Scottish Myths and Legends (Waverley Scottish Classics) by Judy Hamilton

by Judy Hamilton

A collection of Scottish myth and folklore

Genres: Mythology, Nonfiction, Travel, History, Scotland

Paperback

First published May 10, 2007

Reviews

[Eli Mwalimu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book brought alive the wondrous creatures and figures of Scottish myth and legend in very well written stories. Some I was familiar with, while others I had never heard of, but I definitely enjoyed interacting with them all. There were a couple of grammatical errors in there, but the stories overshadowed them. That said, I will definitely be looking out for more Lomond books, perhaps the one about Witches and Wizards as well as the one about Ghosts.

[Lovis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Den var bara inte skriven på ett sätt som fångade mig trots att jag är intresserad av folklore. Det var dessutom mycket som jag inte tycker borde varit inkluderade tex historier om gravgrävare och vanliga mord. Jag vill ha monster och väsen, inte vanliga dödliga! Synd, hade förväntat mig mer.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little book with some great little myths and legends. I can't wait to go to Scotland.

[R.L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Κριτική στα Ελληνικά πιο κάτω...

I enjoy reading myths and legends in general and I think this book might be a good introduction if one isn't very familiar with folkore from this part of the world.

I like to see how some themes are more or less common in most cultures and areas on the earth or how some are influenced by local traits and idiosyncracies. I was curious to see variations on well-known themes and on specific myths and legends. I was very curious to read the version about specific supernatural beings or mythological figures that I know from the Irish mythology and were mentioned here too.

To me this book was a decent read, but I wasn't that much impressed, because I'm familiar with many Celtic myths while I found the book fine but not extremely captivating. Most stories were very bare-bones and the writing was kind of flat and dull.

Furthermore, I'm not sure what tone the editor/author was going for.
In some chapters the narrative goes as "In so and so area there is a myth that so and so left a treasure there and recently an ancient so and so is found, so there might be some base on this myth" while on others it goes like a quick myth or fairy tale or kind of urban legend, written very pedestrian though.

There is effort to touch various different "genres" and curiosities- for lack of better word- here, but there are say only two chapters on loch monsters and two odd chapters on body-snachers and three short chapters on some Saints of Scotland, only three chapters on mytholofical heroes that come from very large circles of mythology and so on... Often a story/chapter is no more than a couple of pages or even half a page. I wanted more!

I find the categoriazation of this kind of material a difficult task for sure, but here the author went for some groupings that felt odd somehow - "the glaisting and the kelpie" for example or "celtic myths of heroes and fair ladies" and so on- .

All in all, it wasn't a bad read to me, but not great either. A "tame" collection to pass a few leisure reading hours.

Αν δεν είστε εξοικειωμένοι με τη Σκωτσέζικη/Κέλτικη μυθολογία και τους θρύλους της περιοχής, είναι μία καλή εισαγωγή στο αντικείμενο. Υπάρχουν καλύτερες επιλογές εκεί έξω χωρίς να είναι ένα κακό ανάγνωσμα.

[Jayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't even know why I have this book, I've no idea where it came from but I've had it for years. That aside, it was an interesting read with some stories you may know and some I've certainly never heard before. I feel the basics are only told of some of the stories but it's enough to get the idea and some are fascinating to think about. A quick read as well.

[Shahrun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. I am sure that I have read some of the stories in other books, but that did not affect my enjoyment. I had no idea Scottish Myths and Legends were so rich and had links to other countries.

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book.

[Ellie Equizi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting myths uninspiringly recounted

[Arge · Rating 1 out of 5]

Never before have I left a book unfinished. I am so stubborn that even if a book is a complete load of drivel, I have to finish it.

However, I had to admit defeat here. The myths were uninteresting, unexciting and the background for each category was so dull. I am a huge fan of myths and legends and cannot believe that a country so surrounded by olde culture can only have these myths to offer?

The book flounders somewhere between storytelling and factual information. It can't make its mind up over which it is and so fails on both counts. Far too many of the myths make very little sense, and it feels like this is the case because they have been shortened. Parts of the story that feel vital are vague or skipped over entirely. There is little character development and the main character who do have more detail about them are so unlikeable that you don't want to know about them.

I gave the book 2 stars because I didn't finish it and so can hope that it gets better in the second half. But unless the writing improves a lot, I don't hold out a lot of hope.

[Matthias]

I didn't enjoy this book as much as The New Junior Classics Myths and Legends (vol. 3). In fact I'm hard pressed to find a favorite story in it. I did like the fool who assists Fionn although the premise for the story was so completely flawed it was painful. King Jame's Three Questions wasn't bad, either, but that's about all I can say. I think I'll let my mom keep this one – she asked to have it back once I was done with it.

[Lbaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed a lot. Many of the myths were new to me, but had familiar elements. One reminded me of Rapunzel to begin with, then morphed into the King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot trio.

[Dagnija Kiriļenkova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite interesting book for a start if you're interested in Scottish folklore.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book fascinating

[Lonely Panda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great introduction to Scottish myths!