An interesting book, filled with unique places around the world to visit and experience. A useful guide and well written

This was an interesting book with beautiful photos! I thoroughly enjoyed flipping through and admiring all the pictures.

An inspiring curation of 25 mystical places from around the world. Sarah Baxter presents a variety of locations from around the world, which have certain legends and a strange, magical aura linked to them. Each brief chapter includes a short description of the site and some of the stories associated with it. Each descriptions is also accompanied by a stunning illustration created by Amy Grimes. I found the book to be thoroughly entertaining, accessible and informative and a springboard for further seeking out of information and stories about the magical and mythical places visited. Not so much a travel guide as a way of stirring the readers curiosity about the places mentioned and the stories and myths connected to them.

Reading this during lockdown was such an amazing thing to do 🤍📖
It brought me places I've never been and the illustrations were more than marvelous and eyes dropping

This book is an enchanting guide full of geographical, historical and magical places from all around the world. From Tintagel, England
to Wales, Scotland, Spain, Kenya, Japan, India and Senegal. These are just a few of the countries featured in this travel mystical guide.

The best part of this book was definitely the description of each site's story, coming with the awestruck illustrations I've been praising about earlier, which transports you from the comfort of your bed into a folklore, mystical place called wondering around the world.
Oh, how much I miss travelling.
But if you feel the same way as I do, please have a look at this book and you will not regret it!

Thank you NetGalley for this advance readers Copy, this made my lockdown not so boring

I love getting to know these places on the less taken and unknown paths. I was surprised of having never heard of them, despite some being in countries where I have lived or that I know very well. This book will surely be a travel companion in my future travels.

For now, however, it has allowed me to travel with my mind to these beautiful places, all nicely described and beautifully pictured. The illustrations are simply stunning.

Enchanting Book Perfect for the Armchair Traveler

What a simply delightful book! Since travel has been so restricted because of the current worldwide crisis, a book like this is the perfect antidote to scratch your global travel itch. While the book has no photos, it is richly illustrated with dramatic depictions of the 25 mystical places the book contains. While the illustrations may not reflect the places with photographic precision, I believe they have captured their essence, at least for the places I've been to or seen. The author has chosen places from all over the globe, both natural formations and elements or man-made ones. Each place has several illustrations as well as commentary that gives us a sense of the place’s history, what it's meant to the people who live there, and how it might be perceived today as a “mystical” place. The book inspired me to Google the places and learn more about what they truly look like as well as get a sense of how they fit into the culture… and why they have a broader appeal to people outside the nation’s borders. I love a nonfiction book that excites my curiosity, as this one did. If you're wanting a little armchair travel to places that have held a special place in the heart of its people as well as others around the globe, check out this book on mystical places.

Absolutely gorgeous travel guide with a unique twist on the genre. Definitely makes me want to visit these places! As an avid traveler, I love the new perspective she brings to these mystical locations. The illustrations that go along with it are absolutely breathtaking as well. The only caveat I have is the King Arthur story; it seems like she only included it to argue against all the Arthurian myths that exist.

A beautiful book about various locations around the globe, all of which are shrouded in myths and legends. All of the places are real, and this book attempts to either prove or debunk the stories that are synonymous with each location - be it King Arthur's links to Tintagel or Cadair Idris and its associated giant shaking stones from his shoes,. Packed with wonderful images and well researched text, this book revisited places I'd already heard of through a new lens, and also introduced me to new places around the globe. I hope one day I'll actually get to travel again, as there are definitely some places I would love to go and check out after reading this fascinating book.

I received a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review
This was interesting but it was not as whimsical as I was kind of expecting which was a bit disappointing.

Two or three pages per place with two or three images. Get what is near the place. Some information about it. Illustrations are beautiful.

In my review for 'Hidden Places' I closed by saying "I am excited to learn what the next Inspired Traveller's Guide will have to offer!"
And now I can finally say: wonderful Mystical Places from all over the world.
These books enchant me every time, both the texts and illustrations, but this one is taking it almost literally.
My favourite thing about it is that one of the places mentioned is not far from my home and I have been there many times so I can completely vouch for the choices of places.

For some reason I was unable to read this book. Only the illustrations were available. I did enjoy the illustrations and recognized many places.

A right down the line writing style that is lifted to great heights by the illustrations by Amy Baxter - I would paper every wall of my home with these. The artist's style, to me, is reminiscent of Ludwig Bemelman's Madeline and the best of the fairy tale style of Disney's Snow White; sort of angular, saturated in color, and completely evocative. The writing, well, it's fine? I wasn't blown away but I also found it pretty well suited for the task in that she imparts the information and probably prompts the reader to dig deeper from other sources where a location really strikes their fancy. I'll definitely keep my eye out for the hardcover edition!

This is a truly enchanting book! Baxter takes us to mystical places all over the world, and shares tales of their history and significance. Some are rooted in local lore, some in legend, and some in just a general feeling of aged-ness and importance. As a fantasy reader who also loves to travel, this was a beautiful fusion that really caught my interest and imagination. Each location she discusses has a few pages of text paired with beautiful illustrations, which made this the perfect book to have on my side table for when I just needed a quick escape.

I read this as a digital arc from Netgalley, but I am definitely adding a hardcopy to my booklist as well as the other Inspired Travel Guides Baxter has written because I thoroughly enjoyed this pairing of art, travel and story.

Mystical Places by Sarah Baxter

Rating 4 / 5 Stars

Publication Date - 9/15/2020

** Thank you to Netgalley, White Lion Publishing, and of course, Sarah Baxter, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mystical Places is a collection of 25 locations around the world described by Baxter before being taken over by the legends which make the places worth the glory of being shared. We are given kings, summits, architecture, stories of mythical creatures, and folklore which give the stories we all know and tell today their origins. Where would our own storytelling be without these original places and themes?

I really enjoyed that this book included a GLOBAL traveling experience. We touched on multiple continents with multiple cultures. We are reminded that while borders are drawn by governments, perhaps it is the actual cultures that draw the lines. Once covid is over and I find myself safe to travel again, I know I want to go and explore these places and cultures.

If you want to be lost in a book where legends describe places, this is the book for you. As the days get shorter - I recommend this book to all to escape the crazy world we are currently dealing with.

A beautifully illustrated introduction to 25 mystical places. The book is a pleasure to look at but I would have liked a little more detail about each place as the descriptions were quite brief.

Beautiful images & some fairly interesting info. I did struggle with the writing style & felt there could have been a bit more in that department however.

Reading this book felt like poking around a magpie’s nest. Each turn of the page revealed new crisp, brightly colored artwork of locations that are now permanently on my “to-travel-to” list. These glowing pictures accentuated the assemblage of mystical places and kept me coming back to open the book just one more time. I appreciated that this list of mystical places truly spans the globe. For each location entry, readers can find a wide variety of information, from geographical trivia to archeological notes to random “fun facts” sprinkled in for interest. My favorite sections of prose included the descriptions of why these places feel magical and the explanation of legends and possible explanations for the knowledge that time has lost that surround each destination. This light read would make for the perfect in-flight companion book.

Personally, I was less interested in the ´mystical´ aspect of the book, but rather into the travel writing approach and the ways in which the travel experience of different places around the world was convened. From this point of view I´ve found the reading experience inspiring and would be interested to use some ideas in my own travel-related works. The visual content is at a great extent satisfactory and it connects smoothly with the text.

I really enjoyed this book, it has some stunning illustrations that really brought the places to life!

The book was very easy to read and I was able to pop in and out of the book over a few days and read a few chapters each night. I love books like this so it was right up my street.

I thought that the layout was great and the number of images in the book really worked for me and made me enjoy it even more.

It is 5 stars from me for this one – very highly recommended!