Gods Behaving Badly
by John McKie
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Pub Date Nov 08 2023 | Archive Date Sep 27 2024
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Description
Over the millennia, there have been hundreds of mythological gods belonging to many different civilisations.
Only a few of them are completely virtuous and most of them indulge in some form of bad behaviour, some more than others.
They can murder, cheat, trick and otherwise take revenge on both humans and deities alike.
Some are condemned, while others escape with impunity.
Advance Praise
This is a beautifully written and clearly organised account of just forty out of the great number of ancient religious mischief-makers from a wide variety of civilisations. They are clever, wily and ruthless. The short-named Norse gods, Odin and Freya vie for our attention against the nearly impossibly long-named Aztec gods, Chalchiuhtlicue and Huitzilopochtli. Half of the naughty gods and goddesses in the book were unknown to me and may well be new to other readers. They are all the more interesting for this. They can meet unexpected misfortunes and endings. Queen Medb led Irish armies into battle only to be killed by a lump of hard cheese. The Aztec god Tezcatlipoca has his foot bitten off by the earth goddess of multiple mouths, Tlazolteol. The Greek goddess Aprhodite’s jealous husband, Hephaestus, designed a golden bed equipped with chains to ensnare his rivals. The book is full of quirky and amusing detail about the world’s mythological deities. The Dictionary of Ancient Deities contains 10,000 entries. With Gods Behaving Badly, John McKie provides an excellent, far briefer, introduction to the pantheon of naughty deities.
Clare Roskill
Available Editions
ISBN | 9781915953469 |
PRICE | £4.10 (GBP) |
PAGES | 257 |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
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Over the millennia, there have been hundreds of mythological gods belonging to many different civilizations. Only a few of them are completely virtuous and most of them indulge in some form of bad behavior, some more than others. They can murder, cheat, trick, and otherwise take revenge on both humans and deities alike. Some are condemned, while others escape with impunity.
A fun and informative look at the bad side of mythological deities.
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This worked well with the mythology, I enjoyed how fun the concept was and that it didn’t just have one mythology based. The characters felt like they were supposed to and enjoyed the elements of this book. John McKie has a great idea in this book and left me wanting to read more from him.
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“Gods Behaving Badly” by John McKie
I really liked this book. There was so much interesting lore of different cultures gods and talks about the good and bad of the gods and how some gods get vilified and other nefarious acts are brushed under the rug. I definitely recommend people to read this book. I liked how the book was structured and wasn’t confused when the subject was changed. I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars.