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A review by twicomb
Cryptids, Creatures & Critters: A Manual of Monster Mythos by Rachel Quinney
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
If you like the strange creatures that exist in mythology and legend, you'll like this book. It's both light-hearted and comprehensive, which is a tough balance to hit. It's laid out in three main sections: Cryptids, Folklore, and Mythology. The introduction includes an interesting little list that defines the classifications in the book (classifications here meaning the "physical form of the creature") as: monster, spirit, humanoid, shapeshifter, and alien. Each entry gets at least a full page, most two, with a full-color illustration and interesting facts about what the creature is said to do (especially, of course, its interactions with or impact on us humans).
On to some of my new favorites! The Tatzelwurm (an Alpine snake with clawed front legs and the head of a cat) might top the list. The Bake-Kujira (a spectral whale skeleton seen in Japan) is a close follow, along with the Buschgroßmutter (the "shrub grandmother"), the Lusca (a Bahamian chimera that is half shark and either half eel or octopus - two of my favorite animals), and the Skvader (a winged rabbit that resides in Sweden).
And let us not forget about the Tizzie-Whizie, an English cryptic with the body of a hedgehog, the wings of a dragon, the antennae of a bee or butterfly, and the tail of a squirrel. It can be coaxed and soothed with warm milk and ginger biscuits. Actually, perhaps that's my new favorite.
There are a few things that keep this from being 5 stars for me. Firstly, the art pieces (which are all wonderful individually) are done in such a wide variety of styles that it's almost disconcerting. As you flip between pages, you're first looking at images that are detailed and eerie, then suddenly cutesy and cuddly, then suddenly stylized angular. There doesn't seem to be any consideration given to which art style was paired with which creature, which could have gone a long way to offset this issue. In many places there's a huge mismatch between the illustration and the creature being illustrated. Case in point: the Zheng, which is described as "a ferocious and malevolent beast." The accompanying illustration looks like the cutest, friendliest leopard-inspired furry that you've ever seen. It's an odd choice, to put it mildly. But to be fair, many of the illustrations are perfect pairings with the creatures, like the enormous skeleton striding through a moonlit forest, depicting the Gashadokuro. A special shout-out for the illustration of the Enfield Horror that looks extremely inspired by the rat-creatures in the gorgeous Bone graphic novels (that's a big compliment, if you don't know Bone).
My second little quibble is that the descriptions don't always bother to give any information on time periods, i.e. when legends began of the specific creature. I know it's not easy to nail this sort of thing down, but even a general statement like "sometime in the Edo period" or "during the Middle Ages" would have been nice, as some kind of reference point. For the cryptids, there's often not even a mention of where or how the creatures have entered into folklore. More details, please! Is this a common legend? Has it been around forever? Is it very new? Is it extremely area-specific??
But as I said, these are small quibbles. Overall this is a wonderful book and will be a great addition to the collection of anyone who enjoys these sorts of creatures.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC for unbiased review.
On to some of my new favorites! The Tatzelwurm (an Alpine snake with clawed front legs and the head of a cat) might top the list. The Bake-Kujira (a spectral whale skeleton seen in Japan) is a close follow, along with the Buschgroßmutter (the "shrub grandmother"), the Lusca (a Bahamian chimera that is half shark and either half eel or octopus - two of my favorite animals), and the Skvader (a winged rabbit that resides in Sweden).
And let us not forget about the Tizzie-Whizie, an English cryptic with the body of a hedgehog, the wings of a dragon, the antennae of a bee or butterfly, and the tail of a squirrel. It can be coaxed and soothed with warm milk and ginger biscuits. Actually, perhaps that's my new favorite.
There are a few things that keep this from being 5 stars for me. Firstly, the art pieces (which are all wonderful individually) are done in such a wide variety of styles that it's almost disconcerting. As you flip between pages, you're first looking at images that are detailed and eerie, then suddenly cutesy and cuddly, then suddenly stylized angular. There doesn't seem to be any consideration given to which art style was paired with which creature, which could have gone a long way to offset this issue. In many places there's a huge mismatch between the illustration and the creature being illustrated. Case in point: the Zheng, which is described as "a ferocious and malevolent beast." The accompanying illustration looks like the cutest, friendliest leopard-inspired furry that you've ever seen. It's an odd choice, to put it mildly. But to be fair, many of the illustrations are perfect pairings with the creatures, like the enormous skeleton striding through a moonlit forest, depicting the Gashadokuro. A special shout-out for the illustration of the Enfield Horror that looks extremely inspired by the rat-creatures in the gorgeous Bone graphic novels (that's a big compliment, if you don't know Bone).
My second little quibble is that the descriptions don't always bother to give any information on time periods, i.e. when legends began of the specific creature. I know it's not easy to nail this sort of thing down, but even a general statement like "sometime in the Edo period" or "during the Middle Ages" would have been nice, as some kind of reference point. For the cryptids, there's often not even a mention of where or how the creatures have entered into folklore. More details, please! Is this a common legend? Has it been around forever? Is it very new? Is it extremely area-specific??
But as I said, these are small quibbles. Overall this is a wonderful book and will be a great addition to the collection of anyone who enjoys these sorts of creatures.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC for unbiased review.