Beneath the Moon

Expect some familiar stories if you've ever dabbled in fairytale and mythology, but I found a surprising number I'd never read before. Many stories are simplified to fit on a single page, but maybe you'll be inspired to explore them further in more details books.

The art is gorgeous and this book may be worth it on that alone. The author also made a tarot deck with the art, so that's another way to enjoy the art.

More of a 3.5.

I picked this up on a whim because I'm not in the mood to read any of my tbr books in this week before the New Year and this seemed like a short and nice one.

First things first, the artwork in this book is gorgeous. It's bright and colorful and vibrant and I loved each and every one of them. I love the idea of each story having representative art to accompany it. As for the myths and legends, the stories are concise and do the job of introducing us to these myriad of tales from around the world, many of which we may have never heard of, and I really enjoyed getting to know them. But that's what they felt like - introductions. None of the stories go over a page, so we might feel like we are only getting some basic knowledge of the tale. And I have to say, seeing both the Mahabharata and Ramayana be summarized in a page made me feel very amused.

Overall, this is a good one to start with so that you can explore the folktales and mythological stories which interest you in depth by yourself. But if you like collecting beautiful books, then this book filled with stunning art deserves a place on your shelf.

The art is fantastic and I was delighted to come across some new tales and myths or different versions. It left me wanting more, but I understood Yoshitani wanting to do a specific number to reflect the motifs of Tarot.

I also appreciated her listing the region and culture for each story covered as well as going into how some tales overlap, such as the phoenix and fairy godmother. Although for the fairy godmother I wish she had mentioned more than just Cinderella.