The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons
A field guide to Japanese Yokai
Publisher: Self Published (Kickstarter)
Type: Soft Cover
Pages: 219
Genre: non-fiction
Published: 2012
ISBN: 13-978-0-9852184-0-9
This book has an aged hardcover look to the cover but is indeed softcover. The black writing on the dark cover makes the title difficult to read at a glance. The book itself is ten inches tall, seven inches wide and a little over half an inch thick.
The pages inside look aged and this makes the book look very cool. Every other page is a amazing full colour picture of the Yokai in question. The other page being a short description of the Yokai.
Every description has the Yokai's name, its English translation, some alternative names that the Yokai goes by, its habitat and diet. Then there is a description of the Yokai divided into Appearance, behavior, interactions, origin and legends headings.While you may be able to find the information on the Yokai from many sources the authors artwork is truly beautiful.
And sadly it is in the descriptions that this work is let down, there are so many grammar issues within this book that i honestly feel i paid too much for it. It felt like it had not been proof read or had perhaps gone through a last minute auto-edit that messed with the context of many sentences. It is readable but if your a real stickler for grammar this might not be the book for you. It is a real shame because this book looks great and the art is fantastic.
The back of the book has references, bibliography and an index (which gives incorrect page numbers), its also where i discovered that this book was produced via kickstarter crowdfunding. I was not aware of this when i purchased it and also hadn't seen any reviews describing the extent of the grammatical errors. However i also haven't seen a book on Yokai (in English) that is as beautifully illustrated.
I really want to love this book, it is a good reference, even just for the illustrations, but is let down by the grammar errors and the exorbitant price i paid for my copy.
I would recommend this book for those interested in the Paranormal, Cryptozoological, or mythological if you are not too concerned with grammar and if you can find it at a reasonable price.
Also note that my only copy is the 2012 edition, and that there was a revised edition released in 2015 that may address the grammar issues. If you have an updated copy please feel free to comment and let us know.
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