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.
This book was received as an ARC from Quirk
Books. Upon receiving it I paged
through it and was very intrigued at the detailed drawings of the skeletal and
muscular figures of these mythological creatures. I am very interested in mythology so of course I was
fascinated. I read the story of Dr.
Black’s life and work. The life of
Spencer is amazing with all the things he believes to be true and the lengths
he went to prove it. The descriptions
of the way he “made” these mythological creatures are not for the weak of
stomach as they were very descriptive.
Even myself not being grossed out by details was a little grossed out a
the idea of someone doing this.
Thinking back to all the things that were truly done in the name of
science back then I could very much picture a scientist doing these
things. I love the mystery of Black’s disappearance
and even how his work affected his oldest son.
I would definitely read any follow up book to this. The illustrations almost made me believe
that mythological creatures were real.
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