History Literature / Monstrumologist

* AbusiveParents: Alistair Warthrop to Pellinore.
--> '''Kearns''': "Who was he to you? More important, who were ''you'' to ''him''? You defend a man who barely tolerated your existence."
** Also Pellinore to Will Henry (though he's his guardian, not his parent). When he's not insulting him, he's ignoring him. He's always exposing Will to horrible things that make even the toughest men go mad. There are moments when Pellinore admits to Will how much he needs him, but those moments aren't heartwarming when you considerdon't all the mental damage he's caused, leading to Will becoming cold and merciless by the fourth book.
* AmbiguouslyEvil: Kearns, whose behavior borders on sociopathic.
* AnachronicOrder: ''The Final Descent'' jumps all over the place.
* AndIMustScream: A man on bedrest rots away while he is still alive.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Pellinore. Anthropophagi? Fine. Weird worms that grant nigh-upon immortality? Boring. But the wendigo? Never in a million years!
** It gets worse when Pellinore describes the magnificarum and it comes off sounding like a campfire story. No one knows what it looks like or how it behaves, yet he unquestionably accepts its existence as fact. Mind, that this is a creature [[spoiler:whose saliva will drastically and horrifically alter the body and mind of anyone it comes into contact with]], while one book earlier, he declares that the idea of a creature that can produce symptoms similar to wendigo possession in its victims ''spits in the face'' of everything be believes in.
* {{Autocannibalism}}: The [[spoiler:magnificum]] found in the third book resorted to this when it could no longer find food.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Jack the Ripper was a monster hunter [[spoiler:named Dr. Kearns.]]
* BrokenAce: Chanler, who was much more fun before [[spoiler:discovering his wife loved his best friend, and turning into a monster.]]
* BungledSuicide: [[spoiler:Dr. Warthrop]]

* CloudCuckoolander: Dr. Pellinore
* DeadpanSnarker: It's especially noticeable in the third book.
-->'''Dr. Warthrop''': "... ''tipota'' is the Greek word for nothing."\\
'''Will Henry''': "It is?"\\
'''Dr. Warthrop''': "No I am lying to you. It is actually the Greek word for 'stupid child.'"
* DeathOfAChild: In Book 2. See MyGodWhatHaveIDone

** Dr. Chanler.
* DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch: Averted, the only time Dr. Kearns uses the words bloody and bugger are when he is insulting Malachi.

* DrivenToMadness: [[spoiler:Ultimately, Will Henry himself.]]
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Anthropophagi = Man-eaters

* HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster?: Pellinore is convinced that Chanler just thinks he's a Wendigo and will get better.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Dr. Kearns is arguably even more disturbing than the Anthropophagi. Pellinore has hints of this, as he doesn't seem to care if people die so long as he can study monsters.
** [[spoiler:Chanler literally becomes this after a Wendigo encounter.]]
-->'''Will (Narrating)''': Gently he pulled my hands into his. His warm lips touched my knuckles. He blew onto my dead flesh. He vigorously rubbed my naked hand between his. Feeling began to return, and with it a measure of pain, the proof of life. He crossed my hands over my chest and pushed his body against mine, wrapping his long arms around me. I felt the delicious warmth of his breath against my neck."

* GreenEyedMonster: [[spoiler: Envy is ultimately Chanler's motivating force. Learning his wife never stopped pining after his best friend (and in fact, may have married him in the first place to spite said best friend), he's driven to despair, and heads out into the wilderness in search of the Wendigo...]]
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Important theme of the third book and the root of Pellinore's savior complex.

* InsufferableGenius: Pellinore.

* JerkAssWoobie: Concerning his distant father, Dr. Pellinore can fall into this from time to time.

* MoralityChain: Will, to Pellinore.
--> '''Pellinore''': "And you--I do not pretend to understand how or even ''why''--but you pull me back from the precipice. You are the one...You are the one thing that keeps me human."

* {{Pretty Boy}}: Dr. Kearns is described as having long blonde hair, a cherubic face, and "sensuous lips" by Will Henry.
--> '''Will Henry (after being given a handkerchief soaked with ambergris)''': "Despite the gift of regurgitated whale shit, I could smell Kendall's decay."

* ShooOutTheClowns: Pellinore tries this, [[SubvertedTrope but]] Will Henry will have nothing to do with it.
-->''I reached across the space that separated us - no further than a foot and wider than the universe - and gathered the monstrumologist's hand into mine.''

* StepfordSmiler: Kearns is a full-on Type C.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: John Kearns gives one of these to Malachi in ''The Monstrumologist''.
--> '''John Kearns''': Go on. Pull the bloody trigger, you insufferably melodramatic, semi-suicidal, blubbering bugger. Do you honestly think I care if I live or die? But you may wish to include in your calculations the fact that our work is not finished. ''She'' is still out there somewhere in the dark, and not very far, I would guess. That said sir, I would not presume to pass judgement upon the passage of your judgement. Fire at will,sir, and I shall die as I lived, with no regret.
** Pellinore gives one of these to Will during ''The Curse Of The Wendigo''.
---> '''Pellinore''': You ''disgust'' me! Only the intelligent can afford to be so judgemental. Who are ''you'' to question my decisions? You thickheaded sycophantic piece of snot. I've dissected worms with larger brains than yours! You've been nothing but a burden to me, an albatross around my neck... God damn your parents for dying and foisting your despicable carcass upon me. [='It's all right sir! I'll make the fire now, sir'=]. You make me sick. Everything about you is repulsive, you nauseating, worthless mealymouthed half-wit."

* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Will Henry considers Muriel to be this.

** Also Pellinore to Will Henry (though he's his guardian, not his parent). He when he's not insulting him, he's ignoring him. He's always exposing Will to horrible things that make even the toughest men go mad. There are moments when Pellinore admits to Will how much he needs him, but those moments aren't heartwarming when you considerdon't all the mental damage he's caused, leading to Will becoming cold and merciless by the fourth book.

** Dr. Chanler

* I'maHumanitarian: [[spoiler:Chanler]] becomes this after his encounter with the Windigo. He has a particular fixation on the heart.

* ShoutOut: Several references to the works of Creator/WilliamShakespeare, Kearns also being named Richard Cory (the name of an Edwin Arlington Robinson poem about a rich man with a good life who [[spoiler:shoots himself]]), and one remark regarding "that ill-fated expedition to Sumatra" that could be a reference to a NoodleIncident from SherlockHolmes

* InfantImmortality: Subverted in Book 2. See MyGodWhatHaveIDone

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: Muriel cheats on John Chanler with Dr. Warthrop, who she was still in love with even after calling off their engagement.]]

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: Rick Yancey is only the editor/publisher. The follios were actually written by Will Henry and Yancey is reading them in the hopes of learning the truth about the man who left them behind.

The Monstrumologist is a tetralogy by Rick Yancey. It chronicles the adventures of a scientist who researches and studies monsters in the 1800s, and his young assistant.

* DeadpanSnarker: Is especially noticeable in the third book.
--> '''Dr. Warthrop''': "... ''tipota'' is the Greek word for nothing."
--> '''Will Henry''': "It is?"
--> '''Dr. Warthrop''': "No I am lying to you. It is actually the Greek word for 'stupid child.'"

--> '''Will (Narrating)''': Gently he pulled my hands into his. His warm lips touched my knuckles. He blew onto my dead flesh. He vigorously rubbed my naked hand between his. Feeling began to return, and with it a measure of pain, the proof of life. He crossed my hands over my chest and pushed his body against mine, wrapping his long arms around me. I felt the delicious warmth of his breath against my neck."

** Also Pellinore to Will Henry. He when he's not insulting him, he's ignoring him. When he's doing either, he's exposing Will to horrible things that make even the toughest men go mad. There are moments when Pellinore admits to Will how much he needs him, but these heartwarming moments don't at all fix the mental damage he's caused, leading to Will becoming cold and merciless by the fourth book.

** Also Pellinore to Will Henry. He when he's not insulting him, he's ignoring him. When he's doing neither, he's exposing Will to horrible things that make even the toughest men go mad. There are moments when Pellinore admits to Will how much he needs him, these heartwarming moments don't at all fix the mental damage he's caused, leading to Will becoming cold and merciless by the fourth book.

The Monstrumologist is a trilogy of four novels by Rick Yancey. It chronicles the adventures of a scientist who researches and studies monsters in the 1800s, and his young assistant.

* AsYouWish: Whenever Pellinore tells Will Henry that he is "indispensable" could count as this.

* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne: Will Henry is an assistant to a monster hunter, meaning he is in danger all the time, lives with a man who rarely allows him proper human interaction, [[spoiler:will outlive any loved ones he might manage to obtain due to a parasite that lives within him]], and [[CaptainObvious is often a target for monsters]]. After being told by a shaman that his LifeEnergy ReadingsAreOffTheScale and being called by a Wendigo, it seems likely that Will Henry is destined for something.

--> '''Pellinore''': "And you--I do not pretend to understand how or even ''why''--but you pull me back from the precipice. You are the one...[[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming You are the one thing that keeps me human.]]"

* ShooOutTheClowns: Pellinore tries this, [[SubvertedTrope but]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Will Henry will have nothing to do with it.]]

* PeerlessLoveInterest: By Book 4, Will Henry has built up an idealized image of Lilly Bates as this. A bit ironic, when you remember that this is still the same girl who, 2 books earlier, [[Troll baited him into touching the Mongolian Death Worm.]]

* XMeetsY: SherlockHolmes deduction meets ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' hunting.

* I'mAHumanitarian: [[spoiler:Chanler]] becomes this after his encounter with the Windigo. He has a particular fixation on the heart.

* I'mAHumanitarian: [[Spoiler:Dr. Chanler]] becomes this after his encounter with the Windigo. He has a particular fixation on the heart.

* InfantImmortality: Subverted. See MyGodWhatHaveIDone

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Will Henry's reaction to seeing [[spoiler:the baby he abandoned.]]

The Monstrumologist is a trilogy of novels by Rick Yancey. It chronicles the adventures of a scientist who researches and studies monsters in the 1800s, and his young assistant.