Customer Reviews

Mythological and Fantastic Creatures (Dover Electronic Clip Art) (CD-ROM and Book)

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Page after page of creatures of myth and ancient culture, yet not a single name to go with the face (or fish, or stone carving, etc.). What a disappointment. As a picture book, its ok. As an art tool, its a bit frustrating. Many of the images are instantly recognizable, but many more are a mystery - I would have loved to see a brief notation stating where and when each of the creatures contained in this book originated. All told, if you just want a book of strange things to look at, this is for you. If you have any interest at all in what it is exactly that you are looking at, please pass this book over.

As the other review points out, this book would be a lot better if there were an index of what each creature is.

I got this to use as embroidery patterns, and many of the illustrations are much too detailed for that, but that's what I expected. What's frustrating is that I was expecting more interesting variations on the more common mythological creatures (harpies, werewolves, fairies, dragons, basilisk, Baba Yaga...) and most of this book is instead a parade of nightmare creatures that I can't begin to place, and I'm pretty up on my mythology.

If you want a bunch of weird creepy illustrations, this book will suit your needs admirably. And I'm sure I'll even manage to get enough use out of it to justify the price, but it's certainly not everything I dreamed.