Serpent, Siren, Maelstrom & Myth: Sea Stories & Folktales from Around the World

by Gerry Smyth (Retold & Interpreted By)

The sea is beautiful and alluring, but it is also dangerous and deadly. Above all, it is unknowable and untameable. Storytelling offered our ancestors a means to understand and interact with the natural world, and in time these stories coalesced into the mythological systems of the world. And the ocean features in every mythological system in history.

To reflect and explore this, Gerry Smyth has gathered together myths and folktales from cultures around the world – Native American, Caribbean, Polynesian, Persian, Indian, Scandinavian and European. Just as these stories have been passed down through generations, he brings his own narrative interpretation with additional discussion on their meaning. Stories are divided into seven sections: Origin Stories; Gods and Humans; Voyages; Lost Places, Imagined Spaces; Weather and Nature; Down to the Sea in Ships; Fabulous Beasts; and embellished with illustrations from the wide-ranging collections of the Library.

Genres: Mythology, Nonfiction, Folklore, Short Stories

320 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2023

Reviews

[Maren · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO EPIC OMFG!!!!!! i really liked how it was broken up into different sections based on themes and then how it would tell the story and then do the analysis and ugh it was wonderful to read. ALSO THE SIREN STORY WAS SO GOOD IT WAS WRITTEN IN SUCH A COOL WAY!!!! LIKE!!! THEM!!!! also the illustrations are the reason this is getting five stars like i was thinking four stars but omfg the illustrations were epic. THERES SO MANY FUNKY OCEAN GUYS I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!! also using illustrations from the cultures the stories were from was really awesome. also having the pictures of stuff from like thousands of years ago was epic. anyway would recommend this book i love the ocean i love myths it was amazing

[Rachel]

Unrated as this is part an anthology of global myths, folktales with a smattering of analysis. I read this over the course of about 6 months as part of research I was doing for a personal project. I also read a different edition which was beautifully illustrated and presented. (I know looks don't really matter but a pretty book does make the heart flutter.)

I loved the collection of myths in this book and it introduced me to some folktales and mythologies from cultures I was previously unfamiliar with. As a world mythology lover, I found this incredibly refreshing to get outside of the well known myths of Jonah and the Whale, Sirens etc (though all of these are also still covered and presented in this collection.) A new favorite myth for me out of the anthology was that of Sedna, the Inuit Goddess of the Sea.

While I loved the collection of myths and folktales and the beautiful illustrations, I did find the analysis was sometimes a little lacking in places. I get this was meant to be a high level presentation and there is only so much detail they could cover in a singular volume, but I could have done with a bit more discourse and academic level analysis regarding some of the myths.

[Aaron Makepeace · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations & artwork that accompany this book are exemplary & really aid the stories told.
The book & its design are incredibly tasteful & should be commended.

When i bought this title i was expecting longer stories, each of the 28 stories are between 3-4 pages long, they are incredibly short. They are myth's that have been passed down through generations that have been retold in the authors own perspective..

There is much more reflection & elaboration on the part of the author than there is story, i was frustrated when reading them as i expected much, much more.

Ultimately, the mistake was my own but this is a collection of extremely short folktales (reinterpreted by the author) which are accompanied by musings from the author.
I was drawn to the book by the somewhat ambiguous blurb & beautiful artwork expecting something different, something more than a collection of reinterpreted myth spanning an average of three pages each with a A LOT of filler.

If anyone looking at this title are searching for a collection of fully fleshed stories centred around the same topics, there are plenty of more appropriate titles out there.

[Alex Belleba · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m onboard (no pun intended) with the retelling of popular myths from throughout history, and I’m a confirmed sea fan. But for me, this collection fell short in a few ways. One, the blending of classic retelling with Smyth aggregating disparate sources made these all his retellings. It was confusing where actual source material was referenced and where Smyth was patching holes (pun intended). Two, I just had a hard time getting into the stories when they were so short. Like I’d rather read Moby Dick than a two page story about a sailor in search of a great whale to kill.

I will say I appreciated Smyth’s ability to establish broader overarching themes. He talks about feminism, colonialism, and economic systems examples in all of these legends and that was the most interesting part to me.

Moral of the story: dudes just want to go on a quest.

[Ben Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful-looking book that I feel was written exclusively to pique my interest and my interest alone. Smyth has selected a great array of tales from around the world to retell and does a good job (I feel) at doing them all justice. Whilst I was already familiar with several, his writing style goes a long way to making them feel fresh to read once more and was a fun way to experience those with which I was not.

I also appreciate the admission of a slight but deliberate embellishment in the Mary Celeste chapter, and as such I feel more connected to him as a creative for doing so. He just liked the idea of them having a cat aboard; I’m not going to condemn him for that.

Will I read it again? DEFINITELY.

[Sarz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The edition that I have is in a much more beautiful cover, but it doesn't appear to be listed on Goodreads.
Highly recommended for anyone who loves the sea and its stories, this book is packed with fabulous artwork.

[Utako]

Lowkey quite boring, disappointingly. I guess it’s mythology, but lacks the excitement of modern fantasy - which I suppose I should’ve anticipated since they’re folktales. Oh well. Didn’t finish it

The stories are just too brief and vague. It invokes no emotion

[Richelle]

DNF

[Emma McGilvray · Rating 4 out of 5]

very interesting to see compare and contrast between different cultures’ mythology of the sea.

[Debora Griffith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so looking forward to owning and reading this book with its beautiful illustrations and the promise of tales of sea Gods & Goddesses, fabulous creatures and lost lands. I thought it would be blissful to read. I enjoyed it but sadly it did not live up to my expectations. I didn’t like the way the author retold the stories- it felt so cursory and lacking in substance. The reflections on each story were less perfunctory and quite interesting but I suppose that wasn’t what I was after. My fault I should have looked more closely when I picked it up in the bookshop.

[Sougeitu · Rating 4 out of 5]

短小精悍一本書。雖然可惜有點太小了，但是內容是很不錯的。