Final Descent

Book : The Monstrumologist

by Rick Yancey

Genres: YA Action & Adventure; YA Fantasy

Synopsis

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 than 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.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Print pages: 320

Sample

The Final Descent

Canto 1

ONE

I reach for the end, though the end will not reach for me.

It has already reached for him.

He is gone

while I, locked in Judecca’s ice,

go on and on.

If I could name the nameless thing

My father burns, and living worms fall from his eyes.

They spew from his sundered flesh.

They pour from his open mouth.

It burns, my father cries. It burns!

His contagion, my inheritance.

If I could face the faceless thing

From the fire’s depths, I hear the discordant duet of their screams. I watch them dance in the final, fiery waltz.

My mother and father, dancing in flames.

If I could pull the two apart

If I could untangle the knot

Find one errant strand to tug

And lay out the thing from end to end

But there is no beginning nor ending nor anything in between

Beginnings are endings

And all endings are the same.

Time is a line

But we are circles.