Monster Blood Tattoo
#2864.07 adjusted 4.06 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 3 books Status Complete 2006–2009 Reading commitment Medium D. M. Cornish Last reviewed 2026-10-23
Overview
D. M. Cornish's Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy, written and illustrated by the author and later republished as The Foundling's Tale, is set in the Half-Continent, a land of tricorne hats and flintlock pistols, of predatory monsters, chemical potions and surgically altered people, with its own language and lore set out in extensive appendices, maps and a glossary. Rossamund Bookchild, a foundling with a girl's name, leaves his orphanage to become a lamplighter on the monster-haunted highways, falls in with the feared monster-hunter Europe, the Branden Rose, and finds himself accused of being a monster in human form, in a story that keeps asking what a monster really is.
Dark fantasy, Epic fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (3 works) counts toward ranking
Monster Blood Tattoo D. M. Cornish
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Foundling; ISBN recorded is the G. P. Putnam's Sons first US edition (2006); first published in Australia by Omnibus Books. | 2006 | 1 | core | 3.91 (8,257 ratings) |
 | Lamplighter; First published in Australia in 2007; the ISBN recorded is the G. P. Putnam's Sons first US edition (2008). | 2007 | 2 | core | 4.22 (4,664 ratings) |
 | Factotum; ISBN recorded is the Omnibus Books (Scholastic Australia) edition; the Putnam US edition (2010) is 9780399246401. | 2009 | 3 | core | 4.25 (3,014 ratings) |
Rossamund Bookchild's journey through the Half-Continent; later titled The Foundling's Tale.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Monster Blood Tattoo? Monster Blood Tattoo's Core Canon is 3 books.
- What is the reading order for Monster Blood Tattoo? Publication order, starting with Foundling. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Monster Blood Tattoo finished? Complete (2006–2009).
- How much reading does Monster Blood Tattoo take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 3 Core Canon books).
- How is Monster Blood Tattoo ranked? #286 in this site's official ranking, based on 15,935 reader ratings across 3 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #286?
Ranked #286 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.07 across 3 core books.
- A smaller readership (15,935 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #285, The Sheep-Pig (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 3 books · Complete · 16k ratings · Ranks #286 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length dark fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (3 Core Canon books)
- Foundling (2006)
- Lamplighter (2007)
- Factotum (2009)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
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Suggestions computed from what Monster Blood Tattoo and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
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- Abarat Portal fantasy / Dark fantasy · Ongoing · Medium commitment · 4.14
- Memories of Idhún Epic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.14
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.07 across 15,935 ratings on 3 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: Monster Blood Tattoo (D. M. Cornish) accepted 2026-10-21
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Reader list on the rating platform (ratings with titles) Tier 2
- Author page on the rating platform (years) Tier 2
- Risingshadow (publisher description) Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-10-21
Rule: Core Canon = Foundling (2006), Lamplighter (2007) and Factotum (2009).