You can read more book reviews or buy Monster Blood Tattoo 3: Factotum by D M Cornish at. You can read more book reviews or buy Monster Blood Tattoo 3: Factotum by D M Cornish at .uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free. If they love extensive worldbuilding and big, colourful characters, they'll also enjoy Mariah Mundi (The Midas Box) by G P Taylor and Gullstruck Island by Frances Hardinge.

My thanks to the good people at David Fickling for sending the book. But for those whose bag it is, there really isn't anything better out there. This isn't a book for children who like high-octane, page-turning, adrenalin-fuelled adventures. But for the casual reader it may well seem overwhelming and far too dense for an enjoyable read. Here, I should sound a warning bell - Monster Blood Tattoo is written for the fan of this kind of fantasy and it's a triumph. This book is all about its worldbuilding, which is some of the finest I've ever read - deep and complex and utterly thought-through. It's a brick of a book, with the narrative running to more than six hundred pages and the associated notes and explicarium adding another hundred. I won't forget this particular monster hunter for a long time. The supporting cast is dense and three-dimensional, with Europe being my particular favourite. It's rich and vivid and complicated, and it requires a great deal from its gentle protagonist Rossamund.

Suffice it to say that it's a wonderful conclusion to the series. Too much of what happens rests on what has gone before in books one and two. I don't really want to say too much about Factotum in case you are new to this rich and wonderful fantasy trilogy. As Europe begins to teach Rossamund about the blurred lines between good and evil and that monsters don't have a monopoly on brutality and treachery, you really have to wonder if our foundling can escape an inevitable tragedy. But they've made enemies and the long-dormant Monster Lords are awakening. Living with the fallout, Rossamund accompanies Europe on a monster-hunting tour. There's no more lamplighting for him, now he's been accused and knows something of his origins. I should say that it's a book for the fan of the genre rather than the casual reader.įoundling Rossamund Bookchild has become factotum (personal servant) to teratologist (monster-hunter) Europe. Factotum made me cry at the end and is a fitting end to the trilogy. Summary: Sophisticated worldbuilding, class writing and a host of memorable characters make this an unforgettable fantasy series.

Factotum by dm cornish