The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures

‘’The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.’’
H.P. Lovecraft

Starting this book, I had the belief that nothing new was in store for me. That it would possibly prove to be a satisfying read on the Paranormal field but with little new to offer. Well, I was wrong. It was very well-written with some exciting changes from the norms that made it all the more interesting.

The title ‘’Monstrous Creatures’’ is a bit misleading. I suppose the word ‘’monstrous’’ is loosely used to signify something unnatural, threatening and evil. Something that we cannot understand, something that repels us. In this volume, we find a well-balanced array of show more traditions from all over the world, folklore from the five continents, although the emphasis is on the Anglo-Saxon world since the written testimonies are heavily broader and properly documented. Vampires, werewolves, the living dead, mysterious creatures of the sea, anthropomorphic being lurking in dark woods, dark entities responsible for dark deeds. There are spirits, superstitions and beliefs that go back ages and ages ago and yet, they are very much alive in our time.

There are two things that I found refreshing and worthy of praise, in my opinion. For starters, the narration is very vivid, very interesting, thoughtful and sincere. The writer comes across as a level-headed person, witty and respectful of the subject. He doesn’t downgrade it, he doesn’t turn it into a smartarse satire. He walks the thin line between the believer and the sceptic comfortably and I found myself in absolute agreement with his views. What makes this book special, in my opinion, is the fact that it links beliefs and traditions of the past with extremely recent unexplained occurrences. We’re talking about phenomena that were reported in the 60s, the 70s, all the way to our decade. The fact that stories whose roots can be found in the past still seem to concern us certainly gives food for thought. I admit that many of the stories- and quite a few were unknown to me- were eerie and chilling. The experience was enhanced by the simple yet effective black-and-white illustrations and I cannot help but give extra points to Aaron Mahnke for the Hannibal (TV series) reference. Nothing beats Mads and his culinary skills. Or any other of his skills and yes, this was totally inappropriate…

So, it takes a lot to impress a reader who has read extensively on the Paranormal subject, but this book managed to do it. I consider myself leaning more towards the believer’s side with a significant dose of doubt (because who knows for sure, right….?) and many of the questions Mahnke poses had me thinking. This is a book that sceptics and believers will enjoy since the writer doesn’t provide answers. He simply states the facts. Speaking for myself, I was a bit influenced and each night I read it (because I obviously such things in the late hours...), I double-checked to make sure the cross I keep on my bedside table was there. It doesn’t hurt to be cautious….

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com show less

I first thought that this book was more like scary stories but while I got the vibes in some parts, it was more of an explanation of the lores. I still enjoyed it a lot, I thought it was really interesting and well-paced. I really am looking forward to reading the other novels.

I saw an ad for this in a subway station and it wasn't the title that caught my eye but the author. I had been an avid listener of his podcast (named Lore unsurprisingly) last year and then as is my way (especially with podcasts) I had totally forgotten about it. Once I started reading the book I realized that it was essentially composed of transcripts from his podcast episodes. (Guess it's a good thing I didn't listen to all of them.) The book is broken down into categories about different creatures from folklore. Two examples: vampires and zombies. Vampires could have been created because of a disease whereby people were pale, sensitive to sunlight, and craved blood. (And then there was Vlad the Impaler who is perhaps the most show more well-known nightwalker. (Quick note: Nightwalker is not a cool name for a vampire like I had originally thought but I'm gonna just pretend that it is cause it's better than repeating the word vampire ad nauseum.)) Zombies were most likely inspired by victims of tuberculosis (the living dead) and the large numbers of people who were pronounced dead then subsequently rose from their graves. (This is a real thing and will perhaps explain why more people choose cremation these days.) Mahnke also discusses the history of hauntings and the popularity of the spirtualist movement among many other topics of the supernatural. He has a way of simultaneously debunking these theories while giving the impression that we should still remain open-minded. It's an interesting read especially if you haven't really delved too deep into this subject area and you want to get the rundown. 8/10

Monstrous Creatures is the first in a planned trilogy and I think there's also a tv show in the works. I guess I'm not the only one interested in the supernatural. ;-) show less

"life is one long journey down a road, and we walk until it’s over. Some think they see light at the end of it all, while others hope for darkness. And that’s where the mystery of it all comes in. No one knows what’s on the other side; we just know that the proverbial walk ends at some point.”

This was a wonderful but dense book about creatures (especially for being so short!) Some of the stories were about the possible origins of some of our greatest horror stories like Dracula. Others were accounts of things seen in the night (like the white thing with the big head?) or possible origins of urban legends. All in all the stories were fascinating and frightening. I'd heard some of the podcasts so it was great to actually get to show more read the stories I'd already heard - I definitely think I got more out of them by reading than by listening - but that's not to say the podcast isn't great - It IS great! I just think I tend to absorb more when I read it.

I liked that the stories were broken into sections and each section tended to tell the story of a certain type of creature or event. I loved the drawings and added creativity of each section and the visuals in-between.

Whether you've already heard all the podcasts or never even heard of them, I'd recommend both the Podcast AND the book. There's only a little overlap and the add visuals in the book really add to the experience of the Podcast. show less

Aaron Mahnke's Lore podcast is one of the more fascinating and informative podcasts available. He explores the world of lore: folktales and legends—usually creepy or macabre—and shares the interesting things he finds. He's an accomplished and entertaining storyteller.

Podcasts are subject to time constraints: there's only so much you can fit into each episode. While the stories he shares with his listeners are clearly well researched, he doesn't go into much depth with them. And that's OK for a podcast—the point of these stories is to share them and entertain his audience. While he occasionally asks the Big Questions ("Why are we drawn to myths and legends like these? What purpose do they serve?" etc.) he never offers much more show more than cursory, broad strokes answers. Again, that's fine for a podcast—he needs to focus each episode on telling the cool stories he finds.

Books have far fewer constraints than podcasts and offer more freedom. So when I heard Mahnke had written a book about The World of Lore, I hoped he would use the freedom of this different format to dive more deeply into each story, and into the subject as a whole, than he does in his podcast. I wanted him to tackle the Big Questions in more substantive way.

If the podcast is tapas, I wanted the book to be meat and potatoes.

It's not.

The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures is literally just a written version of Mahnke's podcast. It's a collection of several fascinating stories, well researched and very well told, but without much depth. He asks the Big Questions but still offers nothing more than broad strokes answers to them.

This means, of course, that it's just as entertaining and enrapturing as his podcast. This is a seriously fun book. But it's also a huge missed opportunity.

As a book, The World of Lore will reach an audience the podcast doesn't. There's value in that.

But it doesn't add anything new or expand the world of Lore in any new directions. While it's as fascinating, informative, and entertaining as the rest of Mahnke's work, it also feels a little pointless.

I plan to read future volumes of The World of Lore. Mahnke is an exceptional storyteller who shares amazing tales and fascinating bits of history. His future books promise to be highly entertaining. I no longer expect them to offer anything new or different than the podcast, so I hopefully won't be quite so disappointed with them. show less

A fun late-October book combining stories of uncanny events and encounters with breezy explorations of the folklore related to the various sorts of ghosts, beasties, and peculiar practices covered in each section. Prior to reading this, I was not aware of the “Lore” podcast (potential readers may want to note that some reviewers comment that the stories here are very similar to those presented in episodes of the podcast), and that originally oral presentation is very evident in the book, which is distinctly casual and conversational in style. The author maintains an attitude of friendly skepticism about the supernatural creatures featured in his tales – sea monsters, evil dolls, vampires, mothmen, etc. – but always with a wink show more and in the cheerful spirit of “Well, we can see that there is probably a perfectly rational explanation for this, but wouldn't it be delicious fun if it really were true that...” The book is not heavily illustrated, but the full page black and white drawings (I think there are ten of these) are marvelous, and the bibliography is also really nice. show less

I don't really listen to the Lore podcast often, as I was a bit annoyed at the lack of fact-checking in the episodes I heard. Urban legends enter into the mix, and things that have long been disproved are often touted as fact by [a: Aaron Mahnke|4747781|Aaron Mahnke|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1505255044p2/4747781.jpg]. Particularly atrocious is the continued perpetuation of the Chernobyl mothman incident - something Richard Hatem threw into The Mothman Prophecies script on a bit of a whim and quickly took on a life of its own.

Even though I hadn't listened to the podcast all that much I was curious about the book as I love spooky stories. The book proved a quick read, entertaining, if a bit grating in tone now and then. The show more illustrations were great and added a fair bit to the story (my favorite was the wendigo one). What irritated me, however, was the needling suspicion that I'd heard a few of these things before. Verbatim.

Ah. There it is.

This book is a fine collection of Lore podcasts and little more. The transcripts of the episodes are just word for word in the book. What you're paying for with this is, essentially, a bit of a shoddy bibliography (not enough books, too many articles, too little done and common things not well researched) along with some nice illustrations.

Pick this up at the library if you're curious, but be wary. And try listening to Astonishing Legends if you care about the provenance of your folklore and fun, creepy stories. show less