Fairies, Ghosts, King Arthur, and Hounds from Hell

This is a book to be consulted often, also a very interesting read on folklore, and the related topics of burial sites. It can be read once, but I am going to make the most of it and refer to it often, as a comprehensive guide. Where it is not known what the origin of a word is, the author says so, which also impresses me. I never knew so much about different areas, and I consider myself pretty clued up regarding folklore. Not just Glastonbury and Avebury, but Hampshire and East Yorkshire, are included, among others. I am very impressed by the research that must have gone into this book and I would recommend it for general reading, but also as a reference book, to return to again and again, for anyone who is interested in this topic.

This is an incredibly well-written reference book. It caters to readers who are getting into the subject for the first time without being patronising to readers who already have background knowledge. I liked the way the different sections were sorted, making it easy to scan through if you're just after information on a specific area, such as Wiltshire, but also helping to break the text into manageable chunks if you're reading it cover-to-cover.
I hadn't expected the sheer amount of detail involved in this book when I first selected it, but the amount of detail can only be a good thing. This is definitely a book I will keep referring back to, especially in my continuing Arthurian Legend research.

An amazing, meticulous, expansively researched and well-organized reference book that made me long to visit the UK again in pursuit of its folkloric roots.

A fascinating and in-depth history of Britain’s folkloric origins through the ages. Exhaustively researched and written in a formal, informative tone, the book ties British history to its many varied practices, beliefs, and superstitions.

Fabulous look at the history of faeries and other magical creatures in Britain. I love these tales and it's nice to see more research being done on them. I'm a big fan of Katharine Brigg's collection of faery tales and this one is right up there with hers! I'll be sure to recommend the book and even purchase it for my own collection. Lots of research went into the writing of this book. Kudos to Robin Melrose!

Thank you NetGalley and Troubador Publishing for providing me with a free copy of this book to read, I really appreciate it!
3 starts - I Liked it!
Melrose writes with detail, presenting to the reader an abundance of reference (like a listing of roman settlements or temples, or a listing of stories about saints' lives - these were really interesting to me, because I am not that familiar with them; the stories about animal resurrection really reminded me of the Norse myth about Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr, the goats with which Thor fed Þjálfi and Röskva and then resurrected) but tends, according to my opinion, to overinterpret certain data, mostly archaeological one. For example, his theory about the connection between midden and secondary burials and the belief in reincarnation, which I found hard to accept.
I have read a little bit more on the subject of these very specific types of burials and what is important about them is that the human remains are often carelessly deposited (most of the bones have traces of dog bites, some are charred) in middens, alongside animal bones, pottery fragments, coals and etc, most of time close to the dwellings. I am much more confident in the theory that early peoples, during the Neolithic, Chalcholitic and Iron Age, practised a form of sky burials (which is still practised today in places like Tibet), which would explain why the buried human remains are so fragmentary and have traces of gnawing, but would leave other questions unexplained, one of them central to the topic - why bury humans in what we now consider middens?
Otherwise, Melrose`s knowledge about the peculiarities of English landscape and its geography, and English history is on point, I can only wish I had a bit more context about these. In my opinion, It's a book suited for readers with more basic knowledge on the subjects about which Melrose writes. But even if the reader lacks it, like me, It's not a hard read.
Unfortunately, for me, I found his writing a bit dry at times, which made it a bit more difficult to concentrate, and some of the history and archaeology sections of the books were a bit repetitive, but honestly, I feel that is the case with most archaeology books, which tend to give an extensive information on a specific topic.

What an informative book, but one that doesn't really encourage binge-reading. The writing was quite dry and academic, but I enjoyed reading the sections that interested me and I think I'll return to it often in the future to look things up. Works well as an encyclopedia, although I think it could have benefited from a shorter page count.

As a lover of history and folklore I’ve completely fallen in love with this books. It’s full of interesting information, well written and with a good structure.
Would highly recommend.

Melrose presents a very generous go-through of different folklore elements of the United Kingdom from Roman times and forward. I found the chapters interesting, but I also found myself counting the pages and I actually struggled a bit coming through the book. I think there might just have been too much information for me to process and instead making me a bit bored.

However, as a Ethnology student I found that the material itself was very interesting, and that it tried to get to the start of each type of folkloric story and its characters.

Fairies, Ghosts, King Arthur, and Hounds from Hell was an excellent in depth look at folklore of the British Isles. The writing could be a bit dry at times, as can be found in academic texts, but the level of research was amazing, and I will definitely be purchasing this to consult for my own writing.

I found myself a bit disappointed with this, maybe because I had to read it all at once in order to review it rather than reading bits at a time like I would have done with another reference book? It is written in a quite dry academic way with very little of the personality of the author shining through. You don't feel like you're reading a book for the public with a interest in folklore, it feels like you're reading someone's thesis paper and something aimed at people actually studying archeology and religious beliefs and folklore. I found myself scan reading parts of it.
This doesn't mean that this isn't a ridiculously well researched and thought out book but I think that the title is a bit misleading (the sub title really should have been the main title). You go in thinking it's going to be packed full of fairy lore and their origins, but while there is a lot of that, mostly in the second half, there is so much more about religious buildings, architecture, saints and archeological digs.
I did enjoy the chapter on saints, it was interesting to hear stories that I haven't heard much of before. Though I think that it's a bit telling that pretty much all the stories about saints resurrecting animals, the animals were dead in the first place either directly or indirectly because of the saint themselves, not that saintly in my opinion. The burial rites were also interesting but there was a lot of detail included that made it hard to get really focused on those chapters. I think that they could have been condensed and more focused.
I did enjoy reading the about the influence of other cultures like the Romans and Vikings (I especially liked the small reference to the connection between Loki and the belief in shape shifting creatures) had on our history and lore and how it was changed during the rise of Christianity.
While there is a lot of interesting information in this, there is also a lot of that I don't really see why it had to be included, maybe because I couldn't always see why it was connected? There is a small part at the end of the chapters that kind of summarises or has a theory or connection that the author has made but they were normally very brief. I would have been interested to read more about how everything discussed was connected or theories that the author made. I would have also enjoyed it more if the accounts about fairies and other creatures were retold in the author's own style, there was a lot of sections quoted from other sources instead.
Overall I think that if you are looking for an informative reference book on burial rites, religious beliefs and the early history and superstitions of Britain then this is the book for you.

Loved this book. As others have said, it's a really well researched reference book packed with evidence relating to beliefs around fairies, mermaids, water horses and other mythical or spiritual beings. I read this cover to cover in a few days, but it really is intended as a reference book to dip in and out of when needed. I love that the individual parts of Britain are dealt with separately and the tales told are reproduced here, some as late as the last years of the nineteenth century. A fascinating read. And really relevant to any study - whether you're studying subjects like the Dissolution of the Monasteries, saints, King Arthur, beliefs or even the social history of every day people, this is a really useful book.

A well written and well researched reference book that fascinated me. I liked how it is organised and the style of writing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Well researched and highly enlightening look into the numerous myths and legends that inhabit Britain's little isle. It was fascinating to see the large variety of tales that have come from these shores, as well as the many different types of inhabitants over time who have shaped the types of stories we know and love.

I do think that at times this goes slightly too far into the academic, with a dry writing style that makes the test feel very dense at times. This isn't a book you can read in one sitting, but rather one to read in small chunks that you can go away and digest. I do think that the title is a little misleading however, given that a large portion of the book is given over to the discussion of saints and religion - which I wasn't necessarily looking for going into this and could possibly even been omitted and still have a very robust book.

Interesting, undoubtedly informative, but a little on the heavy side.

An exploration both into the folklore and mythology of Britain and an assessment of the archaeology of Britain from the Neolithic to the Anglo-Saxon Age, all in an attempt to ascertain associations between folklore and ancient pagan practice.

The author establishes these possibilities in the beginning. The author then explores the archaeological evidence of the Neolithic to the Roman periods, focusing on the presence of excarnation and exploring the possibility, perhaps plausibility, of the belief of reincarnation among at least the Iron Age British.

The author then goes through an assessment of Celtic Britain and how it survived in various ways, from the southwest sweeping around to Wales and the rest of England, particularly in terms of linguistic connections. In a similar way the author explores the story of Celtic saints, especially their connections with animals. The author then explores the legacy of Celtic folklore in southwest England, Wales, the Welsh borderlands, and the Scottish borderlands, primarily in terms of saints' tales, fairies, mermaids, Arthurian legends, and the like. The author does the same for the Anglo-Saxon legacy in the rest of England.

The author does well at drawing connections between the legendary stories and the ancient geography, showing how fairy hills were often Bronze Age burrows and the like. Understanding fairies as the recent dead was interesting in light of how fairies are presently seen in modern media. The stories are interesting and worth hearing; the connection with archaeological and historical understanding of more ancient periods helps to make some sense of the contours of the purported paranormal phenomena.

The work can be dry at times, full of detail of archaeological studies, but is especially engaging in the second half. The work could really use a conclusion to bring some coherence to all the evidence marshaled, even if the conclusions are speculative and provisional.

A fascinating look into the dark side of Britain.

Fairies, Ghosts, King Arthur, and Hounds from Hell is a clear and comprehensive reference book about folklore, a subject of perennial interest for many readers. This is definitely a reference book, not necessarily built for back to front reading. It's a valuable resource, however, and has some particularly interesting insights into the geography and history of the British Isles. I enjoyed how well researched this book is. It doesn't leave very many gaps, or unanswered questions. The writing goes into great detail, but is easy to follow. This would be a great reference for many people's bookshelves!

I liked this and there is so much interesting information inside. It has great detail and does become overwhelming at times with so much. It is nice as a reference and not as an all in a sitting book. Reading a little at a time really was interesting. You can pick a story and enjoy it then read something else later. The details are helpful and I leared some things I had not known before including some added elements as well as overall new things. If you are interested in this sort of thing this is a good read, but I would have loved some illustrations or something of that sort to add to it. This seemed liked an interested subject, but it even though interesting sometimes it was rough reading.

Thanks to Matador and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is extremely interesting but I am not sure it accomplishes what it set out to do.

I am not sure whether the structure of it let it down but it felt very clunky and disjointed to read and the rather dry, academic approach to writing didn't help things. I was able to get through it as I am interested in the subject matter but a book about such an interesting topic shouldn't feel like such a chore to read.

The focus is more on the archaeology side of things and the links to folklore felt very much secondary. I got the sense of it being lists of facts and information as opposed to any deeper analysis or commentary.

If I were to put my Teacher hat on I guess I'd say that I didn't feel that it "answered the question". It isn't published by an Academic publishing house but perhaps it should have been.

I really enjoyed reading this book - although I would recommend taking your time and reading it with something lighter at the same time! It is quite academic, so quite heavy reading. I enjoyed the fact that it covered a lot of different eras and different folklore, as many books tend to be specialised. A very good book to read if you are after a moore or less exhaustive coverage of myths of the Britain.

I have to commend the level of scholarship that went into this book. It's staggering because I know the time something like this takes. It's definitely not a light read for someone unaccustomed to historical writing. That shouldn't factor as a reason to not read it though.

I quite enjoyed this book - I've got a lot of research around all of the subjects in this book and there were some specific elements that have given me new research points to chase down.
It's a very good book, with only a few places that I felt weren't in fitting with the overall thesis of the book itself and will be a book that I go back and reference.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher for an honest, unbiased review.

An interesting read that I'm glad to have discovered. I'll definitely be seeking out more by this author.

"Fairies, Ghosts, King Arthur, and Hounds from Hell" by Robin Melrose blends folklore, fantasy, and history into a captivating adventure. Melrose's storytelling is whimsical, and his characters are as unique as the title suggests. If you're up for a journey through a fantastical world filled with surprises, this book is a must-read. It's a delightful and whimsical escape that left me thoroughly entertained and craving more of Melrose's storytelling magic.