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A review by cookiemonstaly
Creatures of Near Kingdoms by Zedeck Siew
4.0
Fuhh, finally done! I have so many mixed feelings about this book.
For one, I truly enjoyed it. It reads like an encyclopaedia for magical creatures in Malaysia. I love reading Malaysian things and being able to say "heh, I know what you mean!". This book is like if "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them" took place in Malaysia.
Hell Dog was definitely one of my favourites, but Ghost Cat sure tugged at the heartstrings. Also, I wish Giant Skunk Pleco was a real being.
Has a good kick out of watching my bf read the Red-Headed River Terrapin entry, heh.
As for the illustrations - so gorgeous! I had to resist the urge to colour them in with all that lovely, lovely white space.
So what I didn't really enjoy about the book is - weirdly enough - the writing.
I think this is largely due to the fact that I expected this to be a light and breezy read, but the prose was too flowery and had too many bombastic words in an effort to paint the scene for you. So at times, it felt like a chore to read through.
For one, I truly enjoyed it. It reads like an encyclopaedia for magical creatures in Malaysia. I love reading Malaysian things and being able to say "heh, I know what you mean!". This book is like if "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them" took place in Malaysia.
Hell Dog was definitely one of my favourites, but Ghost Cat sure tugged at the heartstrings. Also, I wish Giant Skunk Pleco was a real being.
Has a good kick out of watching my bf read the Red-Headed River Terrapin entry, heh.
As for the illustrations - so gorgeous! I had to resist the urge to colour them in with all that lovely, lovely white space.
So what I didn't really enjoy about the book is - weirdly enough - the writing.
I think this is largely due to the fact that I expected this to be a light and breezy read, but the prose was too flowery and had too many bombastic words in an effort to paint the scene for you. So at times, it felt like a chore to read through.