I have been a fan of these books from book one. I love them, and was incredibly excited to read this latest book. These books are the very best. Gothic Victorian Horror at it’s finest. There’s more than that, though, the last book I read that made me jealous of the words was Deathless and I can say that I feel the same way about these books, this one especially. The words in this book are magnificent and disgusting when need be and just wonderful. It’s horrifying and terrible and wonderful all at the same time. This book takes place literally all over the world. They start out in New York, where Warthrop receives a mysterious package from a visitor - a visitor who is infected and promptly and dramatically transforms into a horrifying mindless beast. The package sets them off on the search for the magnificum, the Holy Grail of Monstrumology - the Faceless One. When Warthrop leaves with a suspicious monstrumologist apprentice - giving no word to Will Henry, he begins to suspect the worst. During the course of the novel they travel to London, Venice, the coast of Africa, and finally the Galapagos, and each destination is vivid. More than just a good riveting horror, this book is just so much more. The last two books were horrors through and through with terrifying monsters. This one had that, but this one was the analysis of the human condition and the monstrous side of human nature. It was… amazing to be honest. The depth that this book went to to show the horror of humanity. Not only that, but my favourite thing is the relationship between Pellinore Warthrop and his young assistant, Will Henry. This book looked into that further, showing how lost Warthrop would be without Will Henry, and in reality vice versa. And Warthrop is cut as an almost Sherlock-esque character. Ingenious, a huge ego, all the typical traits. (In fact, there is even an instance where Arthur Conan Doyle makes an appearance which I found to be amazing). He’s my favourite, to be honest. I really love Warthrop. But, ugh, this book looks at the dark places and not only that but there is this fantastic line being woven through that is basically showing Will Henry’s moral degeneration as the story progresses and he is plunged deeper and deeper into this black world that they live in.This book was just… stunning. It was stunning and dark and twisted and really beautiful. This series is absolutely one of my favourites and this is possibly my favourites of the three.
