Mythical Creatures and Magical Beasts Volume Two by Zayden Stone (BOOK REVIEW) 3/5

“While one cannot call a myth a truth in the true sense of the word, the best way to explain it would be that mythology was often a perspective- or a version of the truth.” As it had before, Vol 2 of Mr. Stone’s mythology series gives a brief overview of what makes a myth- as well as the differences between folklore and mythology. It’s a nice opener to the compendium that follows, as I settled down to read more. I rather enjoyed Vol 1, giving it a three out of five. This time around, the categories are the same, but the range of creatures and beasts were much more elusive and unheard of. One of my favorites ended up being the first; Jorōgumo of Japan.

There isn’t much to say about this novel- it’s not all that different from the first I reviewed. There are the same categories, and it still hits about a 3/5 for me. However, there were an even larger number of creatures I had never heard of- and I still love how varied Mr. Stone makes it, including creatures from Norse, African, Aztec, Finnish, Persian, Slavic, and even more ancient origins. I love the amount of research that had to have gone into this- I wouldn’t even know where to start on half of these. I think if someone is looking for a book that has creatures beyond the norm, myths they’ve never heard of even if they’re seasoned in mythology, this is a good book to start with. Now… I have to go write a story with a Jorōgumo.