I loved this book, and having loved the previous book as well, I knew going into this that I was in for a treat. It was amazing looking into different queer characters and characters with queer energy/coding, especially ones I was familiar with like Lestat and Carmilla. It was a short but fantastic read and I’d recommend it to everyone!

This book chronicles the iconic overtly queer and queer-coded alike throughout mythology, books, and films. The majority of the films mentioned are horror but the chapter on Ursula from The Little Mermaid is sure to upset all of those who had kittens about a two second same sex kiss in Lightyear - good.
The tone of the writing is very chatty, I could picture myself having a few drinks with the writer and talking about these characters. My only complaint is that if you are going to include The Craft you should also include The Covenant,.

Dan Jones is a permanent must read for me. I loved Dan’s previous LGBTQ History book and this one surpassed my expectations. In part I think villains are always more fun to read about, they always have that delicious edge that you don’t quite get from the heroes.

I truly hope this series continues because I will buy every single one.

https://www.tiktok.com/@dl_writes/video/7328825478570151200?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7330225936380692001

Gosh I really enjoyed this. Loads of sheer brilliant stories, and there’s always room for more celebration of queer stories and characters!

Thoughts:
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is a great book all round. The villains are from mythology, pop culture and real history so there’s a wide variety of individuals represented. The subtitle of summaries for the queer elements was a great way to really hammer home the queer issues. There’s research and references used to back up many claims made throughout and the images are absolutely beautiful.

Dan Jones was always a favourite of mine and Queer Villains of Myth and Legend solidifies this. Queer Villains of Myth and Legend takes a new look on the "villains" of history, showing their queerness that sometimes is easy to ignore. I fell in love with the humour and tid-bits of information around each person, creature, etc. It was a fun read that is perfect for any Mythology, history, and even comics fans.

Thank you, NetGalley and Octopus Publishing for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A good read, and an interesting look at the queer history of so many figures from mythology that we are familiar with. I especially love the shoutout to TST and their quest to infuriate Westboro Baptist in the section on Baphomet!

This was such a fun whistle-stop tour of queer villains through the ages!

The book is comprised of lots of short chapters, each one about a different figure. While the title specifies ‘myth and legend’, it actually takes a much broader scope, starting in antiquity but also discussing figures from literature, film and TV, and even some real people who have become legendary in their own right, such as Anne Bonny.

While the majority of the characters mentioned in this book are explicitly LGBTQ+ - such as Carmilla, Dark Willow, etc – many are queer in the sense that they represent something outside the norm, or have become an icon to many in the queer community. A huge range of characters were explored, and I think it’s generally a good collection of those who have been villainised for their ‘otherness’.

The writing style reminded me a lot of tumblr back in the day: very chatty and witty, with a few sweeping generalisations here and there. While there were some points that I think would have benefitted from more nuance and depth, on the whole it made for a very entertaining read. It felt like the goal in this book is to celebrate as much as to study queer villains, and that came across in the best way!

Overall this was a fun read, that is a great go-to guide for queer villains. There are definitely some books and films I will be checking out after reading this!

I received a free copy for an honest review.

Read curtesy of NetGalley. Found this book very enlightening especially as a fan of Greek Mythology and Marvel, was surprised see the omit of Loki from the book though. Would definitely recommend and likely to purchase for my daughter in the future

If you are interested in queer figures spanning from ancient mythology to modern day TV, Jones is the person you need to read. I really enjoyed the book on heroes and honestly villains are always so much better. If you like bitesized bits of information than this is perfect.

It was great to see the history between Queer villains and to explore the different characters and their links to the Queer community.

I love this series of books, I bought the first one when it was on offer on kindle and read it cover to cover in one sitting. This was no exception at all, I think these books are fantastic and as a queer person myself , I really enjoy learning more as I read.

4.5 stars

‘Queer Villains of Myth and Legend’ is exactly what it says on the tin. The book chronicles the iconic overtly queer and queer-coded alike throughout thousands of years of history, spending two to three pages on each character or person to explain who they were and how they can be identified as both queer and a villain. Naturally, there is an emphasis on horror media, such as: Dracula, Interview With the Vampire, Jennifer’s Body, etc. but there is a good balance of real-life historical figures as well.

The tone of the writing is just so enjoyable and even funny at times (I had to take a moment after Poseidon was described as ‘sea zaddy’) and this makes the whole thing seem accessible in between the citations and analysis. The few figures that I had not previously heard of were explained well but concisely, so a newcomer to the topic could get on very well with this, I think.

My only issue was that due to the sheer number of people and characters included, the exploration of some tended to be rather brief or obvious. The Doctor Who section especially seemed short, considering the huge amount of characters and themes that could have been explained, but instead they each receive just a brief mention due to the low page limit per topic. This is just natural considering the incredibly large time-span the book covers, so this is less of a criticism, and more of a ‘this is so good that it could have been twice as long’.