4.5 stars from me, 4 stars from my 14-year old son to whom I read it. 
 This title boasted more words that I didn't know the definition for than any other book I've read this year. Or maybe even longer. I wish I had the ebook version, so that I could expand my vocabulary a bit (I remedied that with the next in the series). Still, at least one star for writing style that includes a strong vocabulary. 
 Even better is Yancey's penchant for alliteration. So, so many instances of it abound in The Monstrumologist, and I'll leave most of them for you to discover on your own. Here are a couple of my favorites, however: 
 (Page 206) "Groggy from the brief slip of sleep's sweet sapor, I slid out of bed with an acquiescent sigh." 
 (Page 218) "...followed by a lecture on superstition as echo of our primitive past, when premonitions were efficacious responses to an environment populated by predators only too happy to oblige our apprehensions." 
 Wow, he's just a master. 
 But what's it about? An orphan boy is taken in by a quirky doctor monstrumologist, a scientist who studies the bizarre, the dead, the monstrous. This title focuses on the Anthropophagus, a species you'll learn much about if you take the time to read this. 
 It was a joy to read aloud, even if I had to pay special attention to not flub up my words. Recommended!