Monsters of the Last Frontier: Cryptids & Legends of Alaska

Cryptids & Legends of America

by David Weatherly

Alaska, The Last Frontier, Land of the Midnight Sun. What mysterious creatures’ dwell in the snow-covered mountains and on the frozen tundra?Does sasquatch call the cold north home? What are the strange beings known as the otter men?From the Lake Iliamna monster, to the Kodiak dinosaur, to the seas and lakes and even the skies, monsters are abundant in the state. Take a trip to the last frontier and explore the cryptids and legends of Alaska.

Genres: Cryptids

249 pages, Paperback

Published January 12, 2020

Reviews

[Mateicee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alaska ist der größte und gleichzeitig am dünnsten besiedelte Bundesstaat der USA. Es gibt dort Orte die noch immer kein Mensch betreten hat. Und es ist ein Staat in dem bis heute viele Leute einfach verschwinden. Ein Ort voller Mysterien.

David Waetherly hat wieder einen ausgezeichneten Job gemacht indem er die Legenden der Ureinwohner mit Augenzeugenberichten "belegt". Der endgültige, wissenschaftliche Beweis ist natürlich noch ausstehend.

Ich fand das Buch wieder genial, ich habe es gut verstanden, es hat mich unterhalten und ich habe etwas dazugelernt.

[Luke Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Weatherly continues his exploration of regional myths and monsters with Alaska, building on previous outings to Nevada and Arizona, and with an upcoming volume on Indiana. In Monsters of the Last Frontier, Alaska's uncharted territories and potential terrors are given an enthusiastic and detailed account.

Weatherly approaches Native lore with sympathy and respect, and is fretful of dismissing encounters with the unusual as misidentification or superstition. In fact, one of the things that makes this book stand out is the lengths Weatherly goes to give background on Native and Tribal belief, and its many layers. It soon becomes clear that very little is straightforward when navigating this complex spirituality and reality.

I bought this book for a long-held interest in the folklore of the kushtaka - or otter men, an Alaskan speciality. But from mastodons to thunderbirds and sea monsters, no out-of-place animal goes unaccounted for. A great deal of excellent fieldwork and historical zoological references are also documented, including the work of Georg Steller from the 1700s. Whereas Steller's jay, sea lion, and sea eagle are still with us today, we are asked to ponder the possibility of the survival of the sea cow and even a sea ape.

The book itself benefits majorly from the impressive artwork by Sam Shearon. Unfortunately, this does not penetrate the interior of the book, which features a number of black and white photos which I found did little to endorse the material - mainly focusing on shots of the author, or established wildlife and scenery. I also noticed several errors, including repeated sections of text and clunky sentences, such as "Often, unusual animals are often...". It's also disappointing that none of Weatherly's titles are currently available on Kindle, and delivery did take some time (current circumstances allowed for of course).

However, the book makes for an very interesting and imagination-stirring read that I'd definitely recommend for anyone interested in cryptids and cryptozoology.

[Michael Kott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another extremely interesting book by David Weatherly who does not hesitate to point out the ridiculous as well as the believable. On top of it all, he's a gifted writer.

[Taddow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've lived in Alaska for over forty years, and I was impressed that there were several cryptids described that I had not heard of (and I am the kind of person who is interested in that kind of stuff). Despite diverse selection of stories that range from historical to modern, I was a little disappointed that there were no photos presented. I know that some of the creatures explored have photos that are allegedly of the creatures. I do not know if the author did not think these were worth it because the photos were of the typical cryptid fare (shot from a long distance or too blurry/non-descript) or if there are some copyright rules that prevented it. There are some generic photos of Alaska sites and scenes that look like they are from the author's trip to Alaska and some (very few) old drawings that depict some of the subject matter (the engraving of the Stellar Sea Cow is really the one I can remember). I think adding some more relevant illustrated material would have really helped this book. I still appreciate the new (old) creatures that I learned about.

[Giallo Julian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty informative. Looking forward to checking out the rest of the series.