Clear, engaging and entertaining, Queer Villains of Myth and Legend is a fun and informative celebration of famous villains throughout the ages, exploring their impact on culture and the many different ways their identities developed.

These often-overlooked characters finally take centre stage, getting the recognition they deserve while accompanying us on a tour from ancient myths to modern TV and cinema. There is a truly wide range of characters on display here, some possibly slightly more famous than others, and I deeply enjoyed discovering villains I hadn't previously heard of while catching up on bits of trivia and information on characters I had already encountered. Many of the characters are explicitly queer, while others are queer-coded and/or became particularly significant for the LGBTQ+ community, which made it a varied bunch of characters to explore.

While I enjoyed the free-flowing, friendly writing style (making this an easy read indeed), it felt slightly out of place at times and, coupled with the speed with which the characters were analysed, left me wanting just a bit more complexity and nuance than I got. The short chapters work very well to keep the reading flowing and fast-paced but seem to leave little room for deeper reflections and discussions.

Overall, Queer Villains of Myth and Legend is an enjoyable read, and works especially well as an introductory text, sharing clear and accessible portraits of key characters, but may not fully satisfy readers looking for a deeper level of analysis.

I received a digital review copy of this book for free from the publisher as part of the blog tour organised by Random Things Tours. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way. ( )