Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

This newly translated bestiary is a selection of creatures, gods, and bizarre people from The Classic of the Mountains and Seas, a book from the fourth century BCE that describes the mythical geography of an even older China. Sun's distillation of this mixture of mundane and fantastical facts is accompanied by lavish illustrations by Siyu Chen that capture the grotesquerie or beauty of each entry's subject. The book is divided into two large subdivisions and each section is then divided into smaller portions such as "The Central Mountains" or "Eastern Lands Beyond the Seas." Entries range from coverage of famous gods such as the fearsome tiger-bodied Queen Mother of the West to less well-known mythical animals such as the Heluo, a fish with ten bodies attached to a single head that barked like a dog. There are also entries that report on entire lands whose inhabitants have only one leg, arm, and eye each, are covered in fur and devour hot coals, or are dog-people who raise horses that will allow the rider to live a thousand years. This is an essential read for anyone interested in fantastical creatures, perfect for fans of Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings and countless role-playing game bestiaries alike.