This is a brilliant kids reference book. It's really well illustrated, fascinating tales in a format that's interesting and easy to digest for younger readers.
It's a great introduction to myths, legends and folklore of the world.

I came to these publishers for the quality of their photographic books – and stayed for this new one on dragons. Go figure – but if you think there are any photos here, you're wrong. What there is is some near-photorealist art, giving us a portrait of no small quality for each creature in this bestiary. But I didn't find the book I wanted. The text is a quite awkward mix of 'in-universe' writing and standard non-fiction, so half the time we hear about the legend of Beowulf, or Krak and the Polish dragon he defeats, and half the time we're given some flippant-seeming text that suggests we're still in the world of fantasy. Wyverns make inappropriate pets, we're told – yes, because they don't exist. Magic swords are handy weapons too – yes, because they don't exist either. Each subject is the same – a wonderful-seeming picture, peppered with repetitive captions, followed by a second page each time to convey the folklore, which, to repeat, can't tell whether it is folklore or to be treated as gospel.

I think the book could quite easily have still been about dragons (not that is is exclusively so, for it gets around to other beasts of legend) and given us the whole lore, in one proper swoop and not the variety of fonts and boxes full of bullet points we have here. Oh, and that photorealist art also becomes a hindrance when you see some really ungainly poses, that like to foreground the head of the beast but leave a clumsy array of the legs and wings. So little here really impressed, beyond its nicely global scope and authority. One and a half stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amber Books for an advance reader’s copy of this book.

Do you like dragons ? Mythical creatures? Then this is book for you.

The drawings in this book are spectacular 💚 . I also loved learning all the different tidbits of information, especially what country’s culture these legendary creatures are from. The book includes dragons and mythical creatures from both literature and legend,

5 ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and authors Gerrie McCall and Chris McNab for the opportunity to review this book.

I have played a lot of role playing games, ever since First Edition Dungeons and Dragons. Ever since First Edition Dungeons and Dragons, authors and artists have tried to incorporate historical mythology from around the world into gaming, and in the process, have led many players to learn of the different mythology offered by different cultures around the world.

This book does an excellent job of providing a colorful, artistic, thumbnail sketch of a variety of dragons and mythological creatures, with a basic summary for each. Another reviewer described the book as a sort of encyclopedia of dragons and mythical creatures, but I disagree with that assessment, because the various descriptions and stories are too brief. I would more compare this to a Wikipedia summary of each creature, with a one-two paragraph summary of stories associated with each creature, a map showing where the story placed the creature in the world or where it was supposed to have originated, and a couple of color paintings of the creatures, typically including both a solo picture and a picture of it in action within the story.

I applaud the author and artists for their selection of subject matter from around the globe, including European, Eurasian, Native American, and Japanese offerings, and both modern and ancient stories. This seems to target a younger, shorter attention span audience, so this would be great for a quick story time book with young children, or to share among multiple children, to give them something to enjoy together. Adults will not want to poke out their eyes having to read from this multiple times, as there is some serious content within, but is clearly geared towards sharing across age and reading level groups. While there is clearly violence discussed in every story, these are based on folk lore and stories of legend, which contained stories of wickedness, treachery, and violence. There is not so much violence that I would worry about nightmares or distressing emotionally sensitive children in general, as the reader can skip over small portions without ruining the stories.

If I had kids in the house, this would be a MUST HAVE. As an empty nester, not so much. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would recommend it to all of my gaming friends with kids. I wouldn't use it as a serious resource, but for short bedtime stories, this is great.

Cool book for the kids. My daughter loves dragons. I liked the first half of the book about dragons but I didn’t love the illustrations for the other creatures and didn’t like the story about Medusa seducing Poseidon (hint: he raped her and then Athena punished her for her own rape)

This book is an excellent compendium on the subject of mythical creatures! From the standpoint of a fiction writer, I found this work to be filled with concise information that I can quickly refer to if I am looking for the characteristics and mannerisms of just about any given creature from mythologies around the globe. I particularly enjoyed the structure of this book, where a large, color image of the creature is diagrammed with notable features of the breed, followed by a brief coverage of the myth or piece of literature from which the creature emerged. The "Did you know?" section for each beast is filled with some great bits of trivia that even the most diehard of mythology buffs will find surprising and entertaining! This book would make a great teaching aid for discussing the topics of world mythologies and differing belief systems, and it opens up the doors for discussion about how ancient societies defined and described their world.

This book was so much fun to read! It includes artwork and information about dragons and other creatures. Chapters about dragons include Mythological Dragons, Ancient Mythical Dragons, and Dragons in Literature. I especially enjoyed reading about dragons from Harry Potter and The Hobbit. Then we move on to other mythical creatures where chapters include Ancient Myths and Legends, Classic Folk Tales, and Literature and the Movies. For each creature, we see a drawing/diagram showing features of the creature, a map showing their world locations, and loads of information about each one. I would recommend this book to anyone with an enjoyment of magical creatures, especially dragons.

really loved looking through this book, and had a great time learning about the creatures with my young goddaughter. I also thought it was a great stepping stone to going into further depth researching a specific creature that peaked my interest within the book. The pictures included were great and though the information was thorough it did not overpower the enjoy-ability of such an interesting topic. I think there was a great balance in what creatures were included in the book that came from a variety of different cultures an I will definitely be picking up a copy at some point.

<I>Thanks to NetGalley for a providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.</I>

This is one of the coolest fantasy books I've ever seen and an absolute must have for any fan of dragons and mythical creatures. This is the only digital ARC I've gotten where I went pre-ordered the hardcover in the middle of reading it. The art is stunning and manages to give a fresh idea to many well known classic creatures. On top of that, the collection of creatures here is staggering. Adding famous and lesser known beasts from modern literature and movies to the classic myths and legends really helps set this collection apart from other bestiary type books. The "did you know" section was also a nice touch, and even the most well read fantasy fan is likely to discover something new. I truly think this is a book that will delight readers of any age.

However, I give this book with a warning: be careful in the Dragons in Literature section. If you haven't read the books the dragons are from, their pages are full of spoilers.. I'm very thankful that I caught that one dragon was from a series I plan to start reading soon and was able to skip that page.

My dragon loving son devoured this book. He loved the drawings and the fact it covered mythological dragons as well as those in literature and movies. He found the addition of other mythological creatures fascinating as well. The illustrations are really well done and eye catching.

This coffee table book reads like a heavily illustrated dictionary of numerous Fantasy creatures. The publisher's website presents four wonderful beasts out of 85 dictionary entries spread over 180 pages in summary. The first half is dedicated to dragons, the other half creatures in general. They come from all over the world - Europe's Beowulf's Dragon or Cretan Minotaur are represented, but also Asian, African, or American examples. You can find Tolkien's Smaug, Glaurung, as well as Harry Potter's Norwegian Ridgeback,  the Luckdragon Falkor from the Neverending Story, and even the movies are represented with the Green Death from "How to Train Your Dragon" or Godzilla among several others. I found a large amount of entries that I didn't even know of, and the descriptions brought up interesting details. The only entry that I didn't like was Saruman as a mythical creature from the Lord of the Rings - I'd rather have used a Balrog there.

As far as I've checked, all of the entries are top notch cited from their historical or literaric context. I loved the "Did you know?" tidbits, though they give away spoilers in the case of literaric citations, e.g. the fate of Túrin and Níenor with Glaurung. 

Each entry has also a small map where it is found in the world with a short description.

The art is consistent and not a collection of different styles - the photo realistic illustration of the cover is not representative at all. I'd describe it as comic style or in the way of children book illustrations, they are really cute.

The book is not available as an ebook, and makes sense only as a hardcover which I totally recommend.

The book reads almost like a mythological encyclopedia of all kinds of unique creatures. The author does a fabulous job of not only throw in in tidbits that almost seems like secrets but also identifies the local lore and the geographical history of the particular creature. You will find all sorts of information and inspirational details about various magical creatures like dragons, gorgos, minotarus, hydras, kraken, trolls, baba yaga (my all time favourite), bigfoot, rumpelstiltskin, behemoth, gargantua, godzilla, werewolves and macbeth's witches. The drawings and physiological details are very focused and informative. The author also explains how the mythology might have come from, ie dragons from prehistoric dinosaur bones that people in the middle ages just did not understand. But at the same time takes such attention to detail when writing and explaining it's almost as of its a real research book to educate you on these fantastical creatures. Different cultures take on dragons was absolutely eye opening and totally something i wasn't aware of. The author does a fabulous job of educating in a fun and playful manner. I particularly loved the little did you know tidbits. A little story and background of adventure on every creature in the book - an absolute treasure! Great addition to any fantastical library!