The Book of Sea Monsters: Leviathans of Literature

by Prema Arasu

A fascinating and beautifully illustrated journey across the world and through the centuries in search of the sea monster.

'They rave for food with unceasing frenzy, being always ahungered and never abating the gluttony of their terrible maw.' Pliny the Elder

This absorbing exploration of the sea monster in all its tentacular forms is a deep dive into the world of sirens, mermaids, Scylla and kraken from 3C BCE to the modern day. Told through writings from ancient myths, early scientific natural histories and iconic literature, tales are intertwined with wonderful engravings, diagrams and paintings. These accounts give a unique perspective on the histories of societies and cultures around the world, taking in significant events like the Age of Sail, the Enlightenment and Darwinian evolution.

With their excess size, claws, tentacles and bloodlust, monsters represent our greatest the unknown, the dark, the natural world and even ourselves. As stories passed from generation to generation, they were analogues for dangerous weather events, foreign invaders, enemy nations, physical phenomena and real animals.

Prema Arasu brings together excerpts from Filipino, Polynesian and Aboriginal Australian myths, Beowulf, Moby-Dick and many other works by authors such as Homer, HP Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, HG Wells… Each is brought to life with an introduction and beautifully gory artwork, making this a gorgeous book that's sure to draw you in and drag you down…

Genres: Nonfiction, Historical

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 16, 2025

Reviews

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Book of Sea Monsters is a look into the sea monsters of Euro-centric literature starting with the Babylonians and progressing chronologically up until 1929 under Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The book is less a nonfiction glimpse into these characters and stories but more a compilation of short stories, poetry and extracts of stories all thrown in together. Each chapter is dedicated to one author with an intro about the author and included work while depending upon the included work there may just be one entry or several.

Scattered throughout are photographs and copies of artwork from various sources all with captions. And most of these illustrations are not exclusive to the author or work in which they are portrayed along.

This book should be a pass if you are looking for an informative read but does wonderfully for those who like to come upon older and more obscure fictional works, especially of horror or sci-fi.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an intriguing book, part literary exploration of sea monsters through the ages as portrayed in literature and part showcase for those authors works.

The book itself pretty starts at the dawn of written literature and ends around the time of Lovecraft and Wells (there is an explaination for this in the preface).

The book champions a peice of writing, explains where and when it was created and by whom as well as bit about the world in was created from.

Then it goes on to either showcase an example in its entirity or selects a passage that focuses on the sea monster that gained it its place in this book. A fascinating journey through the ages and one I would love to see applied to other topics as well.

[Ty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sat down and read this for an hour and smiled the whole time!

[Daniel E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is...an intriguing concept to say the least. An overview of sea monsters and how they are portrayed in classic literature. Taking excerpts from poems, novels, and epics to see how each culture perceived sea monsters. And I do think there's an inherent interest in such a topic. Sea monsters have captured the imagination of people for thousands of years. They appear on ancient ocean maps. They appear all the time in movies up to this very day (by the time this was written, Christopher Nolan's Odyssey and Godzilla Minus Zero are set to release this year). There are even countless sightings of sea monsters in real life. All of which basically cement our collective fascination with such creatures.

And to some degree, the book does deliver on the promised concept. There is a treasure trove of excerpts and passages regarding encounters with sea beasts, some more fantastical than others. As an anthology, I feel the book works rather well since they're all united by this all-encompassing topic. The usage of pictures is also well used for the most part. There are various illustrations of sea monsters throughout the book that help paint a picture of what contemporary artists to the texts depicted the subject matter. In the end, there IS a good book in here.

The problem is...well, it's a bit light. There's not much literary analysis outside of a brief introductory passage. While this is understandable in the more widely known texts such as the Odyssey or the Aeneid where there's not much introduction to other works outside of the author's background. This is important since some background or analysis could give us some idea of what the intended themes were. Which is important with poems that have a more florid and esoteric style to them. Not everyone is going to understand every single style of poem. Especially if we have texts that rely heavily on allegory and symbolism. I also found the picture usage in a few areas a bit weak. As in, they'll use artist depictions that aren't of the current era and seem anachronistic.

Also, and this is a brief aside, I'm a bit disappointed by the excerpt from Moby Dick. They chose the scene with the giant squid, which, while fair, doesn't highlight the famous albino sperm whale at all. Especially since there's an abundance of texts related to giant squids in later entries, so one with a whale could help balance it out.

All in all, while I do believe this is an intriguing text with a solid foundation, I feel there were some missed opportunities here and there. Maybe with stronger literary analyses (cause I can't imagine everyone who picks up this book would be able to understand something like "Caliban upon Setebos" to the same degree as something as "Dagon" or "Temple Under the Sea"), a more consistent use of pictures, and maybe some better literary samples, this could've been something special. As it stands, it feels more like a benchmark for further research. Which for some people, I can see it work. But I can't see it engaging newer readers with the same level of enthusiasm if one isn't already predisposed to such topics.

[Mark Fallon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderful book! The sea remains the most mysterious place on earth. We still don't know what lurks far beneath the waves.

Arasu has compiled writings from across the centuries about the sea and the beasts - real and imagined - that make the oceans their home. From Babylonian myths to the earliest science fiction, the excerpts introduced me to tales I had only glimpses of in the past. Now I have a new list of authors and books to track down!

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up at the library off their New Reads shelf without knowing anything other than it was a topic I enjoy. I started reading and found that after a brief introduction to the creature, there are excerpts from historical documents that describe them. Since I was hoping for more interpreted stories and less reading of source documents, I chose to not continue reading. I do think this is a good book for someone interested in reading those documents. Just not me. :)

[Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully curated anthology of works pertaining to sea monsters and the horrors of the oceans!

[medina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compilation of excerpts of books I’d probably never read otherwise