The World of Lore, Volume 1: Monstrous Creatures

A perfect book for Halloween.

The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures is a guide to the weird and wonderful bits of folklore and legend that roam our earth surrounding mysterious creatures. Each chapter presents a specific type of 'creature' for examination, before providing a number of local legends that relate to that creature with beautifully illustrated prints throughout.

The author does a good job at 'setting the scene' with these creatures. Each chapter is well defined, and categorised well, which makes the writing easy to follow and very engaging. This is certainly one of those books you can pick up and put down with ease, and the author also does a really good job at creating a decent atmosphere. Reading this late at night, I was certainly creeped out by certain chapters (the dolls and ghost in particular).

As with most books of this nature, I found some chapters more interesting than others. I was less interested in the 'flying animal' stories than I was with the dolls, ghosts and vampires. I also would have at least liked a mention of Whitby when discussing Dracula and Bram Stoker. I felt at times the writing was definitely geared more towards an American audience in this sense.

That said, I thought this was a very thorough introduction into the world of folklore, and it's certainly piqued an interest in this area for future reading material at this time of year.

I was raised on fairy tales and legends from across the world. I remember very clearly the exact shelf on which we had the books through which I would pour, looking for strange stories both from our world and not, full of strange creatures and strange happenings.This translated into an adult fascination with mythology and the persistent question of 'Why?'. So when I saw Magnke's The World of Lore, I could hardly contain my excitement. And it proved to be exactly what I hoped and wanted. Thanks to Headline and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am dreadfully unaware of podcasts. It's the one thing I keep telling myself to get more invested in because I actually love listening to people tell me about things they are fascinated by and knowledgeable of. It's like being back at university, and I am one of those people who wishes they could just remain at university indefinitely. The World of Lore is another one of those pushes to finally get my act together and start listening, since this book is based on an incredibly popular podcast, 'Lore', by the author. I'm not surprised the podcast is that popular, since the topic is something that everyone at some point finds themselves fascinated with. As Mahnke argues himself in the book as well, humans yearn for stories that contextualise our existence in this world, that bring order and clarity, that explain what is happening and why, that shift some of the blame away from us and onto something we can't control. And the incredible similarity between all of these stories is what truly fascinates me as well. Whether it's South America, northern Europe or South-East Asia, every culture has tales of trickster spirits, dwarves or elves.

The World of Lore is very well-structured. This may sound like a silly thing to pay attention to, but it's actually very important. Each chapter is clearly defined and the creatures he discusses are well-organised. Rather than jumping from one to the other, Mahnke makes to transition from one to the other logical, showing why they are put together as they are. Each description is a great mixture between history, myth and fact, as Mahnke shares both "documented" cases of creatures appearing as well as the research that has been done to prove or disprove their existence. Can you truly believe hidden, invisible people populate Iceland? Perhaps no, but construction work ignoring "their" sites do run into an awful lot of trouble, don't they? It's this balance that makes The World of Lore so much fun to read, because you always walk away from it wondering if maybe it couldn't actually all be true.

Mahnke's writing is definitely what makes this book. Under anyone else it could have easily become a dry book, full of old facts with no life to them. As The World of Lore is now, I can easily see why the podcast is as popular as it is. Mahnke's writing is direct and to the point, almost as if you're actually sitting down with him and having a conversation. He addresses the reader straight on, shares his own scepticism and fascination, and brings a wealth of information to the table. The book makes you hungry to listen to the podcast, to learn more, and surely that is what every book should do? Mahnke's enthusiasm is infectious and it's scarily easy to just keep reading. I almost missed my metro stop more times than I'd like to admit. This book also has brilliant illustrations, which strike that perfect Tim Burton-balance between amusing and creepy.

The World of Lore is a great read for anyone even slightly curious about the legends and stories surrounding us. Mahnke collects the best and leaves you wanting more. Never dull, The World of Lore makes you desperate to camp out at night in the hopes to catch something mysterious. I'd recommend this to anyone with even the slightest curiosity! Also, this is the perfect book to read in the run up to Halloween!

I’ll need to start this one with a bit of a story – but please bear with me, it has relevance.

When I was pre-teen, I became very interested in stories of the unknown. Whether it was ghosts, unsolved murders, UFO’s or just things that were weird, I read pretty much anything I could get my hands on – the Tutankhamen ‘curse’, Jack the Ripper, Borley Rectory, you name it.

One of my favourite reads, which I almost had on permanent loan from my local library, was a hardback of the best of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. This well-read (and re-read!) book had stories of strange animals, weird weather and ghostly goings on which kept me most interested. The tales were rarely more than a couple of pages in length, told in a straightforward manner that sounded like they might just be true.

What has this got to do with Lore? Well, this might just be the up-to-date version of that book I was reading forty-odd years ago. It tells of, amongst other things, vampires (Count Dracula especially), ghosts, lost villages, ancient burial grounds, demonic possession, elves, and things that have mysteriously disappeared.

Based on a podcast, the book is a lively narrative, told in that straightforward disarming style that seemed so familiar to me. It is rather personable, told as if someone is talking to you (see those podcast origins?) and full of casual phrases and mannerisms that will either endear or annoy.

Reflecting its origins, most (though not all) of the camp-fire style tales are American in source, which is perhaps to be expected. (I must admit that to my younger self, with the Ripley’s, that wasn’t a problem – if anything, it inspired me to look at places beyond my hometown, which led to… a future career.)

As with the Ripley’s, most of the stories in Lore are a page or two in length. There’s a lot of crafty hooks to lure you in – chapters that begin “Hollywood is obsessed.” or “No one wants to die.” are bound to keep the reader interested.

Throughout, the text is appropriately illustrated in shades of black and white by M S Corley – like the text, they’re not too scary, and made me think more of Charles Addams and Edward Gorey than Gahan Wilson.

In short, this is an entertaining book, enigmatic and yet also light on the depth and generally cheerful in tone that, any youngster (like me as a young adult), will absorb like a sponge. This would be a great one to read aloud at Hallowe’en, I think. And, as it will soon be a TV series on Amazon Prime, this would be a great book to get youngsters engaged in reading before the series starts.

For those not in the know, Lore is a podcast presented by the author Aaron Mahnke that deals with the more mysterious things in life and their origins. Mahnke is a skilled writer and researcher and manages to breath fresh life into topics that have been covered a million times before such as vampires. I've long had an interest in the darker side of life but this book covers a lot of things I'd not heard of before, such as the Bloody Pit, the ill fated construction of the Hoosac rail tunnel that was completed with a huge cost to many who worked on it. Each chapter was fascinating and I ended up devouring the book in just a couple of days. If you're a regular listener to the podcast then there will be elements and sections you'll recognise but this book has so much more besides. The illustrations are a fantastic touch and are a perfect fit with the writing. This would make a perfect gift for any fan of the podcast or anyone with an interest in the macabre. An excellent accompaniment to a terrific podcast.

I received a free ARC from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.