The Watkins Book of Urban Legends by Gail de Vos, narrated by Kelly Burke, is an extensive and thoughtful exploration of urban legends from across the globe. De Vos not only presents a wide array of intriguing stories but also provides historical context and an insightful analysis of each.
While the book is engaging, it does feel somewhat lengthy in parts. Personally, I found it more enjoyable at 1.5x speed, as Kelly Burke’s narration, though clear and articulate, was a bit slower than my preference.
Whilst I found the content had some variance there was a strong focus on North American folklore which created moments where I felt less connected, particularly when the stories didn't feel as local or familiar to myself but your mileage may vary.
Overall, if you're interested in urban legends, and looking for a casual listen and look into their origins, this audiobook is worth a listen.
The book truly Thank you Watkins for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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This is pretty straightforward and interesting if you like urban legends. However, I already k ew so ma y of them, so I didn’t really learn much, as I had hoped.
If you are a horror fan, so many of these legends you have seen in movies or other books.
When it comes to things like haunted bridges or tunnels or other random tiny places, they are mentioned quickly, but you don’t get much actual history or stories from the area. It just comes off as “there is a haunted bridge in the middle of New Jersey” “there is a haunted tunnel in Japan”. It’s like you don’t get much more to the stories.

Also, it feels very repetitive. Like entire sentences are repeated when telling of the haunted place, and then telling a legend, I often thought I had accidentally hit rewind on the audio.

This may be better as a physical book you can flip through. Specifically if it has photos (I have no idea If there is a physical copy nor do I know if it contains pics, but that’s the style that I think would work for these stories)

Interesting book, but I think it could’ve been better

I hate leaving negative reviews but I just didn’t vibe with this audiobook. I’m not saying the legends weren’t good, they were. But what I didn’t like was the extensive explanations and such throughout the book.