Privateer Press' "Monsternomicon" is one of the most original d20 monster collections to be published this year, drawing as it does on the steam-powered, pistol-packing fantasy setting of Iron Kingdoms. Like Privateer Press' excellent "Witchfire Trilogy" of adventure modules, "Monsternomicon" adds a magical mecha twist to D&D.

The book offers a lot more than just nifty new critters. Besides its 77 monster entries, it also presents the new skill "Creature Lore"; three new feats; nine "quickplates," or monster templates designed to differentiate and flesh out encounters (for example, "maligned" – any regular monster that has been tainted by dark energies, or "urban," any wilderness monster that has adapted to life in the city); a new NPC, Viktor Pendrake; three detailed new prestige classes: the Adventuring Scholar, the Bone Grinder, and the Monster Hunter; a discussion of the Iron Kingdoms' cosmology, and a description of playable races in Iron Kingdoms: dwarves, elves, gobbers, trollkin, ogrun, and nyss.

But back to the monsters. Some are standard D&Desque fare, like the two-headed canine argus or the undead elven eldritch. Nothing wildly new there. Where the "Monsternomicon" shines is in its presentation of techno-magic-using monsters and mechanika. For example, take a glance at the very creepy mech-using cephalyx, looking like a cross between a mecha-mindflayer, your least favorite dentist, and one of Clive Barker's cenobites. The steam-powered deathjacks, the weapons-grafted dread, the electrified galvanite sentinels, the soul-fueled iron lich, the sexy but deadly iron maidens, the Deadlandsesque pistol wraiths ... these are the monsters I love in this book, unusual opponents to give my players pause for thought.

I'm also fond of the totem hunter, a kind of "Predator" for your game, and the twin beings Gristle and Flay, one an animated skinless body and the other its animated skin. They're all delightfully grisly.

For the dragon-lovers among you, "Monsternomicon" offers three named dragons suitable for challenging epic-level heroes: Scaefang, Blighterghast, and Halfaug. Rules for dragonspawn, the creatures born of a dragon's blood; and for the blighted, beings who live too close to dragons and become infected by their blight, are also provided.

All of the art is good, and some of it is excellent. For example, the artist who created the cephalyx and the infernals gives them a slender, forbidding elegance that immediately appealed to me. The overall design of the "Monsternomicon" is high, including "manuscript"-like page backgrounds, silhouette size comparisons between each monster and a human to give an idea of scale, and clean, neat typography.

I highly recommend that you add "Monsternomicon" to your d20 library; I think it's far better quality than WOTC's Monster Manual II, and although I liked Sword and Sorcery's Creature Collections, "Monsternomicon"'s art and design is better. This book is well worth the price.