The Beasts Beneath the Winds: Tales of Southeast Asia’s Mythical Creatures - Edited by Hanna Alkaf - ★★★.½

EDITOR: Hanna Alkaf

GENRE: Middle-Grade Anthology

PUBLICATION DATE: October 21, 2025

RATING: 3.4 stars.

In a Nutshell: An OwnVoices short story anthology aimed at middle-graders and highlighting some mythical “beasts” from South-East Asian cultures. Elaborate focus on various legendary cryptids from this region. Great illustrations to supplement the information. However, the plots focus more on the human characters than on the mythical beings, which is somewhat disappointing. Still, it’s a unique collection and deserves an audience.

This anthology contains seventeen stories, each focussing on one specific cryptid from South-East Asian mythology. The list of contributors includes some exceptional known names such as Jesse Q. Sutanto and Erin Entrada Kelly.

The book begins with an introductory note by Malaysian editor-author Hanna Alkaf, offering information about cryptids and their presence in the mythology of this region. This note is so well-written! Sample this line: "Cryptids, much like stories and humans, can travel all over the globe, where they can put down roots and blossom in fresh soil." 😍 I love how its voice is accurately aimed at middle-graders.

This anthology covers multiple mythical cryptids from Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, and Indonesia. The depiction of these cultures is amazing. Be it their language, their beliefs, their places, or their food, you can actually feel the atmosphere and the location through the words. I appreciate how almost all the stories use authentic South-East Asian names for their characters.

As Alkaf states, cryptids can be evil and dangerous or friendly and harmless. Each story begins with an illustration of a cryptid, its country of origin and basic details such as habitat, temperament and special features. I love that it mentions the size and appearance of the creature each time, making it easier for us to visualise the being accurately while reading the story.

The tales are quite diverse in their storylines. As the cryptid isn't repeated even once across the seventeen narratives, there is no sense of déjà vu at least as far as the fantastical elements are concerned. However, just because every story has a cryptid doesn't mean that it has an active role or that there is plenty of magic. The main focus in most stories is on the human characters and their humanly problems, with only a few tales showing the cryptid be an engaging participant in the narrative. This is slightly disappointing. Given how the title highlights mythical beings, I thought they would have a prime role in each tale.

While some stories are based in the SE Asian country, some feature SE Asian characters staying in the USA. I found the ones set entirely in Asia to be slightly more compelling. Many of the stories where USian characters were involved opt for the predictable plot structure of being torn between two cultures, which feels repetitive.

While I don’t look for lessons or morals in middle-grade books, I like how a few of the stories included relatable issues faced by kids in this age group such as parental separation, bullying, meeting birth parents, and homework struggles. It made the stories feel grounded even with such imaginative content. The best part is that the “solution” offered to these issues isn't magical but practical and realistic, even when it comes from a cyptid.

The book ends with a list of the contributors and their bios. I would have preferred for this to be placed at the end of each story as it is easier to look up other works by authors whose stories we enjoyed.

A few of the stories include some non-English words, some of which were a bit tricky to guess. My copy didn’t have the glossary, so I hope the meanings of these can be added to the final version, either as a glossary or as footnotes.

As always, I rated the stories individually. Of the seventeen stories, seven stories reached or crossed the four-star mark, which is quite good. The rest of the stories fared between 2-3.5 stars. Some of these lower scores were for the minimal role the cryptid had to play in the plot, and some, for the slightly abrupt endings.

These are my top favourites:

🐉 The Mystery of the Meowing Makcik - Nadia Mikail: A detective story featuring a Malaysian cryptid. Quite an unusual Sherlock-Watson pairing in this one! 😄 The illustrations of the journal add to the fun. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟✨

🐉 The Girl in the Graveyard - Brandon Hoang: This is a really clever story. I could suss out the twist beforehand, but I think most kids will be caught by surprise. It's a bit too deep for this age group, but older children might enjoy the challenging storyline. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟✨

🐉 The Egg - Mandy Moe Pwint Tu: I love how this combined fantastical elements with the real history of Myanmar. If only it had offered more joy at the end, it would have earned all the stars. I would have accepted this ending in adult fiction, but children's stories need more happiness. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟

🐉 Fish Out Of Water - Moniza Hossain: A beautiful story about brotherhood and belief, coming from some adorable characters. One of the few stories to deliver properly on the magic quotient. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

🐉 The Curse of Sang Kelembai - Hanna Alkaf: While the story itself was decent, I liked the message better. It's not easy for children to deal with their parents' divorce, and this brings out those conflicting emotions well. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟

🐉 Melati and the Eternal Battle - Jesse Q. Sutanto: Tackled the sensitive topic of bullying in a beautiful way without feeling simplistic. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟✨

🐉 Naga Fireballs - Veeda Bybee: A fun story, but I'd like to have more at the end because I've too many questions! - 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Overall, while I would have liked the stories to focus more on the mythical characters than on the human ones, I enjoyed learning so much about the lore and legends of these beautiful countries. The authenticity of the setting and the mythology thanks to the OwnVoices authors added to the charm.

Recommended to middle-graders who are fond of fantasy and are looking for a book exploring fantasy in South-East Asian cultures.

3.4 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each tale.

My thanks to Amulet Books for providing the DRC of “The Beasts Beneath the Winds: Tales of Southeast Asia’s Mythical Creatures” via Edelweiss Plus. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.