Review: The Resurrectionist: The Lost Works of Dr. Spencer Black by E.B. Hudspeth

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Synopsis: "Philadelphia, the late 1870s. A city of gas lamps, cobblestone streets, and horse-drawn carriages—and home to the controversial surgeon Dr. Spencer Black. The son of a grave robber, young Dr. Black studies at Philadelphia’s esteemed Academy of Medicine, where he develops an unconventional hypothesis: What if the world’s most celebrated mythological beasts—mermaids, minotaurs, and satyrs—were in fact the evolutionary ancestors of humankind?

 

The Resurrectionist offers two extraordinary books in one. The first is a fictional biography of Dr. Spencer Black, from a childhood spent exhuming corpses through his medical training, his travels with carnivals, and the mysterious disappearance at the end of his life. The second book is Black’s magnum opus: The Codex Extinct Animalia, a Gray’s Anatomy for mythological beasts—dragons, centaurs, Pegasus, Cerberus—all rendered in meticulously detailed anatomical illustrations. You need only look at these images to realize they are the work of a madman. The Resurrectionist tells his story."

My Review: I was really drawn to this one by the cover and illustrations throughout this book but I had no idea what I was getting myself into! This was definitely the perfect time to pick up this dark and disturbing book. Half the time when I was reading this I felt like it was an actual historical article or book on Spencer Black. It was conveyed in such a believable manner that you are constantly questioning whether it is true. I was drawn in by the work of Black and how his ideology evolved throughout the book, with noble causes followed by obscure ideas. The detail that went into the Codex really add to the feeling of actual history, though your brain and knowledge of reality tells you that no, it is fiction. It was disturbing and captivating and a book that I will keep on my shelf to entertain other as I was thoroughly entertained.

My Rating: The part of this book that is a real draw is the way it is written, the line between fiction and history is so blurred and the details presented in the story and the art make it so believable! I can't help but give this book a rating of Four Paws and a Stump Wag!