I picked this book up as a source of inspiration for creating fictional monsters and wasn’t disappointed! It’s a collection of myths and legends about the Japanese yokai, very well-organized and written in a unique format. For the most part, it’s written under the assumption that the yokai exist, the reader may well run into one in their lifetime, and here’s what they’ve got to do to survive the encounter. Or to come to terms with their gruesome death, in case survival isn’t much of an option. The tongue-in-cheek humor in some of these sections made me chuckle out loud. 

By the end of each chapter that describes a specific monster, the narrative gradually moves away from this mindset, describing the legends about the yokai and the historical events and circumstances that may have led to their existence and putting a bit of distance between legend and reality. Then the next chapter starts, and we go back to that “If you run into this creature…“ mindset. It really creates an interesting effect and makes what could have been a regular collection of myths and legends a lot more immersive. And the gorgeous illustrations certainly help a lot, too!

All in all, a really cool experience of a book.