undertherowantree > Recent Status Updates

I like the moody atmosphere and the portrayal of mental health issues feels accurate. TW for depression anxiety panic attacks self harm and suicide

P30

The illustrations are so busy with so much to look at I feel they could make a great colouring book based off of this. There is something almost psychedelic about the maximalist illustrations with all their bold clashing colours.

I'm currently just finishing off the section on Africa and considering it is the continent with the most countries, I am quite disappointed how small this section is as well. I think perhaps I just want even more, which I guess is not a bad thing. MORE!!

Also, I would have liked perhaps some more representation from northern Latin America, for instance, Mexico and other nearby countries have beautiful folktales and mythology. Again, Aztec mythology felt dominant in this section.

So far Europe was the most underwhelming chapter. Although, I appreciate the thought and variety of the other continents. It feels like Europe was an afterthought. In most literature and media there are significant parts of Europe that are often forgotten with rich cultures and I was hoping this would fill this gap. Plus, I feel Greek and Norse mythology, if anything, is overly represented.

It is really fascinating to see how most myths have a similar structure, even though their locations and beasts are so diverse.

I would love to see them tackle myths about humans, gods and goddesses. I feel like this is a nice round up of all the well-known and best loved myths, although I would like to see some lesser known tales from smaller minority communities tackled in a future volume.

I do also have a concern whether it it very "Western" of us to call these all myths. 'Myth' implies fictional undertones and I wonder whether the indigenous cultures themselves actually consider these myths or truths, in which case it would be somewhat offensive for us to label them "myth", even though in our experience that would be what our experiences and beliefs tell us (in the West) to label these.

I think a volume 2 to fill in the gaps would be a great idea. There is no shortage of myths to cover.

I wish that they would also specify countries/regions for each, however I think this would highlight that large regions have been missed out. I know that trying to include everyone would be impossible, but maybe picking one Greek, Norwegian, Aztec creature instead of a few and allowing the space to give other cultures a little more voice would have improved the collection.

I am actually quite disappointed with the diversity in the Europe section apart from one tale from Russia they are all either Greek or Norse (Scandinavian), completely disregarding most of Europe and it's rich variety of cultures. What about Eastern Europe? I was also hoping for a Celtic/Gaelic myth to creep in somewhere. Nope.

I love the blend of ancient and modern. Also, I love that many of the myths selected have lovely morals that are relatable to humanity in all its diversity.

I note that there seems to be correlations between the myths and reality, for example prehuman existence. Perhaps some of the myths are at least partially grounded in truth.

It is really interesting to similarities between myths that existed so far apart in time and also geographically. You will perhaps find similarities to myths you know not included that are specific to your cultural background. I'd love to know more about why and how these similarities came to exist.

I do wish there was a note on pronunciation. I like how they are divided up by continents, then each myth has a summary page with a large illustration followed by the full myth with little illustrations, reminiscent of children's story collections. I do think this would be perfect for people of any ages. It would make such a lovely gift.

I would note that this is definitely not one to be read on Kindle or on grayscale devices as the whole experience would be dampened. I am happy to see Natives (from Americas) have at least got one story in there. It takes me a few minutes each time to digest everything going on. Just breathtaking, encapsulating, stunning.

I would be interesting to see how other reviews felt their culture and myths were portrayed. Whether the representation was fair, accurate etc.