Gods & Monsters - Ana Sampson

⭐ - 4.75

📗

I feel somewhat under-qualified to review a poetry collection as I don’t really read poetry very much but I loved this a lot more than I thought I was going to!

This is an anthology of poetry written about myths and folklore from around the world by many different writers (including some of the classics like Homer) and is stunningly illustrated by Chris Riddell.

The first thing I will say is don’t be put off by the fact that this is officially published as a children’s book, I don’t think I would have even realised if I hadn’t already known. Because of the vast variety of writers and styles in this collection I definitely think it can be enjoyed by all ages (maybe if you are buying it for a child, I’d probably recommend more pre-teen age due to the complexity of some of the language). Some of the poems and illustrations have a more light-hearted, silly feel, but many of them are beautiful and tragic and reflective and I really think that there are entries in here that could be enjoyed by anyone.

I was absolutely blown away by the art in this. I’ve included some of my favourites in my post but I honestly could have taken photos of the whole book. Every page is illustrated and they each fit the mood of the poem that they’re with and Chris Riddell did such an amazing job on them.

As with any anthology, there were some entries that I liked more than others but that’s all going to be down to personal taste and I loved that they weren’t all just focused on Greek Mythology but many different traditions from around the world. As I say, I’m really not a poetry girl, I like it on occasion but I think a lot of it tends to go over my head and I found this collection to be really accessible.

I really haven’t seen anyone talking about this (I only picked it up because Natalie Haynes wrote the introduction and I love her work) so I would highly recommend checking this out if you’re interested in mythology or poetry.