This illustrated book contains the stories of 50 women from mythology. Although identified as "goddesses," some of these figures come from folktales, contemporary legends and literature rather than ancient mythology. Further some characters are enhanced by modern interpretations rather than sticking to the historic texts. Each entry includes pronunciation, appearance, symbols, overview, and what's her story. Resources are included for further reading.

A couple years ago I started revisiting many of the fairy tales and myths I grew up loving, and it has been so fun to read them through the lens of an adult trying to understand where they come from. The magic is still there, but it’s even more meaningful now that I can connect it with real cultures and experiences. Women of Myth is one of my new favorite resources and one I can’t wait to recommend to my creative writing students. One of their projects is rewriting a fairy tale or myth, but first they have to research its origins. I’m eager to see how their stories flourish after reading this.

Women of Myth was a fascinating read. I loved the variety of stories included in the book. The tales from everywhere around the world were interesting and unique. This was a lovely book and I recommend it for lovers of mythology.

From the well-known like Athena to the unknown like Kurukshetra Who was just one of the many goddesses that helped establish the third gender these goddesses represent many different countries and had many different abilities. Most myths or created to explain wife that song even have a real origin story but all are entertaining. I truly love this book in the introduction they called it a primer and if that’s what it is what an awesome primer and one every lover of myths should have. Reading these tails from different places in the world but different types of people only prove how similar the world really is because some themes play out around a very similar story to the counterpart in a different part of the world. Before reading this book I didn’t know Sierra Leone and the Zulu nation had folk stories but I will definitely be on the lookout for those. I truly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it myths awesome of my favorite things to read and have a big collection and I am so glad I can say I added this book to it. Not only did I learn the origin stories and the different stores from selling my favorite goddesses I learned about new ones. This is a definite five star read. I received this book from NetGalley and a publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

A beautiful book tha touches upon the goddesses of various cultures, their meaning to said culture and their origin story. I cannot recommend this highly enough to fans of mythology.

This book exceeded my expectations and then some! I love a book with strong and diverse women! For those who love mythology, myths and legends this book is interesting and the art is phenomenal! I do wish each had an illustration as it would have made this book that much better. Each illustration really brought the women to life and offered a visual reference that sometimes is needed for visual learners like myself.

Each women's story was the appropriate length to not bore a reader with details but offer enough information for a basic understanding of the story, her myth and information.

I cannot wait to buy a physical copy!

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to #Netgalley for the ARC ebook.

I love stories about strong women. This was beautifully illustrated! I wish that there was an illustration for every woman of myth who was described. I also appreciate the multi-cultural, feminist, and inclusive intersectionality of this work.

The negative I had was in the writing style. Perhaps I'm getting old and just need to adjust to the times, but I didn't care for trendy phrases like, "weird flex," being used in a work like this. The synopsis does describe that it's for "modern readers" but that's not what I was expecting.

4 stars.

This was a great book! I loved the different stories and how much time the authors took to research these myths and legends! Woman are bad ass and I am so happy there is a book to show that!

This was a beautiful collection of goddesses, heroes and monsters.
I really enjoyed the art and layout of the book as well as having some lesser known women of myth included.

A great starting point and inspiration to find out more about women in mythology.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautifully illustrated introduction to women in mythology that feels like a companion to Liv Albert’s Greek Mythology. The authors intentionally include a diverse group of 50 individuals in three categories - Goddesses, Heroines, and Monsters. I love the rich narratives, and the dedication the authors have to their work - you can feel it in every entry. 5/5

🖤 Thank you Netgalley and Adams Media of Simon and Schuster for sending the book for review consideration! All opinions are my own.

I am a huge fan of mythology especially the strong women who were featured in this book. It gives a great overview of each women and a solid base if you are then looking to go and dig further into the individual. This is a great way to introduce goddesses to a beginner.

Women of Myth: From Deer Woman and Mami Wata to Amaterasu and Athena, Your Guide to the Amazing and Diverse Women from World Mythology by Jenny Williamson and Genn McMenemy celebrates fifty women from the myths, religion, and folklore from all over the world with not only familiar figures from the classics but also many dating back to ancient civilizations such as the Aztecs, the Mesopotamian and the Incan civilizations - from traditional maternal figures representing the elements and creation to brave women breaking away from traditional gender roles to genderqueer figures who commanded awe and respect and fantastical figures whose legends have stood the test of time.

The authors divide the text into three segments. The first segment, "Goddesses", features female deities worshipped by different cultures ranging from warrior goddesses, to those representing elements of nature to goddesses of sex and sexual agency. Among the women featured in this section are Athena (Greek), Freyja (Viking), Kali (Hindu), Mami Wata (Africa and Afro-Caribbean), Isis (Egypt) and Ishtar (Ancient Mesopotamia) among others. I particularly enjoyed the stories of Corn Mother (Abenaki and Penobscot) Atargatis(Syrian) The Morrigan (Ancient Irish) and Itzapopalotl (The Aztecs).

The second segment, "Heroines", features women ranging from warriors, healers, and storytellers. The lore revolves around astounding feats of bravery, revenge, and protection of family and motherhood featuring the stories of Amba/Shikhandi (from the Mahabharata), Atalanta ( the only female Argonaut), Maeve (Celtic Warrior Queen), and Morgan Le Fey ( from the Arthurian Legend) and Scheherezade ( from One Thousand and One Nights)among others. I loved reading about the lore of Urduja ( Filipina Warrior Princess), the Somali Warrior Queen Arawelo and the Bosothoragon Slayer Basotho.

The final segment, "Monsters”, tells us the stories of women who have been labeled “monsters” and whose stories are meant to instill fear. However, the authors delve deeper into the origin and context of these stories and discuss how they can be interpreted as warnings. Often these origin stories have been misinterpreted or deliberately rewritten to vilify women who dared defy societal or gender norms imposed upon them in their culture. I absolutely loved this segment.Among my favorites were the myths and lore of Baba Yaga (Slavic), Deer Woman (Indigenous) and Kitsune ( Japanese Ox Demons).

Concise and well-structured, I found Women of Myth to be an informative and entertaining read that I just could not put down. While I was familiar with the women from Greek mythology and Indian deities and characters from Indian epics and had heard of some of the other characters, most of the women and their stories featured in this book were new to me. I loved learning about the myths and lore that were a part of the respective cultures of different ancient civilizations. The authors have done a commendable job of presenting these tales incorporating elements from the origin stories (briefly mentioning how these stories have been retold through the ages, often with varied interpretations), the symbolism associated with the characters and how some of these characters have been portrayed in theatre, movies, television and different literary forms. The stories are accompanied by stunning illustrations by Sara Richard.

Fans of mythology and folklore would definitely enjoy this book. I look forward to adding this book to my personal collection.

Many thanks to the authors, Adams Media and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this truly fascinating book. This book is due for release on February 21, 2023.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ -- Gorgeous cover on this one!

This book was absolutely fantastic. From the artwork to the incredible amount of information within. Split into three sections (Goddesses, Heroines, and Monsters) with at least 15 "women of myth" in each section, there is a lot here to keep you entertained. From pronunciation, appearance, symbols, to an overview and a "what's her story" section. This is truly a very thorough covering of mythical women. An absolutely amazing book that would make a beautiful gift for anyone wanted to learn more about this subject. 👍🏻👍🏻

**ARC Via NetGalley**

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 4.5/5 stars.

This is a GORGEOUS book with beautiful tales of women of myth. It also has a super feminist and intersectional, modern lens, which was nice to read. It does not shy away from the brutality inflicted on many of the women, but it also tells the stories of their strength in times of peril. It also does not shy away from hard history, such as colonization being the root of many of these myths. Each entry in the book was short and concise, but it still provided SO much information about each figure. It also had some funny bits in the way it's written, and the way it's written also makes it read quickly and easily.

I do wish there would've been a conclusion part to align with the introduction, but otherwise this was PHENOMENAL.

This was neat!! I really enjoyed it. I've read a lot about women of myth in retellings or current media, but I haven't spent much time looking at the origins of these mythologies. This book was good for that reason! I liked seeing where these things came from and I liked the author's commentary of what may have sparked some of these myths. I liked the stories (though they were brief). The illustrations were so cool and I really liked them.

My only issue is that in some of these stories I felt like more background knowledge was needed and so I felt like some of the nuance was missed for me.

This is a great source for those who were big mythology buffs growing up (like me!). While most people are familiar with Greek and Roman mythology, this book touches upon figures from all over the world and brings to light figures many are unfamiliar with.

This book has nice tidbits, even for the most familiar figures such as Athena, who has a mother in some telling.

The illustrations are gorgeous and loving detailed. The power of these women can be felt, whether benevolent or malicious.

Thank you to Adams Media for the e-ARC

I found this book very interesting and a fantastic read. I liked learning about the different women in myths around the world. I am going to recommend this book to people I feel would like reading it too.

What drew me into this book was the title then the artwork. I love learning about mythology and especially when it is about women of myth. What I loved about this book is that it had more than just Greek/Roman women in this book. There are women in this book that I can't wait to do more research on.

I absolutely loved all the art in the book and I need it on my walls ASAP

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read and review this.

I love mythology. I can geek out about mythology on and on. This book enables one to do so AND arms them with a slew of material, from famous to lesser-known women of historical fact and fiction who were all kinds of awesome in their own ways. You got 50 of them, 50 stories in three sections, separating fact from fiction to an extent.
Written in a fun, pop-ey, lightly humorous, and very woke style, these tales are sure to delight the readers and stimulate imaginations. And your imagination box is on the fritz, here’s art (black and white on my kindle but ideally color on paper) for a lot of the characters featured here.
So GurrlllPower, antiquity style, here it is. A charming, educational, and entertaining read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

I loved that this book didn’t just focus on western mythology or prevalent figures and included information on pronunciation and historical context for the mythological figure in question. The illustrations throughout the book were also well-drawn and beautiful. An excellent book and a fun learning experience. Thanks to NetGalley and the authors for this ARC.