(10) NATALIE LAWRENCE –

ENCHANTED CREATURES: OUR MONSTERS AND THEIR MEANINGS (2024)

“I began as a scientist and became a hunter of monsters. It is only relatively recently that I have been able to fully articulate why they attracted me so much. I began with the monsters of hundreds of years ago, when the world was an almost alien place, but they taught me how to see what monsters do for us today.”

I tend to award my wildcard tenth place, if I can (or if my top ten subject permits), to best entry for the previous or present year – and this book by Natalie Lawrence was my favorite mythology book from 2024.

Natalie Lawrence taps into our universal fascination with monsters – the titular enchanted creatures from mythology to modern popular culture – and what they mean to (or for) us.

The book is divided into three thematic sections – Monsters of Creation, Monsters of Nature, and Monsters of Knowledge – each of which is divided in turn into thematic chapters.

For the Monsters of Creation, the chapters are The Horned Sorcerer (through the lens of the antlered shamanic figure in Palaeolithic cave art at the Cave of the Trois-Freres in France, a personal favorite of mine as well), Dragons of Chaos, and The Minotaur and the Labyrinth.

For Monsters of Nature, the chapters are Snake Women (through the lens of the recurring dangerous combination of woman and serpent from Eve onwards), Grendel, and Leviathans.

For Monsters of Knowledge, the chapters are Scaly Devils (featuring the fabulous beasts found by Europeans after the Age of Discovery, even if they had to stich them together) and Terrible Lizards (featuring dinosaurs and their fossils).

RATING: 4 STARS****

X-TIER (WILD TIER)