Review: The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

While attempting to disprove that Homo vampiris, the vampire, could exist, Dr. Warthrop is asked by his former fiancé to rescue her husband from the Wendigo, a creature that starves even as it gorges itself on human flesh, which has snatched him in the Canadian wilderness. Although Warthrop also considers the Wendigo to be fictitious, he relents and rescues her husband from death and starvation, and then sees the man transform into a Wendigo. Can the doctor and Will Henry hunt down the ultimate predator, who, like the legendary vampire, is neither living nor dead, whose hunger for human flesh is never satisfied? This second book in The Monstrumologist series explores the line between myth and reality, love and hate, genius and madness.

Rick Yancey doesn’t miss a beat in The Curse of the Wendigo, follow-up to The Monstrumologist. In this book, we start with Pellinore Warthrop being called on by an old lady friend from the past. FYI, there are no sexytimes so get your mind out of the gutter. Anyways, Muriel Chanler is concerned her hubby, John Chanler has been turned into a Wendigo which is like a vampire, in Canada. Pellinore is all ‘Wendigos don’t exist.’ But as he has the hots for Muriel, he agrees to go to Canada to get her hubs back. Along for the journey is young Will Henry. Spanning trips from Canada to New York City, The Curse of the Wendigo presents an eloquent story of grotesque proportions (also, I am so cliche, shut up).

I say this about a lot of authors, but I’m pretty sure I will read any YA Yancey writes. The content is fine for younger YA, minus the nightmares they may get, but the writing is more on par with adult or older YA type books. I don’t feel inferior, like my brain is on a vacation while reading this. It’s not the type of writing you tear through, but savor. It’s like reading an accessible classic, and I am positive these books will pass the test of time.

Furthermore, in relation to the Monstrumologist, Wendigos are way more scary than Anthropophagi. For serious, they do a whole lot of watching and then murder your ass and wear your skin. Like, okay, here’s what a Wendigo encounter probably seems like when you don’t wind up dead: last night I went to the bathroom after writing up some reviews, I was the only person in the room with my desk which connects to the bathroom. Anyways, I walk out of the bathroom, and my boyfriend is just standing there in the half-lit room, waiting for the bathroom. As I did not expect him to just stand there, I nearly had a heart attack. Well, that’s what a Wendigo is like, but with yellow eyes and multiply the scary factor by a million.

Will Henry continues to be endearing, brave and wonderful. Pellinore continues in his complexity between intensely caring for Will Henry and being the YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN guy. There are also female characters in this book. We meet more monstrumologists. Scary times are had all around.Tragedy occurs with no holds barred. Basically, you can expect more of the same quality as The Monstrumologist.

And here is just one quote that I had to include because it references my FAVORITE POEM EVER:

“Let us go then, you and I, like Alice down the rabbit hole, to a time when there still were dark places in the world, and there were men who dared to delve into them.

An old man, I am a boy again.

And dead, the monstrumologist lives.” pg. 5

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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