Welcome to my stop on the Gods and Heroes: Mythology Around the World Blog Tour hosted by Workman Publishing! I am very happy to be a part of this tour, and I really really enjoyed the book! But you can find out what I liked exactly in my review below, and you can learn more about the book through the Q&A section, and aaalso, if you live in the U.S., you can enter a giveaway hosted by the publisher through which you can win your own copy of Gods & Heroes! (Thank you so much to Workman Publishing for including me in this tour and sending me a copy for review purposes!)

– About the Book –

Title: Gods and Heroes
Creators: Korwin Briggs
Type: Nonfiction, Children’s, Illustrated Encyclopedia
Genre: Mythology
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Published: August 21, 2018

A physical copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Meet the Original Superheroes.

Before there was Batman, Wonder Woman, or Black Panther…there was Indra, Hindu king of gods, who battled a fearsome snake to save the world from drought. Athena, the powerful Greek goddess of wisdom who could decide the fate of battles before they even began. Okuninushi, the Japanese hero who defeated eighty brothers to become king and then traded it all for a chance at immortality.

Featuring more than 70 characters from 23 cultures around the world, this A-to-Z encyclopedia of mythology is a who’s who of powerful gods and goddesses, warriors and kings, enchanted creatures and earthshaking giants whose stories have been passed down since the beginning of time—and are now given fresh life for a new generation of young readers.

Plus, You’ll Learn All About:

Dragons: The Hydra, St. George’s Dragon, and the Australian Rainbow Snake

Giants: Grendel, Balor of the Evuil Eye, Polyphemus, and the Purusha with the thousand heads

Monsters: Manticore, Sphinx, Minotaur, Thunderbird, and Echidne, mother of the Nemean lion that nearly killed Heracles

Underworlds: Travel to Hades, Valhalla, and the Elysian Fields

– My Review –

This has got to be the funnest encyclopedia that I’ve ever come across! The cover really represents the kind of art that can be found on the interior, and I am very happy with it being bound in hardcover as well, since this book is mainly meant for kids. The hardcover is also a good thing for adults, of course, since the book will stay in good condition for much longer that way for them as well! I really like the representation of gods and heroes on the cover, and the fact that the publisher and author made the selection as diverse as possible. I’m also a big fan of the dark blue background with all of the stars, since it really screams “gods and heroes and mythology” to me!

I really appreciate how this book was indexed as well. Each god, hero, and creature was listed, along with its page number, and they were all organized in alphabetical order as well! Each god, hero, and creature had the right amount of information dedicated to them (enough to satiate my curiosity about each person or thing, without the danger of my drowning in too much information). Each god and hero got their own illustrated page at the beginning of each section (you can see some preview of the interior here), and I also cannot get over the funny little doodles strewn throughout the book! I snorted with laughter for most of my reading Gods and Heroes! I definitely recommend this colourful, fun, and inclusive encyclopedia for children and adults alike, and I will definitely be keeping an eye on Korwin Briggs (as an author and an artist)!

– Q&A with Gods and Heroes –

 

Q: Apollo, is there a modern bard who you worry might best you in a musical contest?

A: The god of prophecy does not worry—he knows that no one could best him. What mere mortal could hope to compete with a god? Music isn’t about tight pants and showmanship—it’s about translating the inexpressible, giving form to emotion itself. But given humanity’s many limitations, I’ll grant that Hendrix was decent.

Q: Aten, tell us the truth, did you love Akhenaten as much as he loved you?

A: Look, I’m not about to diss the guy who brought me 99% of my worshippers. It’s not every god who gets to be the ONLY god, even for just a little while. It was a heck of a ride. Bummer what they did to us in the end.

 

– About the Author and Q&A –

 

Korwin Briggs is a writer and illustrator who grew up in a small town halfway between Philadelphia and Amish country. He went to an old Quaker boarding school where he shot lots of nerf guns and then to the Rhode Island School of Design where he drew lots of chickens. Since graduating, he’s been working as a professional freelance artist in a couple of different cities (currently New York).

Q: How did you choose which gods, heroes, and creatures to include?

A: I kept a running tally of how many I had of each culture and gender, because I wanted the list to be as diverse as possible. If a god/goddess/hero/creature/etc. was especially important culturally, or had especially neat and detailed stories, or just let me talk about something interesting (like how Mithra-worship traveled from India to England), I included it.

Q: Do you believe in writer’s block?

A: I’m…not sure. I mean, I believe that sometimes it’s really hard to get creative work done, but I don’t know whether that’s a universal thing or just me being a baby about it. I can usually force myself to get things done at a basic, functional level, regardless of what I’m feeling, but the best creative work I’ve ever done has come out of a specific emotional state, sort of a half-mania where I’m so excited and full of ideas that I can hardly sit still. So maybe the issue isn’t avoiding writer’s block so much as finding its opposite. Writer’s jet fuel? Something like that.

– Purchase Links –

  
  

– Giveaway –

Open to U.S. residents only! (Sorry international friends!)
No cheating please! I reserve the right to disqualify
anyone who cheated in any way to win.
No giveaway accounts, please.

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THANK YOU FOR READING GODS AND HEROES BLOG TOUR STOP! DO YOU LIKE TO READ ABOUT MYTHOLOGY AND/OR DO YOU LIKE TO READ ENCYCLOPEDIAS? IS THIS BOOK IN YOUR TBR PILE? ALSO, DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE GOD, GODDESS. HERO, HEROINE, OR CREATURE? OR A FAVOURITE ENCYCLOPEDIA? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!