Monday, February 18, 2013

Ten notable mythical creatures

Cressida Cowell lives in London with her husband, Simon; their children Maisie, Clementine, and Alexander; and two cats, Lily and Baloo. In addition to the How to Train Your Dragon series, she has also written and illustrated picture books including Hiccup, the Viking Who Was Seasick, Little Bo Peep's Library Book, and That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown.

For the Guardian, she named her top ten mythical creatures, including:
Really Scary Baddy Mythical Creatures: Dementors from the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

Little details about the Dementors make them feel petrifyingly real – the way they feed on positive emotions, their blindness, their delightful habit of forcing people to re-live their worst memories…and don't even get me started on the Dementor's Kiss, that sucks out a person's soul...

The ultimate baddies, Dementors make Orcs look like ickle pretty pussy-cats.

Other Really Scary Baddy Mythical Creatures: The Cauldron-Born from The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander.
Read about another entry on Cowell's list.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone also appears on John Mullan's lists of ten of the best owls in literature, ten of the best scars in fiction and ten of the best motorbikes in literature, and Charlie Higson's top 10 list of fantasy books for children, Justin Scroggie's top ten list of books with secret signs as well as Charlie Jane Anders and Michael Ann Dobbs's list of well-known and beloved science fiction and fantasy novels that publishers didn't want to touch. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire made John Mullan's list of ten best graveyard scenes in fiction.

The Harry Potter books made Alison Flood's list of the top 10 most frequently stolen books.

Dolores Umbridge is among Emerald Fennell's top ten villainesses in literature and Derek Landy's top 10 villains in children's books. The Burrow is one of Elizabeth Wilhide's nine most memorable manors in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue