| Title | : | The Creatures of Midnight |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 9710606859 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9789710606856 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 114 |
| Publication | : | Published January 1, 1990 |
Many people believe that they exist and are afraid of them. The people of the ancient Philippines believed many things about the unseen creatures of the Philippine storyland. If you have met a good storyteller, he may have told you interesting legends about these creatures. And you may have asked a lot of questions about them which he could not answer. If you want to know more about these beings, turn the pages of this book, look at the pictures, and enjoy what is said about them.
We call them creatures of midnight because it is said that they show themselves to people about the middle of the night.
The Creatures of Midnight Reviews
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I put down Ramos' longer book "Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology" without finishing it, so I didn't write any review of it. This book is a much shorter treatment of the same material. Like CPLM, Ramos frustratingly groups Filipino legendary monsters into a set of pre-existing European-derived categories (elves, dwarves, witches, etc.), resulting in forced stuff like "aswang (ghoul aspect)" and "aswang (vampire aspect)" rather than just acknowledging that the mythology of such a crossroads culture as the Philippines might not fit neatly into categories.
The book is presented in a "bestiary" style that makes it easier to read. However, if you're interested in something like this, I would much more highly recommend the modern "Alejandro Pardo" books by Budjette Tan et al. Those books present the creatures with engaging scraps of narrative, where here, we get loose listings of characteristics. The book seems oddly targeted at kids, while dealing with some pretty gruesome stuff (although I guess Grimm's fairytales are the same). Plus, the monsters in each section often end up feeling kind of same-y, because there are often separate entries for several creatures that are really just "variations on the same theme" from different regions.
Also, the art is fairly amateur-ish looking, and most of the humans depicted look really European. The Alejandro Pardo books have much cooler (and scarier!) art. -
the euro lens in which philippine legends are looked at in this book was off putting. but considering the time it was written in puts it in perspective. still not a fan…..was an easy read though
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This is the fourth book from a collection entitled Realms Of Myths And Reality by Dr. Maximo Ramos. If you are interested to know more about the creatures from Philippine Folklore, look for his books. The content of The Creatures Of Midnight is very informative and straight to the point, with illustrations for every creature. Just don't expect too much when it comes to the whole package for all of Dr. Ramos' books look like textbooks.
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This has a lot of the same information as the author's *Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology* with none of the social commentary. I wish I had deferred buying that book, and instead started out with this. It has excellent illustrations and the description of each creature is told almost in a poetic format. I imagine that many children would love reading this to get a bit of a spook.
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This is something I would love to read to my future children as bedtime stories
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Very simple intro to Pinoy mythology. Definitely written for a younger audience. It was great for introducing me to some figures I hadn't heard of, since I'm just starting my journey in learning more about Filipino folklore, but I wish there was more information/detail.
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I would love to read these as bedtime stories to my future children.
