Mythical Beasts and Beings
- tarascates
- Feb 17, 2017
- 2 min read
A Mythical Creatures Guide with Stunning Illustrations
Lisa Graves takes on monsters, fairies, gods and dragons in this illustrated guide to mythological creatures. Featuring legends from around the world, this collection provides information for fans of mythology, magic and more in a lovely volume.
I felt Lisa Graves did a great job in diversifying the mythical beasts she chose to showcase in this novel. There is a great cross spectrum of various cultures covered in this book so you find out how cultures and communities around the world and throughout time chose to explain the unexplainable.
I also liked that in a way she treats the material in a ‘textbook’ format as if these beings exist in reality. She includes pictures, a history about the being, country of origin, features, superpowers, and the creatures that are from other countries and cultures most similar in nature such as a Mermaid being similar to a siren in Greece, a Selkie in Scotland, Ningyo in Japan and so forth.
Graves has a great writing style as she makes the historical accounts sound interesting and realistic. This is a perfect reference for any fantasy writer who needs a basic foundation to help them figure out who they want to cast in their next novel or for kids who need an introduction to mythical beings.
As a parent, a fan of fantasy novels, and as an Irishwoman who grew up being told stories about quite a few of these beings as if they were real I loved the book and felt Graves did a fantastic job. It’s definitely something I’d give my kids to help them learn more about the tales their grandfather tells.
Thank you to Netgalley and Xist Publishing for allowing me to review this book.
*synopsis and pic from amazon.com