابهای مجموعه داشت ولی روندش به کلی متفاوت بود. اتفاقات نسبتا سریعتر پیش میرفتند و از اضافهگویی و کُندی خبری نبود اما چیزی که این جلد بیشتر از همه خودش رو نشون داد سنگینتر شدن فضای داستان و بعد از اون روندی بود که به آرومی گُنگ شد.
نمیتونم بگم این جلد رو دوست داشتم یا ازش متنفر بودم اما حس میکنم تمامش به نوعی اجتناب ناپذیر بود... چیزهایی که نشونههاش کم و بیش توی جلدهای قبل بودند فقط دقت بالایی میخواستند.
و در مورد چند صفحه پایانی این جلد... *آه عمیق* نمیدونم ناامیدم یا گیجم یا عصبانی. شایدم هر سه. به هر حال میل زیادی دارم که سرم رو به یه جایی بکوبم!
نمیگم این جلد بد بود! چون نه، واقعا بد نبود ولی قطعا چیزی نبود که توقعش رو داشته باشم. فکر میکنم انتظاراتم خیلی خیلی بیشتر بود اما...
در هر حال، این مجموعه هم با تمام بد و خوبش تموم شد و احتمالا به لیست موردعلاقههام پیوست اما چیزی که هست اینه که برای من مجموعه توی جلد سوم تموم شد نه جلد چهارم... اما به گمونم مثل تمام چیزهای دیگهی زندگی، این پایان هم چیزی بود که گریزی ازش نبود.
و در آخر،
ویل هنری و دکتر پلینور وارثروپ عزیز، از ماجراجویی به همراه شما لذت بردم. بابت این تجربهی عجیب و در عین حال تلخ و شیرین ازتون ممنونم.
با عشق و احترام فراوان.
دوستدار شما، م.
December 4, 2013
GUYS GUYS GUYS MY COPY ARRIVED EARLY. HOLY CRAP. This book is going to destroy me. Utterly.
UPDATE:
I did. I'm dead inside now.
Also, even though we're basically the smallest fandom ever, I think we're also some of the most obsessive people when it comes to this series.
UPDATE:
I did. I'm dead inside now.
Also, even though we're basically the smallest fandom ever, I think we're also some of the most obsessive people when it comes to this series.
abort-mission
March 25, 2016I cannot do this. I will not do this.
This book is like when a loved one lays dying in a hospital bed, sickly, washed-out, and hooked up to all sorts of machines. More specifically, this book is like when that loved one asks you not to remember them that way, but rather as the way they were when they lived.
The Monstrumologist series has been such an incredible ride, full of growth and beauty and pain and horror. I want to remember it as being as fantastic as I know it is, not the way The Final Descent is shaping up to make it. It takes two of the most complex, interesting characters I've ever had the pleasure to read of and shoots them into a very bleak future- it seems that none of their qualities that I've come to know and love have survived. Will Henry is a brutish, melodramatic teen; Warthrop is bitter and on the brink of death. I DNF'd at page 55.
I realise Yancey's intent here. This series was never supposed to end happily. It is about monsters, maybe even narrated by one, and it showcases the worst of humankind. However, I can't take this perversion of the characters I've grown to root for. I've come a long way with Will and Warthrop, and I can't help but feel like this abrupt, 180 degree change in their personalities, ideologies, as values throws away the hundreds of pages of subtle, moving growth I've enjoyed so much in the previous three books.
Not to mention the writing: in the introduction, Yancey's talks about how "incoherent" the "original folios" were, and how he felt betrayed by the ending. I would argue that they still are quite incoherent. Obviously, this is intentional (Will wrote them towards the end of his life, when it seems he went insane- or more insane than he already was). Still, it's pretty infuriating. Scattered, and not in a good way; rife with confusing sentences and broken paragraphs and tense switches. The lush, gorgeous prose from The Monstrumologist, The Curse of the Wendigo, and The Isle of Blood is gone as if it never was; so too is Will Henry's distinct voice, wondrous and worried and tinged with the nostalgia and regret of old age. He seems crazed here, and ragingly bipolar. In many ways, this feels like a totally different book than its companions in the series.
I assume that Will Henry's true identity (and perhaps Warthrop's as well) is revealed here, and so is how he found himself dead in a ditch, as is whatever grand monster Warthrop's been keeping in the Monstrumarium, but I don't care enough to let those things sully the pure glory that was The Isle of Blood. Honestly, I prefer the mystery to whatever truth might be unveiled- whether Will Henry was who he claimed to be, or just a particularly imaginative lunatic, it does not matter. Perhaps he was a bit of both, like the Wendigo, like Kearns. The mystery does not bother me in the slightest.
If The Isle of Blood wasn't as perfect as it was, I would probably continue with The Final Descent. But it was perfect- perfectly written, perfectly told. I feel like both Will and Warthrop's characters completed a very meaningful, very touching arc in that story, and it may well may be the best novel I've ever read. And it's not that I can't handle sad endings; it's just that that book felt so complete. Nothing more needs to be added- it's like creating a sequel to a movie that maybe didn't tie up every loose end, but was enjoyable and didn't need to be continued.
Will Henry says early on- it may be the first book, or possibly the second- that it is the reader's blessing that they are able to turn away, because he could not. So I am choosing to do so. Call it cowardice, but I call it doing a service to a loved one. I choose not to remember them as a sickly shell of what they once were, but as the vibrant soul they always will be.
We are, all of us, monstrumologists.
This book is like when a loved one lays dying in a hospital bed, sickly, washed-out, and hooked up to all sorts of machines. More specifically, this book is like when that loved one asks you not to remember them that way, but rather as the way they were when they lived.
The Monstrumologist series has been such an incredible ride, full of growth and beauty and pain and horror. I want to remember it as being as fantastic as I know it is, not the way The Final Descent is shaping up to make it. It takes two of the most complex, interesting characters I've ever had the pleasure to read of and shoots them into a very bleak future- it seems that none of their qualities that I've come to know and love have survived. Will Henry is a brutish, melodramatic teen; Warthrop is bitter and on the brink of death. I DNF'd at page 55.
I realise Yancey's intent here. This series was never supposed to end happily. It is about monsters, maybe even narrated by one, and it showcases the worst of humankind. However, I can't take this perversion of the characters I've grown to root for. I've come a long way with Will and Warthrop, and I can't help but feel like this abrupt, 180 degree change in their personalities, ideologies, as values throws away the hundreds of pages of subtle, moving growth I've enjoyed so much in the previous three books.
Not to mention the writing: in the introduction, Yancey's talks about how "incoherent" the "original folios" were, and how he felt betrayed by the ending. I would argue that they still are quite incoherent. Obviously, this is intentional (Will wrote them towards the end of his life, when it seems he went insane- or more insane than he already was). Still, it's pretty infuriating. Scattered, and not in a good way; rife with confusing sentences and broken paragraphs and tense switches. The lush, gorgeous prose from The Monstrumologist, The Curse of the Wendigo, and The Isle of Blood is gone as if it never was; so too is Will Henry's distinct voice, wondrous and worried and tinged with the nostalgia and regret of old age. He seems crazed here, and ragingly bipolar. In many ways, this feels like a totally different book than its companions in the series.
I assume that Will Henry's true identity (and perhaps Warthrop's as well) is revealed here, and so is how he found himself dead in a ditch, as is whatever grand monster Warthrop's been keeping in the Monstrumarium, but I don't care enough to let those things sully the pure glory that was The Isle of Blood. Honestly, I prefer the mystery to whatever truth might be unveiled- whether Will Henry was who he claimed to be, or just a particularly imaginative lunatic, it does not matter. Perhaps he was a bit of both, like the Wendigo, like Kearns. The mystery does not bother me in the slightest.
If The Isle of Blood wasn't as perfect as it was, I would probably continue with The Final Descent. But it was perfect- perfectly written, perfectly told. I feel like both Will and Warthrop's characters completed a very meaningful, very touching arc in that story, and it may well may be the best novel I've ever read. And it's not that I can't handle sad endings; it's just that that book felt so complete. Nothing more needs to be added- it's like creating a sequel to a movie that maybe didn't tie up every loose end, but was enjoyable and didn't need to be continued.
Will Henry says early on- it may be the first book, or possibly the second- that it is the reader's blessing that they are able to turn away, because he could not. So I am choosing to do so. Call it cowardice, but I call it doing a service to a loved one. I choose not to remember them as a sickly shell of what they once were, but as the vibrant soul they always will be.
We are, all of us, monstrumologists.
December 10, 2020
Snap to, Mr. Yancey, snap to! Please and thank you.
December 19, 2022
I've got a few books to review that have been piling up. This was a good read although not as good as I had hoped but it was a decent series that I'm glad I reread after not enjoying them at all the first time
May 7, 2024
چرا انقدر زود تموم شد؟ :(
شاید برجستهترین ویژگی جلد چهارم و پایانی (که دیگران هم متوجهش شدن)، «تغییر» باشه. همهچی تغییر کرده. شخصیتها دیگه اون ویل هنری و وارثروپ قبلی نیستن. اتمسفر دیگه به «وحشت» نزدیکی نداره. میتونی معمایی و فلسفی و مافیایی بنامی اما وحشت خیر. و یه چیز دیگه تغییر کرده، مهمتر از همه، اونم منِ خوانندهست.
دیگه مثل آدمی که قبلاً هیولاشناس میخوند، هیولاشناس نمیخونم. دیگه حسوحالش فرق داره. نمیدونم چطور ولی یه جور نیست. یادمه قبلاً کز میکردم روی مبل، جرئت نمیکردم برم جاهای تاریک، و مبهوت میشدم از زیبایی این نوشتار و داستان و ترجمه. اگه از قبل میشناختین میدونین عجب فنگرلی بودم براش. الان همهچی معمولیتره. من کرختتر شدم. خبری از اون احساسات آتشینم نیست.
ولی هنوز دوستش دارم.
من راستش خیلی در جریان دانته و تمثیلهاش نبودم، کمدی الهی نخوندم و اگه نکتهای فراتر از پانویسها (خیلی گویا و مختصر و خوب) و درک خودمون نیاز بود که درکش فقط با خوندن کمدی الهی محقق میشد، من متوجهش نشدم و چقدر حیف؛ ولی هنوز بهنظرم اصل داستان رو متوجه شدم و به اندازه کافی زیباست.
توهینهای وارثروپ قشنگ roast and toast هستن. میشوردت، میذاره رو بند خشک بشی، اتو میکنه میذاره تو کشو:
و یه نکته رندوم. حالا نمیشد Faulk رو آقای فاک ننوشت؟ نمیشد اینجا گیر تلفظی نداد و آقای فالک نوشت؟ خیلی معذبم میکرد وقتی هر دفعه با آقای فاک روبهرو میشدم. آخه. آقای فاک. فاک.😭
جوانتر که بودم اغلب از خودم میپرسیدم یعنی هیولاشناسی تاریکی رو به قلب آدمها میدمه یا صرفاً آدمهای دارای قلب تاریک رو به خودش جذب میکنه؟
شاید برجستهترین ویژگی جلد چهارم و پایانی (که دیگران هم متوجهش شدن)، «تغییر» باشه. همهچی تغییر کرده. شخصیتها دیگه اون ویل هنری و وارثروپ قبلی نیستن. اتمسفر دیگه به «وحشت» نزدیکی نداره. میتونی معمایی و فلسفی و مافیایی بنامی اما وحشت خیر. و یه چیز دیگه تغییر کرده، مهمتر از همه، اونم منِ خوانندهست.
دیگه مثل آدمی که قبلاً هیولاشناس میخوند، هیولاشناس نمیخونم. دیگه حسوحالش فرق داره. نمیدونم چطور ولی یه جور نیست. یادمه قبلاً کز میکردم روی مبل، جرئت نمیکردم برم جاهای تاریک، و مبهوت میشدم از زیبایی این نوشتار و داستان و ترجمه. اگه از قبل میشناختین میدونین عجب فنگرلی بودم براش. الان همهچی معمولیتره. من کرختتر شدم. خبری از اون احساسات آتشینم نیست.
ولی هنوز دوستش دارم.
من راستش خیلی در جریان دانته و تمثیلهاش نبودم، کمدی الهی نخوندم و اگه نکتهای فراتر از پانویسها (خیلی گویا و مختصر و خوب) و درک خودمون نیاز بود که درکش فقط با خوندن کمدی الهی محقق میشد، من متوجهش نشدم و چقدر حیف؛ ولی هنوز بهنظرم اصل داستان رو متوجه شدم و به اندازه کافی زیباست.
توهینهای وارثروپ قشنگ roast and toast هستن. میشوردت، میذاره رو بند خشک بشی، اتو میکنه میذاره تو کشو:
با لحنی بیاعتنا گفت: هیرام تو آدم پوشالی جهشیافتهای هستی، بیجربزه و بیچانه و برخوردار از هوشی هم اندازهی حلزون دریایی. هر چند از این بابت نباید بهت خرده گرفت چون آدمی ناتوانه از برگزیدن مادر خودش.
و یه نکته رندوم. حالا نمیشد Faulk رو آقای فاک ننوشت؟ نمیشد اینجا گیر تلفظی نداد و آقای فالک نوشت؟ خیلی معذبم میکرد وقتی هر دفعه با آقای فاک روبهرو میشدم. آخه. آقای فاک. فاک.😭
January 13, 2015
Confusing, all over the place, jumping between 3 different stories, the characters turn into basically cold-hearted murderers from page one, there is so much missing between this and the third book. What the hell happened to the boy from book 1-3?! I simply didn't get parts of the story apart from the over all confusion about the characters.
I feel like I missed/skipped an entire book. This was so weirdly different. I'm still confused as to what the point of this story was.
This series started out as fun and different for me. I enjoyed book 1 and 2, but after that it's not about monster hunt anymore. It felt like Yancey was trying to make this super deep and about all the mental problems of the characters, but that just did not work out at all for me.
I feel like I missed/skipped an entire book. This was so weirdly different. I'm still confused as to what the point of this story was.
This series started out as fun and different for me. I enjoyed book 1 and 2, but after that it's not about monster hunt anymore. It felt like Yancey was trying to make this super deep and about all the mental problems of the characters, but that just did not work out at all for me.
on-my-shelf-waiting-to-be-read
September 17, 20138/27/13 edit:
It's coming out next month! I've been on and off the summary page several times this week already, willing the days to move faster. I NEED MY MONSTER FIX! Have you seen that cover? It's delicious!
Original text:
The fact that the last book is taking two years to write makes me want to throw myself at a Wendigo and then let the good doctor just hack me up to "save" me. The torture is great. There isn't even a cover yet to fuel any wild speculations about what new horrors are next. What gruesome beast is next? Will we be told how the doctor dies(or devoured or mauled or murdered)?
It's coming out next month! I've been on and off the summary page several times this week already, willing the days to move faster. I NEED MY MONSTER FIX! Have you seen that cover? It's delicious!
Original text:
The fact that the last book is taking two years to write makes me want to throw myself at a Wendigo and then let the good doctor just hack me up to "save" me. The torture is great. There isn't even a cover yet to fuel any wild speculations about what new horrors are next. What gruesome beast is next? Will we be told how the doctor dies(or devoured or mauled or murdered)?
July 9, 2023
حس خوبيه كه كم كم دارم مجموعهها رو تموم ميكنم :)
July 5, 2020
So I definitely wasn't as disappointed with this book the second time round as I was he first time I read it, I think now that I'm older I'm much more able to understand the viewpoints of the characters better and understand their actions.
I'll start with the parts I loved, firstly I found Will's new found confidence and humour to be very refreshing because I felt in the other books he was very serious, and this character development I think was very much needed especially considering he is now 16 in this novel, I think it makes sense for him to be more confident in talking back to people and to be more opinionated.
I also loved the developments in his and Lily's relationship. I think they make and excellent couple and we got to see them interact with each other a lot more in this novel.
Now on to the parts that I disliked. Towards the end of the book the plot became really over complicated and their were many parts that I think were meant to be plot twists, but they ended up not feeling that way because it was never made very clear what was actually happening.
The worst part was definitely the overall ending, it was incredibly anti-climactic and very out of character for Will.
Although I adore this series and I can definitely see my self re-reading it again, I'll always feel like it was left somewhat unfinished with this book being the end of the series.
I'll start with the parts I loved, firstly I found Will's new found confidence and humour to be very refreshing because I felt in the other books he was very serious, and this character development I think was very much needed especially considering he is now 16 in this novel, I think it makes sense for him to be more confident in talking back to people and to be more opinionated.
I also loved the developments in his and Lily's relationship. I think they make and excellent couple and we got to see them interact with each other a lot more in this novel.
Now on to the parts that I disliked. Towards the end of the book the plot became really over complicated and their were many parts that I think were meant to be plot twists, but they ended up not feeling that way because it was never made very clear what was actually happening.
The worst part was definitely the overall ending, it was incredibly anti-climactic and very out of character for Will.
Although I adore this series and I can definitely see my self re-reading it again, I'll always feel like it was left somewhat unfinished with this book being the end of the series.
June 7, 2021
من شخصیت هارو خیلی دوست دارم....کلا....چه بد چه خوب ، درست پرداخته بشن شادم، قتل عام روحی روانی ،فیزیکی شخصیت رخ بده ،غمناک
چرا باید سه جلد اونطور و جلد آخر اینگونه؟
دیگه اصلا انقدر برام اذیت کننده و انرژی گیر بود که قسمت های زبانی مغزم از کار افتاده
چی بگم دیگه؟
Was it symbolic? Philosophical? Master piece?
this is the thing you must know: that we are infinitely more and nothing less than our reflections in the amber eye.
Are you listening; do you understand? Circles have no end: They go on and on like the cries of dead men long since gone. Have you known eternity in an hour? Have you seen fear in a handful of dust?
The universe gibbers. The center will not hold. There is a space one ten-thousandth of an inch outside your range of vision, and in that space a pinprick, a singularity, a wordless, lightless, silent, numb Nothingness without dimension, infinitely small, infinitely deep, like the pupil of the amber eye, darkness that goes all the way down to the bottomless bottom, the end of the circle without end.
I am there, and you are with me, and the boy in the tattered hat and the man in the stained white coat and the thing in the jar and the immortal chrysalis, ever cracking open, ever on the brink of birth.
چرا باید سه جلد اونطور و جلد آخر اینگونه؟
دیگه اصلا انقدر برام اذیت کننده و انرژی گیر بود که قسمت های زبانی مغزم از کار افتاده
چی بگم دیگه؟
Was it symbolic? Philosophical? Master piece?
this is the thing you must know: that we are infinitely more and nothing less than our reflections in the amber eye.
Are you listening; do you understand? Circles have no end: They go on and on like the cries of dead men long since gone. Have you known eternity in an hour? Have you seen fear in a handful of dust?
The universe gibbers. The center will not hold. There is a space one ten-thousandth of an inch outside your range of vision, and in that space a pinprick, a singularity, a wordless, lightless, silent, numb Nothingness without dimension, infinitely small, infinitely deep, like the pupil of the amber eye, darkness that goes all the way down to the bottomless bottom, the end of the circle without end.
I am there, and you are with me, and the boy in the tattered hat and the man in the stained white coat and the thing in the jar and the immortal chrysalis, ever cracking open, ever on the brink of birth.
January 17, 2014
Although there were several aspects of the first three books in the series that I disliked (Will's tendency to go off tangent about the big moral questions of life, universe and everything, the cartoony female characters whose first and foremost function was to be love interests for the adventuring men, the sometimes a bit awkward cameos from historical figures), I enjoyed them overall. I came late to the series so I had no idea about the whole cancellation drama and the fans petitioning for more books. Well, be careful what you wish for, I'd say.
What happens in The Final Descent is that everything gets subverted. Gone is the childishly naive narrative of a likeable brave orphan, gone is the traditional structure of the novels. Who wouldn't like subverting things, you ask? That's what we do, in our post post postmodern times after all. We use unreliable narrators, we skip from one place to another, we are all chronology? what chronology?, we repeat phrases and move in circles, we incorporate other literary texts and just plain go crazy with the narrative.
Since Will Henry is the supposed author of the majority of the text, I guess congratulations are in order, Will, you finally woke up to the literary devices of the 20th century. Since he's also the main character, where better to start the subversion process than from himself? So he goes all ambiguity on us and makes it seem as if he was lying all the time and he is in fact somebody else. But how does that work? If he's still writing in the 1950's about the 1880's and forward, he was already past his radical change of character into a ruthless monster (or puberty, as it is known today) when he started writing the books. In other words, he had done his burning out due to the fact that no child could realistically withstand what he was subjected to a long time before he sat down to write the first Monstrumologist folio. So why weren't the first three books messed up, I wonder?
The Final Descent doesn't fit the series - the form, the tone, the characters, everything is different. I can understand that this was probably the author's point - to discuss and deconstruct his own creation, to look at the characters from a new and more realistic point of view. However, I think that to challenge his own narrator and completely devalue said narrator's credibility doesn't do much service to what is now a tetralogy. The first three books depended on us trusting Will Henry to be telling the truth - why else would we care about any of the characters or what happened to them? I know, unreliable narrator - how artsy, but to me, the main attraction of the books lay in the fact that they were well-written adventure stories with interesting characters. Will Henry's unrealiabity was fine when it was natural due to the fact the he was a child when he lived through the events. Now when it turns out he could've made up anything at any time ... it really does a disservice to all the character development of the first three books.
People are supposed to be disappointed but still fascinated by Will Henry and to perceive the fourth book as a logical continuation of the trilogy - well, I don't. Firstly, I don't appreciate being told how to feel about a character or how to read a book. Secondly, I can't honestly perceive the fourth book as a continuation since it's so incongruous to the rest of the series. Of course the result changes if you change the conditions, but that's called cheating - or in this case, a writing exercise rather than an actual next installment.
Will Henry ends up being really f****d up --- which is understandable when you apply real world contemporary standards to him, but why should we? The books were never real, they were always fiction with its own set of rules about what's realistic and what isn't. Not freezing to death when you should by all real world accounts freeze to death is considered realistic. Being incredibly brave as a matter of fact is considered realistic. Realistically, instead of raising a happy Weasley family, Harry Potter should spend his life doing therapy and jumping three feet high at every flash of green light. But he doesn't and it seems fine because it was never implied in the books that we should actually deconstruct them and read between the lines according to real world standards.
Will Henry was destined to end badly from the first novel, but ending badly does not necessarily equal changing the whole tone, form and structure of the book and suddenly transporting him into a world where he is governed by much stricter laws of realism and child psychology. All in all, The Final Descent reads like a writing exercise, a character study, a what-if new perspective rather than another Monstrumologist book.
I guess that's what happens when a series gets cancelled and the author scrambles to reach some sort of all-encompassing closure.
In trying to wrap this up with as much sense of finality as possible, the author overreached himself. I neither loved nor hated this book, it was an interesting read, but even as I was reading, I was already finding things to criticize about it (which isn't always the case I swear). After finishing the book (I read the whole series in the past two weeks), I did not despair about the unfairness of Will's fictional fate, I despaired about the unfairness of a promising series getting cancelled just after three books.
What happens in The Final Descent is that everything gets subverted. Gone is the childishly naive narrative of a likeable brave orphan, gone is the traditional structure of the novels. Who wouldn't like subverting things, you ask? That's what we do, in our post post postmodern times after all. We use unreliable narrators, we skip from one place to another, we are all chronology? what chronology?, we repeat phrases and move in circles, we incorporate other literary texts and just plain go crazy with the narrative.
Since Will Henry is the supposed author of the majority of the text, I guess congratulations are in order, Will, you finally woke up to the literary devices of the 20th century. Since he's also the main character, where better to start the subversion process than from himself? So he goes all ambiguity on us and makes it seem as if he was lying all the time and he is in fact somebody else. But how does that work? If he's still writing in the 1950's about the 1880's and forward, he was already past his radical change of character into a ruthless monster (or puberty, as it is known today) when he started writing the books. In other words, he had done his burning out due to the fact that no child could realistically withstand what he was subjected to a long time before he sat down to write the first Monstrumologist folio. So why weren't the first three books messed up, I wonder?
The Final Descent doesn't fit the series - the form, the tone, the characters, everything is different. I can understand that this was probably the author's point - to discuss and deconstruct his own creation, to look at the characters from a new and more realistic point of view. However, I think that to challenge his own narrator and completely devalue said narrator's credibility doesn't do much service to what is now a tetralogy. The first three books depended on us trusting Will Henry to be telling the truth - why else would we care about any of the characters or what happened to them? I know, unreliable narrator - how artsy, but to me, the main attraction of the books lay in the fact that they were well-written adventure stories with interesting characters. Will Henry's unrealiabity was fine when it was natural due to the fact the he was a child when he lived through the events. Now when it turns out he could've made up anything at any time ... it really does a disservice to all the character development of the first three books.
People are supposed to be disappointed but still fascinated by Will Henry and to perceive the fourth book as a logical continuation of the trilogy - well, I don't. Firstly, I don't appreciate being told how to feel about a character or how to read a book. Secondly, I can't honestly perceive the fourth book as a continuation since it's so incongruous to the rest of the series. Of course the result changes if you change the conditions, but that's called cheating - or in this case, a writing exercise rather than an actual next installment.
Will Henry ends up being really f****d up --- which is understandable when you apply real world contemporary standards to him, but why should we? The books were never real, they were always fiction with its own set of rules about what's realistic and what isn't. Not freezing to death when you should by all real world accounts freeze to death is considered realistic. Being incredibly brave as a matter of fact is considered realistic. Realistically, instead of raising a happy Weasley family, Harry Potter should spend his life doing therapy and jumping three feet high at every flash of green light. But he doesn't and it seems fine because it was never implied in the books that we should actually deconstruct them and read between the lines according to real world standards.
Will Henry was destined to end badly from the first novel, but ending badly does not necessarily equal changing the whole tone, form and structure of the book and suddenly transporting him into a world where he is governed by much stricter laws of realism and child psychology. All in all, The Final Descent reads like a writing exercise, a character study, a what-if new perspective rather than another Monstrumologist book.
I guess that's what happens when a series gets cancelled and the author scrambles to reach some sort of all-encompassing closure.
In trying to wrap this up with as much sense of finality as possible, the author overreached himself. I neither loved nor hated this book, it was an interesting read, but even as I was reading, I was already finding things to criticize about it (which isn't always the case I swear). After finishing the book (I read the whole series in the past two weeks), I did not despair about the unfairness of Will's fictional fate, I despaired about the unfairness of a promising series getting cancelled just after three books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2023
۱۴۰۲/۵/۱۹
خب پایان این مجموعه
من این مجموعه رو خیلی سریع خوندم.
من زندگی نکردم یا این کتاب فقط خوندمش.
شاید اگه در یک اتفاقهای متفاوت میخوندش نمرهی بیشتری میدادم
ولی خوب بیشتر نمرهای من احساسی هست.
همان بِه که دل باخت و دل سوخت
چه آید حاصلش انکه دل نفروخت
_آلفرد تنیسون
- هیولاشناس p. 147
خب پایان این مجموعه
من این مجموعه رو خیلی سریع خوندم.
من زندگی نکردم یا این کتاب فقط خوندمش.
شاید اگه در یک اتفاقهای متفاوت میخوندش نمرهی بیشتری میدادم
ولی خوب بیشتر نمرهای من احساسی هست.
همان بِه که دل باخت و دل سوخت
چه آید حاصلش انکه دل نفروخت
_آلفرد تنیسون
- هیولاشناس p. 147
September 19, 2013
4.5 stars
At first, it was just about the story of this peculiar little boy with a most peculiar profession: he aided the only person he had in his life, for better or worse, in the hunting of monsters - real, terrifying ones whose existence were a cruel joke from God, a reminder than humankind was not special, that they ruled nothing.
Then, the lines began to blur and a war between what's real, what's not and what we want it to be broke out in that little boy's life.
Shortly after that, there were no lines anymore and the boy was forced to look into the eyes of monsters and see the were as many inside as there were outside.
At last, it became clear that the ones inside ourselves are far more terrifying and destructive than any other the world could produce, that chewing through the flesh and bones of humans was hardly the worst thing a monster could do.
Like Yancey said himself in the acknowledgements section of The Final Descent, this series started as one thing and finished as a completely different one. The blood and gore of the first two books quickly morphed into the bleak, soul-crushing and deep philosophy of the last two and the clear definition of what a monster is, and a monstrumologist for that matter, finally came through.
This series was from the very beginning extremely hard to swallow. With each installment, it only got worse, darker and darker until there was no light left for this ending. And that's exactly the only way this series could've possibly ended.
I was extremely uncomfortable throughout this whole novel - and I couldn't have possibly enjoyed it more. It speaks volumes that I am more comfortable with reading about a headless monster chewing through the corpse of a little girl than about the black soul within the character's of this series. But Yancey is truly a master and he made this twisted, sickening, horrifying journey one of the best reading experiences of my life.
The Final Descent is an extremely difficult book to get through. Don't be fooled by the Young Adult label - there is nothing childish, innocent or coming of age about this novel. Nothing gets toned down for the sake of the audience's age, there's no fake optimism thrust in there for the sake of their unblemished souls. Not only is the narrative complex and riddled with brilliant but complicated metaphors and references, but it shifts back and forth through time and jumps without previous notice into lines of poetry or philosophical monologues. But if there is one thing you can count on is on Yancey's magnificent writing throughout the whole novel.
Since the beginning, Will Henry and Warthrop,- especially Warthrop -, have been one of the most layered, complex, morally-ambiguous characters I've ever read about. With each book, they only got deeper and more complicated, but in this one, they take that final step, that last step that takes them further than I could've possibly imagined. And it is not pretty in the slightest.
The Final Descent is very different from the other three previous installments in the series - in tone, narration, plotting and style. For most of the book, I lacked that connection that came so natural with the other three, that instant feeling of love and perfection that came with the first sentence in the others, but once I got to the end I understood why that was and it all came rushing into me. This was the perfect ending and it couldn't have possibly ended any other way.
It is hard to say goodbye to a series that came to mean so much to me in so little time and it is hard to stop feeling like there should be more (both because I want it to be and because this ending left space for so much more), but I am happy with what I got because, like the book said, that shadow now lives within me. Give this series a chance. Even if Gothic horror is not your thing, if you mistakenly think there's nothing but blood and gore and monsters in this series, just give it a chance, and I promise you that you won't regret it. Let that shadow live within you too.
Turn around now.
Monsters are real.
We are all monstrumologists, all of us.
At first, it was just about the story of this peculiar little boy with a most peculiar profession: he aided the only person he had in his life, for better or worse, in the hunting of monsters - real, terrifying ones whose existence were a cruel joke from God, a reminder than humankind was not special, that they ruled nothing.
Then, the lines began to blur and a war between what's real, what's not and what we want it to be broke out in that little boy's life.
Shortly after that, there were no lines anymore and the boy was forced to look into the eyes of monsters and see the were as many inside as there were outside.
At last, it became clear that the ones inside ourselves are far more terrifying and destructive than any other the world could produce, that chewing through the flesh and bones of humans was hardly the worst thing a monster could do.
Like Yancey said himself in the acknowledgements section of The Final Descent, this series started as one thing and finished as a completely different one. The blood and gore of the first two books quickly morphed into the bleak, soul-crushing and deep philosophy of the last two and the clear definition of what a monster is, and a monstrumologist for that matter, finally came through.
This series was from the very beginning extremely hard to swallow. With each installment, it only got worse, darker and darker until there was no light left for this ending. And that's exactly the only way this series could've possibly ended.
I was extremely uncomfortable throughout this whole novel - and I couldn't have possibly enjoyed it more. It speaks volumes that I am more comfortable with reading about a headless monster chewing through the corpse of a little girl than about the black soul within the character's of this series. But Yancey is truly a master and he made this twisted, sickening, horrifying journey one of the best reading experiences of my life.
The Final Descent is an extremely difficult book to get through. Don't be fooled by the Young Adult label - there is nothing childish, innocent or coming of age about this novel. Nothing gets toned down for the sake of the audience's age, there's no fake optimism thrust in there for the sake of their unblemished souls. Not only is the narrative complex and riddled with brilliant but complicated metaphors and references, but it shifts back and forth through time and jumps without previous notice into lines of poetry or philosophical monologues. But if there is one thing you can count on is on Yancey's magnificent writing throughout the whole novel.
Since the beginning, Will Henry and Warthrop,- especially Warthrop -, have been one of the most layered, complex, morally-ambiguous characters I've ever read about. With each book, they only got deeper and more complicated, but in this one, they take that final step, that last step that takes them further than I could've possibly imagined. And it is not pretty in the slightest.
The Final Descent is very different from the other three previous installments in the series - in tone, narration, plotting and style. For most of the book, I lacked that connection that came so natural with the other three, that instant feeling of love and perfection that came with the first sentence in the others, but once I got to the end I understood why that was and it all came rushing into me. This was the perfect ending and it couldn't have possibly ended any other way.
It is hard to say goodbye to a series that came to mean so much to me in so little time and it is hard to stop feeling like there should be more (both because I want it to be and because this ending left space for so much more), but I am happy with what I got because, like the book said, that shadow now lives within me. Give this series a chance. Even if Gothic horror is not your thing, if you mistakenly think there's nothing but blood and gore and monsters in this series, just give it a chance, and I promise you that you won't regret it. Let that shadow live within you too.
Turn around now.
Monsters are real.
We are all monstrumologists, all of us.
December 27, 2014
An
ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE
. It literally Blew Me Away.
I cant say that I will be able to sum up what an awesome book this is in a review but I dare say..RICK YANCEY might be a worthy contemporary to DAN BROWN.
Also, a fair warning to any one who's been reading this series and has/about to pick up this part for some closure... DONT . This book will not provide any sort of closure. If anything, it leaves you with more questions than it answers. But that doesn't make it any less brilliant.
It finally gives you that inevitable tumble in regard of Will Henry whose character arc is as precariously carved as his mentor Warthrop's, who shares a bond with will that is as shallow as its deep. Will Henry, He who made us smile and made us feel pity is the same person who will make you flinch this time around. Though this part isnt essentially as full of GORE as the previous parts(or maybe I'm just used to it by now) but it sure has some serious story building exercise that traces the beginning of the lead characters. And keeping in tune with his previous works the ending has a good turn of events.
In all honesty, I'm at a loss of words and rendered a lil speechless(YES..its that good). And due to such lack of words I will sum up this review by saying that this book is simply ORGASMIC for anyone who loves great story telling.
In love with RICK YANCEY style of writing.
I cant say that I will be able to sum up what an awesome book this is in a review but I dare say..RICK YANCEY might be a worthy contemporary to DAN BROWN.
Also, a fair warning to any one who's been reading this series and has/about to pick up this part for some closure... DONT . This book will not provide any sort of closure. If anything, it leaves you with more questions than it answers. But that doesn't make it any less brilliant.
It finally gives you that inevitable tumble in regard of Will Henry whose character arc is as precariously carved as his mentor Warthrop's, who shares a bond with will that is as shallow as its deep. Will Henry, He who made us smile and made us feel pity is the same person who will make you flinch this time around. Though this part isnt essentially as full of GORE as the previous parts(or maybe I'm just used to it by now) but it sure has some serious story building exercise that traces the beginning of the lead characters. And keeping in tune with his previous works the ending has a good turn of events.
In all honesty, I'm at a loss of words and rendered a lil speechless(YES..its that good). And due to such lack of words I will sum up this review by saying that this book is simply ORGASMIC for anyone who loves great story telling.
In love with RICK YANCEY style of writing.
November 15, 2023
کتاب:
هیولاشناس؛ جلد چهارم. واپسین هبوط.
سنکتوم سنکتروم. مقدس الاقداس.
خیرهکننده.
روی برگرداندن. چهره به چهرهی بیچهره دوختن.
کلاهی که دوسایز کوچک مانده.
تو تنها چیزی هستی که منو انسان نگه میداره. ویل هنری.
هیولاشناس خیلی دوگانه هست.
یا ازش خیلی خوشتون خواهد امد یا ازش متنفر خواهید شد.
من توی دستهی اولم.
عاشق ترجمهی مهنام عبادی عزیز، عاشق سجعِ نثر، عاشق روایت، عاشق رمز و رازِ سرگذشت، عاشق تعابیر، عاشق مفاهیم، عاشق رو کردن به هیولا و گفتنِ: "ببخش! که تو معصومتر از من بودی."
هیولاشناسِ عزیزم، با همهی درد و سختیاش، با این جلد به پایان رسید. حالا من ماندهام و دردِ حقیقت. این حقیقت که ویل هنری تنها نبود. ویل هنری حالا من را دارد.
چه رویاها، چه فکرها و چه آرزوها که من لای صفحات این مجموعه جا گذاشتم.
با سوادِ نمکشیدهی ادبیاتم، تا به حال هیچ چیز به اندازهی هیولاشناس ذهن من رو پرواز نداده...
خداحافظ هیولاشناس عزیزم.
خداحافظ نگرانی از بابت مبلغ سرسامآور و غیرمنطقی انتشارات باژ و این ترس که یعنی ممکن است هرگز هیولاشناسِ ترجمهشدهی خودم را نداشته باشم؟
ممنونم مهنام عبادی عزیز. ممنونم ریک یانسی عزیز.
و ممنونم "باغ کتاب ملک" که فرصت رایگان تجربه کردنِ این کتاب رو در اختیارم گذاشتی.
و درنهایت بسنده میکنم به بخشی از این کتاب:
خالق مخلوق را میبخشاید و مخلوق خالق را عفو میکند.
بخشایش هست. عدالت هست. شفقت هست.
هرچه نباشد، دستکم جایی برایشان هست.
میکِشمت بالا، بر تو تحمیل نمیکنم رنجِ غرقشدن را.
و دیوی که روی واپسین پلهی هبوط انتظارمان را میکشد.
هیولاشناس؛ جلد چهارم. واپسین هبوط.
سنکتوم سنکتروم. مقدس الاقداس.
خیرهکننده.
روی برگرداندن. چهره به چهرهی بیچهره دوختن.
کلاهی که دوسایز کوچک مانده.
تو تنها چیزی هستی که منو انسان نگه میداره. ویل هنری.
هیولاشناس خیلی دوگانه هست.
یا ازش خیلی خوشتون خواهد امد یا ازش متنفر خواهید شد.
من توی دستهی اولم.
عاشق ترجمهی مهنام عبادی عزیز، عاشق سجعِ نثر، عاشق روایت، عاشق رمز و رازِ سرگذشت، عاشق تعابیر، عاشق مفاهیم، عاشق رو کردن به هیولا و گفتنِ: "ببخش! که تو معصومتر از من بودی."
هیولاشناسِ عزیزم، با همهی درد و سختیاش، با این جلد به پایان رسید. حالا من ماندهام و دردِ حقیقت. این حقیقت که ویل هنری تنها نبود. ویل هنری حالا من را دارد.
چه رویاها، چه فکرها و چه آرزوها که من لای صفحات این مجموعه جا گذاشتم.
با سوادِ نمکشیدهی ادبیاتم، تا به حال هیچ چیز به اندازهی هیولاشناس ذهن من رو پرواز نداده...
خداحافظ هیولاشناس عزیزم.
خداحافظ نگرانی از بابت مبلغ سرسامآور و غیرمنطقی انتشارات باژ و این ترس که یعنی ممکن است هرگز هیولاشناسِ ترجمهشدهی خودم را نداشته باشم؟
ممنونم مهنام عبادی عزیز. ممنونم ریک یانسی عزیز.
و ممنونم "باغ کتاب ملک" که فرصت رایگان تجربه کردنِ این کتاب رو در اختیارم گذاشتی.
و درنهایت بسنده میکنم به بخشی از این کتاب:
خالق مخلوق را میبخشاید و مخلوق خالق را عفو میکند.
بخشایش هست. عدالت هست. شفقت هست.
هرچه نباشد، دستکم جایی برایشان هست.
میکِشمت بالا، بر تو تحمیل نمیکنم رنجِ غرقشدن را.
و دیوی که روی واپسین پلهی هبوط انتظارمان را میکشد.
February 18, 2022
این پنج ستاره بخاطر وارثروپ و حرف های قشنگیه که تو این چهار جلد گفت.
پایانی که اصلا انتظار نداشتم. میتونم بگم مغزمو منفجر کرد دلم میخواست داد بزنم چی داری میگیییی
تنها ��تابیه که اصلا به شخصیت اولش علاقمند نشدم و بخاطر رومنسش نبود که گریه کردم.
درواقع میتونم بگم : ویل هنری (ک میدونم نباید این صدات کنم) تو یه ادم بی لیاقتی به احمق که میگه "من رازهایی دارم"و اخر سر کامل نمیگه چه کوفتی داره.
این لعنتی قلبمو واقعا شکوند تیکه تیکه کرد امید داد و بازم بدتر باعث سقوطم شد.
این کتابیه که بااااید خونده بشه
در اخر دلم میخواد بگم : وارثروپ من به یادت میارم و هیچوقت هم قرار نیست فراموشت کنم :))))
پایانی که اصلا انتظار نداشتم. میتونم بگم مغزمو منفجر کرد دلم میخواست داد بزنم چی داری میگیییی
تنها ��تابیه که اصلا به شخصیت اولش علاقمند نشدم و بخاطر رومنسش نبود که گریه کردم.
درواقع میتونم بگم : ویل هنری (ک میدونم نباید این صدات کنم) تو یه ادم بی لیاقتی به احمق که میگه "من رازهایی دارم"و اخر سر کامل نمیگه چه کوفتی داره.
این لعنتی قلبمو واقعا شکوند تیکه تیکه کرد امید داد و بازم بدتر باعث سقوطم شد.
این کتابیه که بااااید خونده بشه
در اخر دلم میخواد بگم : وارثروپ من به یادت میارم و هیچوقت هم قرار نیست فراموشت کنم :))))
January 10, 2015
THE COVER CAME OUT TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!
DO YOU SEE THAT BEAUTIFUL ORANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?
OMG!!!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DO YOU SEE THAT BEAUTIFUL ORANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?
OMG!!!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 4, 2015
(Update September 4th, 2015)
100000...0+ SPEECHLESSLY AMAZEBALLS & UTTERLY MIND-F*CKING stars
***BUDDY READ WITH TWO OF THE BIGGEST MONSTRUMOLOGIST FANS TASH & VANE
(Click for actual and highly readable reviews from these two reviewers!)
***Absolutely IRRELEVANT Rambling Alert!!!
Okay... I think I'm ready to bring back the justice this mind-fuck of a book deserves.
No. I lied. I'm not. Not one bit. I'm too poor of a writer for that.
But I'm afraid just a few words from my original "review" wouldn't be a big enough conviction to catch people's attention. So... Here I am, wooing a hopefully noticeable gif-ful review which probably has more to do with my emotional explosions than does the content of this book.
Seriously though, mine is just a freaking commoner's compared to the masterfulness that is Rick Yancey's brain. No matter how much time, which is a lot a lot (How's that for an everday reread for a certain chapter??? And I do mean every freaking day), I spent regaining my composure, gathering my thoughts and meditating upon several certain events in this final show-down, I couldn't seem to settle for one concrete theory for each detail I found mind-twistingly ambiguous.
Besides, I have yet to gather enough strength to pull myself out of the swamp of denial into which I have sunk myself since turning open that last page of this series.
Things got even worse when I couldn't stop clinging to an absolute false hope that everything did not just go down like that; and most problematically, I'm still incapable of taking in some very groundfully true explanations and assumptions from my friends. (I know I know. You guys are absolutely right about a lot of things. Forgive my retarded-ness in this matter.)
Well... I also totally understand why The Final Descent's current average rating is much lower than the prequels and why people can't accept such an ending.
For me, though, everything about The Final Descent was perfectly perfect; and despite a feeling of being devastatingly betrayed and what feels like the greatest confusion of my reading life, I would not wish for anything else to replace this powerful trigger of said confusion. Because it's...
If you think this book is bad and disappointing, I respect your opinion. But please look on the bright side and really think about how The Final Descent just caught you completely off guard and leave you impressed enough for it to remainprobably forever in your memory; not every author has the audacity to wrap their book up with such a trying conclusion that has readers questioning everything they thought they knew about life... And I think I'm generalizing and rambling too much already. I mean. Come on!!! How can you deny the mind-blowingness within this book??? Yancey!!! That man!!!
Believe it or not, before this I had tried to give this fantastic book a review worth reading tons of times. Yet, every time after I pressed "edit review", my mind went blank... So basically, I still didn't know what to say here, hence the not-helping "review".
Nah... You're entirely entitled to criticize me. This "review" sucks anyway.
I'll come back (again) when I do. Hopefully soon; and hopefully with something profound. To make long story short, I'm telling you that this freaking book was worth every single dime and fraction of second I spent on it. I'm sorry if it didn't work for you. *hug awkwarkly*
And it's getting weird. Okay. Peace out!
...
(August 31st, 2015)
10+ stars.
I FEEL CHEATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not anytime soon, but RTC (eventually).
100000...0+ SPEECHLESSLY AMAZEBALLS & UTTERLY MIND-F*CKING stars
***BUDDY READ WITH TWO OF THE BIGGEST MONSTRUMOLOGIST FANS TASH & VANE
(Click for actual and highly readable reviews from these two reviewers!)
***Absolutely IRRELEVANT Rambling Alert!!!
Okay... I think I'm ready to bring back the justice this mind-fuck of a book deserves.
No. I lied. I'm not. Not one bit. I'm too poor of a writer for that.
But I'm afraid just a few words from my original "review" wouldn't be a big enough conviction to catch people's attention. So... Here I am, wooing a hopefully noticeable gif-ful review which probably has more to do with my emotional explosions than does the content of this book.
Seriously though, mine is just a freaking commoner's compared to the masterfulness that is Rick Yancey's brain. No matter how much time, which is a lot a lot (How's that for an everday reread for a certain chapter??? And I do mean every freaking day), I spent regaining my composure, gathering my thoughts and meditating upon several certain events in this final show-down, I couldn't seem to settle for one concrete theory for each detail I found mind-twistingly ambiguous.
Besides, I have yet to gather enough strength to pull myself out of the swamp of denial into which I have sunk myself since turning open that last page of this series.
Things got even worse when I couldn't stop clinging to an absolute false hope that everything did not just go down like that; and most problematically, I'm still incapable of taking in some very groundfully true explanations and assumptions from my friends. (I know I know. You guys are absolutely right about a lot of things. Forgive my retarded-ness in this matter.)
Well... I also totally understand why The Final Descent's current average rating is much lower than the prequels and why people can't accept such an ending.
For me, though, everything about The Final Descent was perfectly perfect; and despite a feeling of being devastatingly betrayed and what feels like the greatest confusion of my reading life, I would not wish for anything else to replace this powerful trigger of said confusion. Because it's...
If you think this book is bad and disappointing, I respect your opinion. But please look on the bright side and really think about how The Final Descent just caught you completely off guard and leave you impressed enough for it to remain
Believe it or not, before this I had tried to give this fantastic book a review worth reading tons of times. Yet, every time after I pressed "edit review", my mind went blank... So basically, I still didn't know what to say here, hence the not-helping "review".
Nah... You're entirely entitled to criticize me. This "review" sucks anyway.
I'll come back (again) when I do. Hopefully soon; and hopefully with something profound. To make long story short, I'm telling you that this freaking book was worth every single dime and fraction of second I spent on it. I'm sorry if it didn't work for you. *hug awkwarkly*
And it's getting weird. Okay. Peace out!
...
(August 31st, 2015)
10+ stars.
I FEEL CHEATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not anytime soon, but RTC (eventually).
June 15, 2015
I hate you, Rick Yancey. And I love you for making me hate you for writing this.
It was different. It was ugly. It was beautiful. It was sad. It was kind of perfect.
The only reason I rate 4 stars instead of 5 is that it felt abrupt to go from the 3rd book to this one. A bit of a detachment from the smooth transitions the other books made.
Still, one of the more unique series I've ever read. I highly recommend.
It was different. It was ugly. It was beautiful. It was sad. It was kind of perfect.
The only reason I rate 4 stars instead of 5 is that it felt abrupt to go from the 3rd book to this one. A bit of a detachment from the smooth transitions the other books made.
Still, one of the more unique series I've ever read. I highly recommend.
August 8, 2019
A fitting ending, I guess...
But I'm not that impressed or shocked because I saw it coming since book 2. I can pretty much guessed what's going to happen next, and what the twists will be.
The writing style is kinda poetic and oh, does it make you think about life and death!
Well-penned, Rick Yancey!
But I'm not that impressed or shocked because I saw it coming since book 2. I can pretty much guessed what's going to happen next, and what the twists will be.
The writing style is kinda poetic and oh, does it make you think about life and death!
Well-penned, Rick Yancey!
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