Review of Mythical Creatures and Magical Beasts
Posted: 31 Oct 2021, 03:17
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Mythical Creatures and Magical Beasts" by Zayden Stone.]
Mythical Creatures and Magical Beasts: An Illustrated Book of Monsters from Timeless Folktales, Folklore and Mythology: Volume 1 by Zayden Stone starts a series of books about myths, legends, and folklore. In this volume, the author offers the first part of a compendium of creatures from various cultures divided into categories based on the animals they're derived from. For each creature, he tells the story or stories connected to it, with an analysis of its origins and its meaning. All the creatures are illustrated by artist Herdhian. At the end of this 203-page book, there's a list of references that enables the readers to search for more in-depth information about the creatures listed in this book.
Stories about creatures that could have a supernatural origin and sometimes were a mix of different animals or were part animal and part human have existed probably since the dawn of humanity. Ancient religions often had deities with animal parts and some religions still have such deities or creatures. Even when people don't believe in magical creatures, they're often fascinated by stories about them. But what do we know about the origin of ancient stories and the meaning behind them? Zayden Stone offers some answers.
The book is structured very well, so it's easy to read. There are six categories of creatures: arthropods, avian, canines, serpents, ungulates, and aquatic. There's a chapter for each creature that starts with an illustration and the fictional anecdote that is part of the myth, legend, or folklore about that creature, followed by the tale about that creature with its analysis. Sometimes, there are variants of a certain tale, as such tales can be influenced by different cultures and change over time.
The author did a great job in researching the sources of all the tales and summarizing them in simple and clear chapters. That's what I appreciated the most about this book. If you're interested in going in-depth about one specific creature, the references at the end of the book contain a lot of links to more sources. There's nothing I didn't like about this book.
There are sexual references due to the fact that mating is part of the tale about some of those creatures. The author kept such references to the minimum needed to tell and analyze those tales, so they're non-erotic. In my opinion, that makes this book suitable for teenagers, also considering the lack of profanity.
A full judgment would require reading the whole series of books but the first volume is very promising. I was already familiar with some of those mythical creatures but I discovered more details about them and more creatures thanks to this book. There are a few errors but the editing is generally good, so I'm happy to rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. While waiting for the next volumes, if you're interested in learning about creatures from myths, legends, and folklore with the insights they offer about the civilizations that invented them, I recommend Mythical Creatures and Magical Beasts: An Illustrated Book of Monsters from Timeless Folktales, Folklore and Mythology: Volume 1.
******
Mythical Creatures and Magical Beasts
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Mythical Creatures and Magical Beasts: An Illustrated Book of Monsters from Timeless Folktales, Folklore and Mythology: Volume 1 by Zayden Stone starts a series of books about myths, legends, and folklore. In this volume, the author offers the first part of a compendium of creatures from various cultures divided into categories based on the animals they're derived from. For each creature, he tells the story or stories connected to it, with an analysis of its origins and its meaning. All the creatures are illustrated by artist Herdhian. At the end of this 203-page book, there's a list of references that enables the readers to search for more in-depth information about the creatures listed in this book.
Stories about creatures that could have a supernatural origin and sometimes were a mix of different animals or were part animal and part human have existed probably since the dawn of humanity. Ancient religions often had deities with animal parts and some religions still have such deities or creatures. Even when people don't believe in magical creatures, they're often fascinated by stories about them. But what do we know about the origin of ancient stories and the meaning behind them? Zayden Stone offers some answers.
The book is structured very well, so it's easy to read. There are six categories of creatures: arthropods, avian, canines, serpents, ungulates, and aquatic. There's a chapter for each creature that starts with an illustration and the fictional anecdote that is part of the myth, legend, or folklore about that creature, followed by the tale about that creature with its analysis. Sometimes, there are variants of a certain tale, as such tales can be influenced by different cultures and change over time.
The author did a great job in researching the sources of all the tales and summarizing them in simple and clear chapters. That's what I appreciated the most about this book. If you're interested in going in-depth about one specific creature, the references at the end of the book contain a lot of links to more sources. There's nothing I didn't like about this book.
There are sexual references due to the fact that mating is part of the tale about some of those creatures. The author kept such references to the minimum needed to tell and analyze those tales, so they're non-erotic. In my opinion, that makes this book suitable for teenagers, also considering the lack of profanity.
A full judgment would require reading the whole series of books but the first volume is very promising. I was already familiar with some of those mythical creatures but I discovered more details about them and more creatures thanks to this book. There are a few errors but the editing is generally good, so I'm happy to rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. While waiting for the next volumes, if you're interested in learning about creatures from myths, legends, and folklore with the insights they offer about the civilizations that invented them, I recommend Mythical Creatures and Magical Beasts: An Illustrated Book of Monsters from Timeless Folktales, Folklore and Mythology: Volume 1.
******
Mythical Creatures and Magical Beasts
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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