Monsters: A Bestiary of the Bizarre is a nice collection of historical artworks from various cultures, but beyond that it doesn’t have much to offer. There is very little text, and even then it mostly consists of surface-level observation – no deeper insight or contextual analysis, which is what I’d been hoping to see. The only fresh perspective this book introduced me to was the idea that monsters (human-animal hybrids in particular) reflect “a human preoccupation with retaining mastery over the animal kingdom.” Unfortunately this, like every other remotely interesting remark, isn’t elaborated on.

I assumed the author just didn’t know much about the topic, but the further reading page includes many intriguing sources. If this is essentially a bibliography, why did Monsters have nothing interesting to say? Perhaps it was intended to be a really basic introductory text? If so, I think it’s a little too basic. It’s vapid.

I also want to note that the book would have been far more reader-friendly had the illustration captions/credits been included alongside each corresponding image or all in one place at the back of the book, rather than being listed at the end of each chapter.

Three stars. A middle-of-the-road rating for a middle-of-the-road book.