Very incomplete ARC - rating subjective.

I find it very difficult to review and rate this book, given that the advanced copy sent out to reviewers by the publisher is (just weeks before the publishing date), incredibly incomplete. Much (maybe 1/4) of the text looks like it is being redacted (red lines throughout whole sections), and images and symbols are missing from the vast majority of the entries. It is really hard to know what this book will look like in its final, published form.

After a very brief (two page) introduction stating that the author has very little practical knowledge or experience with herbs other than culinary, the "encyclopedia" portion begins. The majority of the book contains incredibly short, alphabetized entries for hundreds of different herbs - which are obviously primarily academic given the scant experience of the author herself. Each entry contains the scientific name, symbols denoting medicinal/culinary/toxicity use, symbolic meaning of the plant, any associated colour meaning of the plant, component meanings (leaves, stalk, flowers, root, etc), possible powers pertaining to witchcraft, and the folklore associated with the herb in question.

Each entry brings an interesting outlook of each herb cited, and I think that a lot of research has gone into compiling this information. But, frankly, this is not enough. As is, each entry is nothing but a tiny starting point from which to do one's own research and experimentation. There seems to be zero relationship between the author and the compiled information - to the detriment of the entire volume.

Basically, it's cute.

This compilation of "facts" doesn't sing to me. It is vast but not deep. Display-worthy is what the synopsis calls this series. It is seemingly a great resource for those that want to put "witch" in their social media bios. I personally think that both much more information and a personal relationship with the herb in question is required for powerful healing and magicks.

The Goodreads description says that there are two indexes, but as these were not included in the advanced copy either, I cannot review how useful they are.

Much gratitude to the publisher, Quarto Publishing Group – Wellfleet Press, and NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully written. I learned so much and have made notes to add to my garden next year. A great title for beginners or veteran gardeners!

This book is beautiful as well as informative. The information is concise but effective, the art is gorgeous, and I absolutely loved the folk lore and facts section under each plant.

A great comprehensive guide of the herbs paired with an old-school drawing per herb. It mixes science and folklore. Recommend, I will definitely get this book once it is in print.

This is a lovely old fashioned herbal encyclopedia of old fashioned uses for hundreds of herbs. Charming public domain illustrations accompany many of the herbs. Each entry tells alternate names and traditional uses, many of which are folklore and witchcraft. It does not really go into modern uses or medicinal ways to use them, but if you need to know what to put around your cottage to repel werewolves, you're set. Strangely, a huge number of the entries in my ARC were crossed out, so it seems many of the entries are being cut for the final version. I'm not sure why.

A lovely, fun book.

I read a temporary digital version of this book for review.

Well put together, each entry has the scientific name first, common name and others, if the herb is toxic/medicinal/culinary, what it symbolizes, powers/protections associated with it, and folklore and facts about the plant.
I liked that each entry had an illustration and the indexes were helpful.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I leapt at the chance to check this book out, and I feel like I'll be referring to it for ages to come. Beautiful, informative, and useful!

This book is beautiful and has so, so much potential. Like the author, I grew up curious and in love with plants, my love only growing when I got older and found out how much has been done with plants, and how much we still do with them. This book, unfortunately, seems to be in the very early stages of finalizing, meaning there were notes, blocked wording and paragraphs, and images. The information given on each entry seemed to be concise- a good quick reference. As the books contents are about herbs, there is a touch of magic and a section on ‘powers’ the plants have, so if you lean towards the practical or skeptical, you may not like this book! A lot of the entries have little spell-like instructions. Really, I am most interested to learn where the author learned of all of the lore associated with the individual plants. Unfortunately, I am assuming due to the high image and page count, the NetGalley Shelf app was unable to load a large part of this book.
Thank you to the publisher, and NetGalley, for allowing me the chance at an honest review.

So I’ve just recently glanced at this book and oh my goodness am I excited to read it in its entirety! The information is great! The look is beautiful. I believe that I will learn some amazing things from this book! Highly recommend!!!

What got me interested in this book was that I'm interested in all things Botany and History. I love to study the meanings of each plant, which was really well done in this compendium. However, there were some things I wasn't so pleased with. The present edition (as in the one I was kindly allowed to read) was still not yet edited throughout (for the record, I prefer the first image for the medicinal purposes symbol) and I'd say it wasn't yet ready for the stage of sending ARCs. I also thought there was too much of an emphasis on the mystical/magical side of the herbs, which I would be okay with if there were some historical references, for example, but the information as it was felt a little dry. I would love to see a more organized folklore list - and book structure, overall. Something else that I would like to point out is that I was confused with the symbols: for example, I didn't understand why pineapple didn't have the edible sign; I imagine it could be that it's not about the fruit itself but other parts of the plant, or something else that I did not quite grasp, so I would suggest that there was kind of clarification for these, if possible.

My review sounds negative BUT I do see a lot of potential in this book. I will absolutely give it another shot when its published/more edited and I'm sure I'll see a lot more things I appreciate about it!

Thank you Netgalley and to the Publisher for giving me this eARC to review.

I loved this book as much as I loved The Complete Language of Flowers from the same author.

The illustrations were really nice and the book gave the symbolic meanings, possible powers and folklore/facts about each herb. The book is easy to read through and it is also easy to quickly find the herb you want to read up on.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! I really loved how this was laid out as a dictionary or reference book with the scientific name, common name, meanings, associations, and folklore/facts associated with each herb in alphabetical order. Though, this book does appear to have been submitted for early review a bit too early. There were a lot of red/crossed-out sections and missing images, especially after A. This doesn’t necessarily take away from the overall book or how much I liked it but it is something to be aware of for other reviewers. I do wish the images were throughout the book, I can only hope that they will be added before final publication, without them I don’t think this book would be as useful or helpful. Additionally, there was no key at the beginning of the book that explains the symbols next to the name of each herb, again, I can only assume that this will be added before final publication. Overall, this is a good reference book, but some final tweaks need to be made (described above), to make this a great reference book anyone can use.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book is just so beautiful to flip through. Gorgeous illustrations and packed full of information about hundreds of herbs and spices. It is exactly what it says it is...<b>The Complete Language of Herbs is a comprehensive encyclopedia, providing the meanings, powers, facts, and folklore for over 500 herbs and spices.</b> My favorite part (aside from the illustrations) was the addition of the folklore sections. This would make a splendid gift and/or coffeetable book.

**ARC Via NetGalley**

The Complete Language of Herbs is a compendium of the uses and symbolism of herbs for everyone, from casual readers to researchers.

Presented in alphabetical order by the scientific name, this is a collection of almost every herb you might need to look up. Besides being vastly interesting, I can easily see the usefulness for many readers - from simple curiosity to the beginnings of investigation, this book contains a good overview of information you might need to know about a specific plant.

With beautiful illustrations for each entry*, it rounds out the reading experience to show the reader what herb they are getting to know. (*A note, most of the entries were without illustrations after the first thirty pages in my copy.) I did love how each entry had small symbols next to the information presented. The small mortar and pestle was a very cute graphical addition that made this collection feel like a fun research book instead of too scientific.

This was a partially incomplete ARC, which made it occasionally hard to read. Some entire sections of my ebook had red lines through entries (I assumed these were to be disregarded and cut), which left me feeling confused as to which entries I should devote time to and which I shouldn't. Similarly, I wish the common names were in a slightly larger font. I found my eyes glossing over the scientific names to find the words I recognize before reading entries.

The folklore section was what drew me to request this book, but it was slightly cluttered. I felt like this needed some editing and trimming to make each entry cleaner. A suggestion might be to format it in list form, rather than paragraph as that would be easier to read. I also feel like the folklore should be separated from the facts, as the flow was interrupted switching between fact and fiction.

Overall, I have to give this three stars. This collection would make a wonderful coffee table book and gift for many, but the lack of clarity in some areas made me hesitant to give it a higher rating. The illustrations included were absolutely stunning, but I wish that I could have viewed a more complete edition of this book.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Wellfleet Press, and Quarto Publishing Group for providing me with a copy to review!

This is a stunning resource! It is a beautiful reference book of over 500 herbs. This is one I'll return to again and again. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.

An interesting and informative guide to herbs and their uses. This would be great gift for someone interested in herbal medicine or plants.

This book is stunning. I believe I have another book by with this similar setup and this one didn't disappoint. I was so excited to dive into this one and it was beautiful! I loved all the information here as well as the easy to understand setup of explaining each herb. I need this one on my shelf asap!

I'm always intrigued by the historical use of plants for medicinal, culinary, and other purposes, and this book does a great job of highlighting so many different plants around the world and how they've been used for various things.

However, I was surprised about how many plants have been used for magical purposes, outside of the ones that I'm familiar with. I enjoyed seeing plants outside of the ones I'm familiar with, and the fact that the author incorporated plants outside of Europe and North America, helping me learn more about plants that have been traditionally used in Asia, South and Central America, and Africa as well.

This is a really interesting book, and I like how it is put together, with everything easy to understand and find. The plants are beautifully described, with various trees, bushes, and flowers included, and it is a great resource for anyone interested in plants, lore, and magic.

This book is so beautiful. I love herbs and growing them. This book is full of herbs I’ve never even heard of. The information on each individual plant is amazing. From the uses to the folklore and the photos are nice too. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in growing and using herbs. I am definitely going to buy this book for my kitchen bookshelf..
Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book is definitely a handy guide if you are interested in herbs. There were sections for a bunch of herbs and had meanings and the different folklore surrounding it. It was very cool to see common herbs and some I didn't know and learn more about them. I also thought it was very cool to look up some that I know and see their uses and meanings behind it