saralynnburnett's review against another edition
3.0
This fun book is a collection of descriptions, musings, exerts, etc of imaginary beings the world over. Some of the 'tales' are just a blip, no more than a paragraph, while others run through several pages. There are also fantastic illustrations to accompany most of them. While I did throughly enjoy this book, it is the kind of book you can lay down for several days, and pick up something else to read that is more involved (which is exactly what I ended up doing...). Some of Borges snippets are a little dry, and not dry as in his sense of humor, but dry as in they were just a brief description of the being without any of his witty commentary thrown in. But others were laugh out loud funny. He's a master at slipping in just a sentence or two and cutting the culture or creature he's commenting on to the core. His gentle mocking is what kept me reading and I'm really glad I did! Consider it a 'high brow monster manual' and definitely a window into other works that will be of interest to you if you enjoy the mythical and imaginary.
fourfootedbeasts's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
dayface's review against another edition
4.0
My favourite imaginary beings include:
Abtu and Anet, the fish,
the imagined animal of Kafka, kangaroo-like, and,
creatures in the form of Spheres,
Bahamut and Behemoth,
the five headed hellhound, Cerberus,
the mystical, wise, Chinese Dragon,
Chronos/Hercules,
my beloved Crossbreed,
the Double,
the incredible variety of the Eastern Dragon,
the Eater of the Dead and the
Eight-Forked Serpent,
Fauna of Mirrors,
of course, the Golem, (particularly the parts I never knew before!),
Kafziel,
the Hundred-Heads, and karma, therein,
the Kujata,
the Mandrake and the Manticore,
my presshussss Minotaur,
the Odradek (whom I feel a lot of attachment for),
the Peryton,
the Remora,
Scylla, and
the Simurgh,
Thermal Beings,
Two Metaphysical Beings!!!!!,
the Western Dragon (I LOVE his Beowulf notes).
perfectly_reasonable's review against another edition
challenging
informative
3.0
People in the Middle Ages had mediocre imagination and very little curiosity. Either that, or there was some other reason why their imagined creatures were just part of different animals thrown together with no clue to how would they actually function. Much less do other things that monsters do like eating everyone and everything and being generally scary. Add to that Borges's knack for making interesting stories sound like an encyclopaedia entry or a page from a reference book, and the result is a very uneven creation. To be fair, I liked Borges's sense of humour, but only when he skipped showing-off how well read his is. I know that that is not always a conscious choice, but if a reference is understood only by a select group of people then it is useless to me.
To summarize: I learned some things about supernatural creatures and promptly forgot most of them because Borges's writing can be so dull sometimes, but even the best writing couldn't change the impression that people in antiquity didn't know what to do with their monsters.
To summarize: I learned some things about supernatural creatures and promptly forgot most of them because Borges's writing can be so dull sometimes, but even the best writing couldn't change the impression that people in antiquity didn't know what to do with their monsters.
aceface's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
tamerendil's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
katrinky's review against another edition
4.0
This book has taken me months; in fact, I'm still not quite done with it. But that's how it's meant to be read, I think. A few pages at a time, and then weeks to dream of the beasts you've met. It's written like an encyclopedia for imaginary beings. Every entry is a new creature of fancy, beautiful or terrifying, religious or secular, philosophical of entirely whimsical. The book is written beautifully and simply, although "simple" here means not one word too many- the contents are certainly not simple. A brief sampling of the Table of Contents:
The Borametz
The Bird that Makes the Rain
Animals that Live in the Mirror
Haokah, God of Thunder
Haniel, Kafziel, Azriel, and Aniel
Hochigan
Youwarkee
The Zaratan
And an excerpt, the entire entry for "Hochigan":
"Descartes tells us that monkeys could talk if they wanted to, but they have decided to keep silent so that humans will not force them to work. The Bushmen of South Africa believe that there was a time when all animals could talk. Hochigan hated animals; one day it disappeared, taking the gift of speech with it." (106)
The Borametz
The Bird that Makes the Rain
Animals that Live in the Mirror
Haokah, God of Thunder
Haniel, Kafziel, Azriel, and Aniel
Hochigan
Youwarkee
The Zaratan
And an excerpt, the entire entry for "Hochigan":
"Descartes tells us that monkeys could talk if they wanted to, but they have decided to keep silent so that humans will not force them to work. The Bushmen of South Africa believe that there was a time when all animals could talk. Hochigan hated animals; one day it disappeared, taking the gift of speech with it." (106)