Customer Reviews

A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels and Other Subversive Spirits

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a great reference work: useful, accessible and well organised. The demons, fairies and other mythical beings featured in this book were taken from the legends and folklore of several cultures and they are grouped according to their place of residence: water, mountain, forest, desert, domicile and psyche. Each chapter includes a short description of the creature's appearance, habits and preferences; one of two stories of encounters with it; and a section on disarming and dispelling techniques.

This guide includes some fascinating creatures, such as the Japanese Kappa and its surprising eating habits, the helpful and friendly Norwegian Nisse, the extremely fragile Australian Mimi, and the Chinese Madame White, who gives a whole new meaning to the expression femme fatale. Some better known beings like mermaids and werewolves are also featured. The Macks' writing style is clear and engaging, sometimes tongue-in-cheek but never disrespectful to other cultures. The detailed information on how to deal with these creatures is particularly useful; if you ever encounter any of them you'll know what to do to be able to tell the tale.

Though the serious researcher or folklorist won't find much new content here, it's a fun and easy read with a unique format and a wide variety of entries. Most of the entries have associated stories, and some wonderfully unexpected things turn up (yes, Jung's Shadow is identified herein). And for that serious researcher? The bibliography is priceless, and I will probably go bankrupt amassing it. Do not, however, confuse this with an occult volume. This is simply legend and folklore.

You could spend lots of money on all kinds of folklore & mythology books, and still not have as much information on the "darker entities" as this book.

Each entry is very detailed with description, habitations, sightings, etc.

I think this book would make a great gift for anyone interested in the supernatural, or even RPG GM's looking for new ways to torture their players... ;)

Well, as the title says, this book is a "field guide" to Demons, faeries and other malicious spirits. The book opens with a couple discussions on the nature of demons, evil, and so forth, before splitting into a field guide style approach that breaks it down into sections like "mountain", "ocean", "desert" and so forth. Within in each section are given several different demons or types of demon, along with a write up of their habits, myths and lore, how to defeat them and the like.

The first section, "Oceans", covers several well known sea monsters and water faeries such as mermaids, the Japanese kappa, the Australian bunyip, the Russian rusalka and the Scottish kelpie, amongst others (like the Mbulu, a water person from Zulu folklore). In the "Mountains" section we get a wide variety of demons, ranging from Huwawa (from the Epic of Gilgamesh) to the tiny Abatwa of Zulu belief and the "little people" of Cherokee folklore. The "Forest" chapter includes a number of wild monsters like the flesh-eating Windigo of Native American belief, Japanese fox-spirits and the Rakshasa of Hinduism. A section on "the Desert" covers things like the djinn and ghuls of Islamic belief, the Mimi of Australian Aboriginal lore and Set, the Egyptian god of darkness. "The Domicile" introduces spirits of the household and domestic spheres, like the Jewish Lilith, the Changing Bear Woman of the Navajo, and the Changelings of British folkelore. The last chapter, "The Psyche", introduces highly abstract demons that play with the concept of the self, like the werewolf, Mr. Hyde, the Id and the Jewish dybbuk.

None of the entries are overly long, nor is this book a comprehensive list of demons, but it does provide a wonderful glimpse at the countless devils, evil spirits and other things that have haunted mankind's beliefs for centuries. The authors never seem to commit themselves to any one stance on the existance of demons, for the record, and I've known very religious people who have read this book. Whether or not you believe in the spirits presented here, it is a fascinating cross-cultural study of malicious spirits. Particularly if you know very little about mythology, folklore and religion to begin with. Things like faeries, werewolves and mermaids may well be common place in our vocabulary, but lesser known myths like the Patupairehe, Isitwalangcengce, Eloko and the gruesome Nuckelavee are equally frightening. All in all, a well thought out and executed book.

I bought this as a companion to Gustav Davidson's A Dictionary of Angels. "A Field Guide" makes for an interesting reference book. I, frankly, was expecting a little more on house spirits, but all in all it's not bad and makes for a decent read.

What I found somewhat humorous, though, while reading this was when I reached the end of the Desert section of the book. Where page 155 should be, page 123 abruptly makes an appearance (the beginning of the Forest section), along with every sentence of content thereafter, right to the end of the book. And no, I am not kidding.

After reading over 150 pages of content on mischievous creatures from various places around the world, I had to stop and laugh at this. I'd like to say that this is a print error on the part of the publisher, but it makes for funny review content and is quite ironic considering the subject matter.

Personally, if I'd have had the chance to peruse this in a book store before buying, I'd probably have passed it up, repeated content not withstanding (I'm considering that an ironic coincidence).

I was looking for some books about demons/fairies and other mythical creatures. I thought this would be interesting, because I liked the idea of a feild guide separating the creatures by their natural habitats.

I think my number one problem with the book is that it's all over the place tonally. As if the author couldn't really decide what the book was going to be. There's not much cohesion in regards to what beings were selected to be in the book. There are quite a number of Hindu gods and goddesses, which I did find interesting but are not what I consider on the same level as fairies, kelpies, and mermaids and such. (For that matter, Lucifer and Set aren't really along that line either.)

It also turned into a bit of a chore to read, as I read the whole thing through and sort of lost interest near the end. Each article is pretty repetitive of those before it. "The creature looks like this but sometimes like this and also has the legs of a duck and a long beard" Hated the Lore sections. And all creatures like tabacco or hate salt. Also, there's no defense against them. Seriously. The repetition I think is what killed it for me.

Nearly every demon of significance is included in this magnificent book. Some might complain that the book is not worth the time seeing as how the descriptions only average about a page and a half; but I argue that this book is simply a starting point. If this book wets your appetite for things demonic, as it did for me, then you will find the six page bibliography quite helpful (and interesting!).

The demons are all neatly categorized into six sections. They are as follows.

1. Water
2. Mountain
3. Forest
4. Desert
5. Domicile
6. Psyche

The writing is clear and precise, but not boring. I very much suggest this book to anyone with an interest in the subject. But do note that this is a book of demonology--not demonolatry. If you're looking for books on demonolatry go check the New Age section.

Ok, first the pro's of this books, it has a lot of demons and beasts and whatnot, classified by the place where you could find them (woods, water, house, psyche, etc.), folklore (tales related to the demons).

Bad? Well not really bad, but they could have picked up some more interesting demons and spirits, the descriptions are sometimes too short or too vague. Anyway, I was expecting more of this book.

This book was very interesting in that it did not give the typical viewpoint of this subject. More to the point, given the subject matter, the reader did not feel like he/she was sneaking illicit reading material -- there was no judgement or slant to the author's viewpoint. As for the writing style itself, it was clear, comprehensive (but not to the point of ad nauseum), and easy to read. I would recommend this book for those whose curiousities may be like mine -- a little out of the ordinary.

A FIELD GUIDE TO DEMONS

This book serves well as a reference guide; as well it should, being that it is just that. The book is separated into 6 main sections: Water, Mountain, Forest, Desert, Domicile, and Psyche. The sections are arranged by location such as, North America, Japan and so on. Each reference tells a bit about the lore and also the dispelling and disarming techniques used to eradicate the demon.

This book is a good tool for horror writers and or fantasy writers. Any demon within these pages could become a writer's antagonist. The problem with this book is it is very vague in its approach to the history of the demons. Perhaps a more comprehensive layout would serve writers and enthusiasts better.

* * * 3 stars