Writer - E.B. Hudspeth
Published By - Quirk Books
Have you ever read a fictional biography where for some of the initial chapters you really thought it was a real character? Well, that is what happened to me with this book. About 1/3rd of the way through the first part of the book I stopped reading and searched for "Dr. Spencer Black" on google and wikipedia to get real info on him and found out he was a fictional character. This was a rather new experience for me.
As I am a doctor myself (recently passed) and have the desire to become a surgeon from the first time I read about the book I was interested in it quite a lot. I mean I am also a huge fan of fantasy genre and who from my background with such interest in books would not love to see a detailed anatomy of mythical beast?
The book has 2 distinct parts. First part is the fictional biography of Dr. Spencer Black, a charismatic surgeon of congenital anomalies. This biography was written with quite a lot of effort to authenticity as far as I can tell as the first few chapters were so believable as truth. Although at first it was a bit boring for this "trying to keep it real attitude", the later parts were quite fast-paced and interesting indeed. This part tells the story of traumatic childhood to becoming an young and successful surgeon to ultimately fall into a dark path of false belief which finally lead the doctor into joining a circus. The story although a bit boring at times really show the effort the author had put into making it sound real. I really get the fact that there are some shock values for readers in some deeds of the doctor but frankly wasn't that surprised or shocked myself.
The 2nd part is the best in many regards. As mush as the pictures and little explanatory notes before them was enjoyable the artist also tried to keep things real. Although I can't really get the idea around my head (or agree whatsoever) how the doctor explains he came to believe that mythological creatures are our ancestors I really liked the detailed drawings, and how the doctor tries to co-relate the bones and muscles with those present in human, he also uses quite innovative names for the new fictional bones and muscles. This as a recently passed medical student was really quite fascinating for me. And quite frankly it was not so much like "Gray's Anatomy" but like an "Atlas of Anatomy" of mythological beasts (which is much more interesting in my book).
I would really recommend this to anyone interested in mythological beasts or any fantasy fans coming from a medical background like myself.
This gets 4 out of 5 stars from me.
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