elinacre's review against another edition
3.0
i got some good chuckles, and there's a lot of legit mythology covered in here from many cultures. i wish my brain would retain more...
adularia25's review against another edition
3.0
This book is a fun romp through tales that everyone should know, though many don't, made all nicely modern for the person who just doesn't have the time to enjoy them in their original language or when translated into prose. I'm truly pleased this collecting includes the tale of Set, Horus, and a salad of justice.
This book was recommended to my husband, and he had finished reading it, so of course I snagged it to read before it was returned to the library. I asked if he had studied as much mythology as me... and he replied no one has studied as much mythology as I had, which was sweet and brings me to my next point: the tales that were woefully missing from this volume.
I understand, there are hundreds of thousands of myths from around the world... and you can't possibly have them all, but there are some that absolutely deserved to be in a book like this.
Sumerian: Inanna's Descent to the Underworld where Ereshkigal, the goddess of Death, is rather angry that Inanna hasn't visited her ever since she was kidnapped an taken to the Underworld. Inanna is stripped, then gets turned into a rotting maggoty corpse, but the two sisters make up and decide they'd rather punish Dumuzi, Inanna's husband, after they realize he is basically celebrating the fact that Inanna was dead. Not cool. And it nicely counters the bromance between Gilgamesh and Ekindu.
Aztec: Tezcatlipoca hates Quetzalcoalt so much, Tezcatlipoca drugs his drink, which causes Quetzalcoalt to sleep with his own sister.
Among others...
The book has good breadth for the tales, but I would have loved a bit more depth.
This book was recommended to my husband, and he had finished reading it, so of course I snagged it to read before it was returned to the library. I asked if he had studied as much mythology as me... and he replied no one has studied as much mythology as I had, which was sweet and brings me to my next point: the tales that were woefully missing from this volume.
I understand, there are hundreds of thousands of myths from around the world... and you can't possibly have them all, but there are some that absolutely deserved to be in a book like this.
Sumerian: Inanna's Descent to the Underworld where Ereshkigal, the goddess of Death, is rather angry that Inanna hasn't visited her ever since she was kidnapped an taken to the Underworld. Inanna is stripped, then gets turned into a rotting maggoty corpse, but the two sisters make up and decide they'd rather punish Dumuzi, Inanna's husband, after they realize he is basically celebrating the fact that Inanna was dead. Not cool. And it nicely counters the bromance between Gilgamesh and Ekindu.
Aztec: Tezcatlipoca hates Quetzalcoalt so much, Tezcatlipoca drugs his drink, which causes Quetzalcoalt to sleep with his own sister.
Among others...
The book has good breadth for the tales, but I would have loved a bit more depth.
ahririnn's review against another edition
3.0
I have very mix feelings about this book.I mean on one hand its a dumb down story about gods and mythology from different part of the world that is really easy to understand.But due to it being so dumb down the story end up sounding like i was told by a high-school boy who can’t stop cussing.I think if you don’t think much about it and you want a giggle this book is great .Its a very light read for the topic it is trying to tell.But if you want a super in depth detailed story about these mythologies i would recommend you look for other books.
mpedone's review against another edition
5.0
A great modern-ish retelling of classic myths from all over the world. I say "modern-ish", because he doesn't do things like set the stories in the modern world, simply tells them in the way a modern storyteller would, had the stories been continued to be passed on in the oral tradition. The only real criticism I have is that they were too short - I wanted more!
sam_riccio's review against another edition
5.0
I knew most of these myths from school, and other books already so there wasn't much going on in the sense of learning from this book, but it was entertaining for me. It felt like mythology told by a frat boy and I feel that it's the only way that mythology should be told. It was weird and fascinating all at once.
I think my favorite part is that there were illustrations in it that fit in with the stories.
I think my favorite part is that there were illustrations in it that fit in with the stories.