There are so many things about this collection that I absolutely love. First and foremost, as an artist, I am beyond myself with these illustrations! Ann Shen really is a powerhouse for her ability to write compelling features on intriguing female figures AND lettering her own book AND illustrating it. I will be seeking out her other volumes. I passed this one on to my niece, who is that age where she's eager to learn about any and all empowering women. ( )

The illustrations were gorgeous! I would rate them 10 out of 10. However, I have to resign myself to the fact that mythology just isn’t my thing. ( )

Legendary Ladies by Ann Shen tell us of goddesses of various cultures in a brief form with brightly drawn illustrations. It is easy to read and speaks of well-known Greek and Roman goddesses as well as lesser known goddesses from around the world. With the one-page information and the colorful pictures, it would be a good book for young girls ten or twelve years old. ( )

Legendary Ladies: 50 Goddesses to Empower and Inspire You 🍒🍒🍒🍒
By Ann Shen
2018
Chronicle Books

We Are Women. Hear Us Roar!!
The inspiring, sometimes wild mythologies and the incredible individuality of the femininity of the women shared here represent the diversity, not just in the things we may each value and seek, but in the rich similarities and common threads that have existed between women, for many centuries. Despite the distance, different cultures and beliefs and borders that divide us, we are all women. We all have our stories. The ones shared here, some from lesser known goddesses and some obvious choices are divided into 5 categories, according to the goddesses strengths.
This is a fun, inspiring and wonderfully illustrated introduction to the mythology of the feminine throughout the history.
Highly recommended.
Some of my favorites were:
The Muses (but of course!), the Greek Goddess of memory, art and science;
Saraswati the Hindus Goddess of knowledge, music and arts;
Gaia the Greek Goddess of Mother Earth
Brigit, Irish Goddess of creative arts, poetry and music;
Rhiannon,Welsh Goddess of strength....
And so many more
Recommended. ( )

When I got this book the first thing I did was flip to each of the pages with Indian goddesses on them (seven in all!!!) and just stare in amazement. If you were raised on a mythology other than Greco-Roman or Egyptian, you may have a similar experience to mine as you flip through. An earlier review described this book's illustrations as "Disneyfied" versions of these goddesses; that is true, and Disneyfication isn't without its disadvantages. However, I'm honestly thrilled to see the way the book represented its pantheon of women: innocently sweet, magical-looking, and yeah sure, Disney. But if you grew up playing pretend that you were one of these goddesses (or if even now, you daydream of morphing into destruction-goddess Kali once in a while, just to keep people on their toes) the illustrations in this book will feel like they were beamed straight from your childhood imagination to Ann Shen's pen. Raw mythology is no kids' movie, for sure, but I think that women who don't look like any animated princess may get a big kick out of seeing themselves represented in the goddesses of this book. I know I did.

As the cover shows, this is clearly a gorgeous book. Luscious illustrations portray the fifty legendary ladies and through them, their diverse cultures, costumes, stories, and forms of physical beauty are honored as well. Skimming through, you'll quickly build up a list of favorite pages. Some of mine were the Norse goddess Freya, in her cat-drawn chariot; Hindu sky goddess Aditi, whose starry sari flows off the page; and my absolute favorite, the Hawai'ian goddess Pele, who has a smoke cloud for hair and an active volcano for skirts.

Each illustration comes with a brief, Wikipedian-sounding summary of the goddess's role in mythology, which either works well or feels too dry depending on the page. Overall I can see the rationale for sticking to broad overviews; the literally gory details of mythology would no doubt overwhelm some readers, and the book is clearly intended to be light reading. Capping each of the summaries is a short blurb with directions on when and how to call on each goddess. These directions unfortunately are so generic and new-agey they're likely to invoke only eye-rolls; it would've been better to axe them and instead quote an interesting line or two from the written mythology concerning each goddess. That would have countered the dryness of the main text, and connected readers directly with the myths the book celebrates.

The major weakness of this book for me was that huge swaths of the globe are not represented in it. We meet no ladies of legend from South America, Canada or Alaska, Russia, Australia, the Middle East, Central Asia, or Africa apart from West Africa and Egypt. The book is clearly not meant to be an exhaustive list, so it's understandable that there had to be a cutoff point somewhere. But to compensate for that, I would've liked to see a much more thorough bibliography both for the goddesses mentioned and for plenty of others, to acknowledge as much of the world and as many mythologies as possible.

Overall, this book is so eye-catching and fun to page through, it's bound to be a great armchair read for just about anyone in need of a girl-positive pick-me-up. Or to anyone who just likes beautifully illustrated books. It'd also be excellent for introducing readers, especially young adults, to world mythology. Despite the gaps in its coverage there are still relatively few books that put all the world's mythologies on the same footing as the Greeks'. This book's greatest success is that it makes each goddess, regardless of culture or fame, look truly legendary. I think that quality will pique readers' curiosity, and hopefully lead them to seek out stories of incredible women that they haven't heard before. ( )