I've always been a fan of Saki’s portrayal of children, especially when contrasted to adults, and the number of "self-possessed" young women in his stories. 

His skill and enjoyment at shining a witty light on the contrived behaviours and beliefs of early twentieth century British high society is satire at its best.

I read this after hearing it referenced in a Common Descent podcast on Cryptozoology.

I've a sceptic's interest in cryptozoology and expected to enjoy this book, however, I found the author's style to be somewhat monotonous. Many of the chapters felt more like Wikipedia pages - dates, names, places, etc - without much insight.

It's also interesting to note that the author seems to only take into account sightings by European/White people and from post-colonial times. The chapter discussing the Yowie, for instance, totally failed to take Aboriginal history and sightings into account.

This was a good read. The characters and world-building were well done, and the story is full of great discussion points.

The writing style is a little stilted, but that's intentional (I assume) since the story is narrated by a robot.

It's a little longer than it needed to be, but otherwise, I have no complaints.

I didn't finish all of this book. Not because it wasn't good but because poetry isn't a favoured medium of mine, and I tend to get what I call "poetry fatigue" after a while. I'm trying to introduce more poetry into my reading, but it's still a work in progress.

What I did read was very authentic, powerful, and thought-provoking.

This isn't a brilliant book and it certainly isn't the "horrifying" and "scary" story many reviews claim (unless your threshold for scary is very low) and it often plods unnecessarily slowly along and there is some genuine lazy writing at the end.

HOWEVER,

I really quite enjoyed the premise and the overall story. It reminded me a bit of Michael Crichton's The Congo.

The characters weren't particularly memorable, and there was no real sense of the claustrophobic atmosphere the characters found themselves in.
If you tried to explain the story to someone, it would likely sound boring and lacking in events.

And yet, it produced the same level of enjoyment that a b-grade movie inspires. In fact, given the author's penchant for cinematic descriptions, this book would likely make a more enjoyable film than book.

The prologue was great.

Initial feeding frenzy was fun.

Then it just got steadily less and less enjoyable.

More academic than the cover might lead you to expect.

The narration was a bit dry, but the information is well-presented, and Trounstine backs up all of their claims with solid data.

I really loved this book. It's exactly the kind of book I want on my bookshelf as a quick reference or refresher when reading Greek myths or Greek classics.

It's not a story book, it's more like a very short, concise wiki page on each figure that sums up the main points of their story/stories.

I also really love the grecian art style of the illustrations.

I expected more focus on how to cultivate and nurture the intellectual lives and interests of children, but mostly, it's just stories and anecdotes about different kids being curious.

I looked each woman up as I read the book, and I found a pretty obvious divide between those who focus on community and those who work for the 1% and/or those with money.

I really loved the stories of the women building community, opportunities, and conversations with their work. I enjoyed how their focus is on sustainability, healing, and authenticity.

I was less interested in the more privileged women whose entries didn't have these focuses.