A few months ago, I received another book from
McFarland & Company, Inc. for review. This is another book by my good
friend, Theresa Bane, and I have to say, this is one of her best yet. As you know, Theresa is a renowned
expert on vampires and the Undead, and has written over a dozen books on such
things. And with every book she writes, she adds to her encyclopedic knowledge
of supernatural beings. This time, however, she tackles monsters from all over
the world in her newest tome, which is entitled Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore.
The Encyclopedia
of Beasts and Monsters is an academic volume, and is intended for
serious researchers (like myself) and for those with an insatiable curiosity
about such things. As with all of her encyclopedic works, Theresa’s research is
painstakingly thorough, and every conceivable type of monster gets an
entry of its own. The bibliography is even more
extensive than the one featured in her Encyclopedia
of Spirits and Ghosts (and she loved that review!), and is over thirty
pages long! That is absolutely incredible! I’ve read about a quarter of
those books (if even that!), and I intend to read even more of them in the future. Most of the book’s entries are very
detailed, and some of these entries are two
pages long! Others are very short, consisting of two to three sentences and
giving only basic information, which may encourage her readers to do their own
research. However, the majority of the book’s entries fall somewhere in between
the two, arousing the reader’s interest and inspiring them to learn more on
their own. And at the end of each entry, Theresa gives her sources, which
consists of the author’s last name, the book’s title, and the pages that
contain the information she has given. And at about 423 pages (which includes
the bibliography and the index), this book is larger and beefier than the last one I reviewed. Let me tell you, folks:
that is a ton of information, and
that’s what I like.
Moving on to the book’s contents, the entries
contain information on virtually every kind of
monster, beast, and creature that you can imagine (except for the Wendigo,
which is a shame because I would love
to hear Theresa’s take on the monster). There are various types of monsters
discussed in this book, which includes cryptids, bogeymen, werebeasts, yōkai, demons, vampires, dragons (there are a lot
of dragons listed in this book), the Undead, faeries, shapeshifters, some
literary creatures (like Grendel from Beowulf), beasts from classical
mythology, tricksters, Fearsome Critters (legends passed down half-jokingly by
lumberjacks), deities, sea and lake monsters, beasts associated with black
magic and sorcery, and many, many more. Each one of these entries
describes the monster or beast’s appearance, behavior, powers, where they come
from in the world, their cultural origins, how to defend yourself from their
depredations, and even how to kill them (which isn’t always possible). The
entries are all in alphabetical order, from the Aarvak to the Zorigami. Some of
my favorite entries include the Aswang, the Ga-Git (an entry featured on this
blog), the Impundulu, Mama Dlo, the Krampus, the Pukwudgie, the Kelpie, the
Basilisk, the Kappa, the Alp, the Batibat, the Black Dog, the Werewolf (there
are great deal of werewolf-related entries in this book), and a great deal
more. And with over 2,200 individual entries, it’s very hard to pick
your favorites. You won’t find any entries dealing with fictional
monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, Great Cthulhu, Godzilla, King
Kong, the Slenderman, the Rake, or anything like that. It is possible
that she might publish another encyclopedia on such things one day (I hope),
but for now, there are plenty of other books on those creatures.
Overall, the Encyclopedia
of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore is incredibly
well-written, free of the errors that plague so many other books these days,
easy to understand, very neatly organized, and a veritable treasure trove
of curious and forgotten lore. Theresa’s research is exhaustively thorough
and extremely detailed, with a rather long index for quickly locating
needed information, and an enormous bibliography for further reading and
expanding your own research. In short, this book is a hunter and researcher’s dream
come true!! I am truly thankful that McFarland & Company sent me this
book, free of charge, for reviewing and for my own personal enjoyment. I will definitely
be reviewing more titles from them in the very near future. I very much
recommend this book to all of my blog’s readers, my friends, and my fellow
researchers and monster hunters. What are you waiting for? Go ahead and buy a
copy!
Publisher: McFarland – www.mcfarlandpub.com – 800-253-2187
(Order Line)
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