This was such an interesting read. I love any kind of history or eerie folklore and Freaky Folklore definitely delivered. The illustrations were a nice touch too! Highly recommend checking this one out.

I actually really love the podcast this book comes from and they did an amazing job wi the this book. The illustrations are beautiful and terrifying and the information is plentiful and interesting. I will definitely be buying a physical copy to look at all of the illustrations they way they are meant to be seen.

I am very much in my cryptid era right now so this book was exactly in my lane. I don't know anything about the podcast or any background on this book other than the synopsis so I went into this straight forward. I liked that the book was sectioned off into continents. I really enjoyed the fictional stories that accompanied each one. I also enjoyed the illustrations and the index in the back. Over all this is good little coffee table book that i think would be a great conversation starter.

I'm a big fan of the podcast and I'm so happy about this book.
The illustrations are amazing, and I loved the detail that went into all of the research and information. Combined with scary stories, this is just a perfect asset for the lovers of the podcast.

This book was an incredibly fun exploration of legends surrounding cryptids and monsters from around the world. I was excited to see there were quite a few more obscure creatures that I hadn’t heard of before. The book divides the folklore into different continents, using a brief introductory page to provide context of where the tales come from. Each creature section includes a selection of “freaky facts” before giving a description of the legend and its history, followed by a short story that shows the being in action. This structure gives the book a quick pace that keeps the reader interested in seeing what comes next. Another aspect of the book that really shines is the artwork by Gunship Revolution’s Jen Santos, Marcus Reyno, Timothy Terrenal, and Mara Miranda-Escota. The illustrations are gorgeously done and bring each of the creatures to life in haunting detail. You’re not going to get a deep dive into the lore of the legends in these pages, but it will give you a great introduction to some unique myths. Reading this book left me excited to learn more about the folklore presented and I will definitely be checking out the shows on the Eeriecast Network to explore these topics further.

Thank you Quarto Publishing Group – Wellfleet Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This book was a great way to be introduced to cryptids and other scary folklore worldwide. I loved that it shared a bio of each creature (including location, classification, first sighting, and personality), a great graphic, and a story of an individual or group interacting with the creature. Each story helped show how eerie or scary the interactions could be.

This could be a great way to start someone's passion for learning about this topic!

A comprehensive collection of monsters and other creatures around the world. I enjoyed the collected information (paired with illustrations) and the short stories accompanying them.


Thank you #NetGalley and Wellfleet Press for giving me the opportunity to read this!

Per my 14 yr old: This book was awesome. The pictures were cool and the informative was good” he found it highly rereadable

1 Star – Visually appealing but skewed towards sensationalism

Thank you to NetGalley and Wellfleet Press for providing me with an ARC of “Freaky Folklore: Terrifying Tales of the World’s Most Elusive Monsters and Enigmatic Cryptids” by Darkness Prevails in exchange for an honest review.

Folklore has been one of my down-the-rabbit-hole obsessions since I was a kid, and Japanese folklore in particular ended up being a big part of my postgraduate research. So, I have a near unhealthy compulsion to check out any book that makes claims of being about or inspired by folklore. What that means is that I’m also (inadvertently) more critical when it comes to these books.

“Freaky Folklore” feels like your average coffee table book in everything from the trim size and layout to the content selection and depth. Which isn’t to say that’s a bad thing; but, for me, it was at best unsatisfying and at worst annoyingly skewed towards sensationalism.

From the introduction alone I became a little skeptical about the framing of the book. The word ‘monster’ is explained as originating from the Latin ‘monstrum’—which is true enough. However, I take issue with the choice to present the etymology as “godlike premonition, unbelievable phenomenon,” while entirely ignoring the older roots in “admonishment.”

Cryptids aside, folklore has never been just about the dread of the unexplained. I think a large part of my dissatisfaction is rooted in this conflation of cryptids, monsters, and folklore, while emphasizing a “whether they’re real or not” campy atmosphere.

What irked me the most though is the way the introduction led me to believe there was going to be some substance in the representation of “culture, values, and beliefs” from the regions the “creatures” originate; when in reality, the stories and informational blurbs are all positionally removed from those cultures and beliefs. Not to mention, they are at times so generalized as to be inaccurate. When you spread your net so wide, and try to do so much, there will inevitably be details sacrificed and areas overlooked. Still, there are literally Wikipedia pages that contain more substance and nuance than some of these monster bios—and those you can read for free.

The writing was also rather bland and the stories formulaic. I expected more than the kind of late 90s I-heard-from-a-friend-of-a-friend-of-mine type of encounters.

But the illustrations are nice. So, there’s that, I guess.

“Freaky Folklore” would likely appeal to fans of the podcast it’s derived from, urban legend type storytelling, and B-movie horror.

But if you want culturally resonant explorations of folklore figures from around the world, you’re not going to find that here—I severely doubt I'm the target audience anyway.

A fun compendium of different folklore from around the world.

The illestrations were very detailed and matched what was written about each creature and I enjoyed the little snippets of stories for each beast.

As a serious book it cannot be recommended but to quickly describe each being and get to know the different legends it is fantastic.

This one was a risk, since I both loved the show Supernatural and also can't stand anything scary. Go figure. Anyway, this book is an entirely creepy look at monsters and cryptids of lore, with scary stories and video game-esque artwork to match. It was interesting to compare the information in this book with what I'd picked up from pop culture along the way. This book is for anyone who wants a field guide to creepy and spooky legends.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

If you’re looking for a book on creatures this is it. However be warned that this book is not suitable for research or reference purposes, but it's great for middle-grade or teen readers who enjoy spooky stories about creatures.

I quite enjoyed the way the title pages were organized for each creature, providing details such as the creature's name, a brief overview, its specific location, first sighting/recording, classification, and even its personality traits. However, I did find it a bit annoying that the illustrations for each creature were not directly placed on the heading page or the following page, but rather located elsewhere within the chapter, it made it feel a bit unorganised, I also found that some of the illustrations did not match the details within the book.

As I encountered some of the creatures in the book previously while researching folklore and mythology, there were a few I was unfamiliar with, so I couldn't accurately assess their authenticity. For the creatures I did know, the book provided inconsistent levels of research, which was disappointing.

Furthermore, after the overview of each creature, the inclusion of a short story was noted. While these are fictional, I found that they awkwardly interrupted the flow of the book. Most of the stories seemed amateurish in nature, although a few were well-written. In my opinion, it would have been more engaging if the author had included real stories here instead. If you’re looking for a book on creatures this is it. However be warned that this book is not suitable for research or reference purposes, but it's great for middle-grade or teen readers who enjoy spooky stories about creatures.

Thank you Quarto Publishing Group – Wellfleet Press and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book for review.

3.5 stars

This was easy and fun! Freaky Folklore is actually the first compendium of creatures/cryptids that I’ve read. It was super easy to follow and I LOVE the illustrations (props to the artist) Strzyga is so cute!!! Something this book has that my other mythology/folklore books don’t have is that it’s not specialized to one location/belief and I loved that. Cryptids worldwide! I liked the descriptors for each but I did find myself not super interested in some of the stories that went along with each one. Overall pretty solid though, makes me want to dig deeper.

Thanks again!

This was a lot of fun. I like that it's split up between continents. I will say I just skimmed through most of North America because they were all about things I'd read about before, I was mostly just looking at the illustrations involved. However, as the book went on I'd heard of less and less of the folklore and creatures. Which, for someone who reads a lot of these types of books, I really liked that I hadn't heard of a great number of creatures in these books once we left North American and Europe. The illustrations were nice as well, a creepy addition in some places, but still nice to get a visual of these creatures. The little add-ons of similar creatures were nice as well. Something to research a little more. I also liked that there was a little index at the end of all the creatures visually so you could back and read them again. The short stories attached to each little section were hit or miss for me. To the point, I skipped a lot of them. Some of them were creepy, but others just sort of fell flat. But, as a whole, I really enjoyed this and might need to add this to my physical collection!

I love things that deal with the paranormal side of life. This book has some interesting creatures and monsters I had not heard of, so you won't only find just the well known in here. The pictures to these stories are wonderful as well!

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Wellfleet Press for my copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I thought this was a cute little cryptozoology book for the most part. The illustrations were really cool but I guess I expected something more on the encyclopedia side than like a scrapbook of cryptids. I just found the little blurbs and occasional short story kind of boring and annoying. If I wanted that, I’d watch some Destination Nowhere or something. Anyways, I will say that the variety in this was super cool as it wasn’t just Western countries-focused. Of course, that said, I understand that some early readers took issue with how the author/s (I have no idea what the podcast is and who the podcasters are lol) handle cryptids from non-white communities, which I do think is a fair criticism. Especially because when I looked at the references cited, the vast majority of which were contemporary websites. Some people are okay with that level of research, but I think if you’re going to creat an encyclopedia-adjacent type book, it looks and reads much better to cite research by actual folklorists and scholars in the field.

Overall, I think kids will like this but if you actually like cryptozoology, I’d say that there are better out there.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. I did enjoy this book! I enjoyed how it referenced many different monsters from each continent. Some I had heard of before and some were new to me. I did enjoy how this book was formatted with the brief overlook, a bit more detailed description on the background, and then a short story featuring the monster. I would recommend this to people who also love folklore!

While this was laid out well, and the illustrations were interesting, I found the book to be a bit confusing and felt like it didn't quite know where it was going. Not bad overall, but definitely unsure as to what the point of this book was supposed to be. 2.5/5

This was an unexpected read!

Somehow, I got it in my mind that there would be a comedic bent to the book, so the part educational and part scary short story form was kind of surprising. I liked the bite size descriptions of the creatures and pictures.

This could make a fun gift for anyone into spooky and cryptids.

I love folklore, especially the darker side of it. Darkness Prevail’s collection of tales from 5 regions of the world provide interesting facts about familiar folk creatures like Baba Yaga and unfamiliar ones like Goatman. I’m always hesitant when these collections include stories from Indigenous tribes, as these stories are incredibly important to their culture and worldview. I liked how they included information about which tribe the story comes from, but I think a little more about the sensitivity of the stories could be added. I loved the illustrations and the inclusion of a horror story alongside the facts of each folk creature. The addition of the horror stories was a fresh take on a folklore collection.