About a year ago, I received an uncorrected proof for a book called The
Mythology of Grimm: The Fairy Tale and Folklore Roots of the Popular TV Show
(The Berkley Publishing Group, 2014) from my good friend and author Nathan
Robert Brown for review. I have always loved Nathan's books and his writing
style, which combines liberal amounts of humor with thorough, scholarly
research. When I found out that Nathan was looking for bloggers and volunteers
to review the book, I naturally jumped at the chance! A couple of
weeks later, an uncorrected proof arrived at my door. Although I had never
actually seen a single episode of Grimm (2011 to present), I
had a basic idea of what the show was about. However, I had absolutely no
idea how much information Nathan had packed into a three hundred and
forty-nine-page book, nor did I know how much fun reading this
magnificent tome would be.
In The Mythology of Grimm, Nathan has not only covered the TV show
and its mythology, but he also covers the legends, folktales, and
the mythology behind the show with an enormous amount of detail.
Each major type of Wesen gets their own chapter, along with a retelling of the
specific fairy tale that they're associated with, as well as a deeper
look into the meanings behind the fairy tale, comparisons between the
Wesen in the show and the creatures in the folktales, the historical background
of the stories, and the historical events that may have inspired the fairy tales to begin
with. Nathan covers every type of Wesen seen in the first two seasons (which is
all that the book covers), including Blutbaden, Fuchsbau, Jagerbars, Geiers,
Siegbarste, Reinigen, Damonfeuers, Ziegevolk, Bauerschwein, Hexenbiests, Lowen,
Murcielago, Musai, Wendigo, La Llorona, Skalengeck, et al. There's even a
chapter on the weapons found in Grimm, not to mention a very
helpful Glossary of Wesenology and a Glossary of Grimm Terminology. Both of
these glossaries include the pronunciation of the terms (very useful if you
don't speak German), an English translation of the term, and a short description
of the term, as well as the name of the episode and the particular season that
it can be found in. A brief biography of Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm can be found
within these pages (although "brief" is a very relative term
here), as well as information on Charles Perrault and Joseph Jacobs, both of
whom expanded and added to the Grimm universe with their works. In
short, this book is a must-have for all Grimm fans!
Overall, The Mythology of Grimm is fantastic!! I have
spent many nights reading this tome, pausing only to laugh at Nathan's
inimitable sense of humor. If you've never seen the show, you'll want to
after reading this book! I honestly cannot recommend the book enough. The only
problem that I have with it is that the book itself only covers the first two
seasons of Grimm. But then again, that's still a lot of
material to cover, even for just two seasons. You may purchase a copy from
Amazon here.
I strongly recommend that you buy a copy, and soon. Now, I wonder if
there will ever be a sequel...?
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