Sally Pomme Clayton and Sophie Herxheimer - the author/illustrator team who also collaborated on Tales Told in Tents: Stories from Central Asia - present seven stories of warrior women in this collection, taken from the diverse mythologies and folk traditions of the world. Interspersed with the tales are tips and activities for girls wanting to become 'Amazons' themselves, from a dragon maze to some craft ideas.

Here we have the titular Amazons themselves, the women warriors of classical Greek mythology, who repel the forces of Hercules in Queen of the Amazons, but lose their leader, Hippolyta, in the process. Here too is the Chinese heroine Chi, daughter of Li, who defeats a dragon, with the aid of the goddess Tianhou, in Dragon Girl; the Sioux maiden Magaskawee (meaning 'graceful'), who, in Winning Eagle Feathers, is the first woman of her tribe to count coup, in honor of her three slain brothers; the Indian goddess Durga, who defeats the terrible Buffalo Demon in Durga Demon-Slayer, thereby saving both heaven and earth; and Agu-Nogon, a young Siberian girl who sets out to trick the Northern Lights into bringing her brother Mergen back to life, in The Maiden Knight and the Northern Lights. Also included are the tales of English heroine Effie, whose resourcefulness saves the inhabitants of the Yorkshire inn where she is employed, when robbers use black magic to attempt to rob them, in Hand of Glory; and the Egyptian princess Al-Datma, who vows only to marry her equal in horseback riding, swordsmanship, and chess, in The Warrior Princess.

Reminiscent in many of ways of other folkloric collections featuring strong women - Not One Damsel in Distress: World Folktales for Strong Girls, The Serpent Slayer: and Other Stories of Strong Women - this volume included some engaging tales, and will be of interest to young folklore enthusiasts, particularly those with an interest in women and girls in folklore. The artwork wasn't quite to my taste, but wasn't enough to detract from the book's appeal. All that said, while I appreciate the purpose of the collection, and the broad, inclusive definition of "Amazon" put forward by Clayton, I did wonder a little at some of the creative license she took, with the tales themselves.

Her sources notes - the inclusion of which, as always, I greatly appreciated - list Mergen and His Friends: A Nanai Folk Tale as one of the sources for The Maiden Knight and the Northern Lights. I happen to have read this tale (I own the book in question), and can attest to the fact that Mergen isn't rescued by his sister - he himself passes the three challenges, with the help of the creatures he had aided on his journey. Is the tale Clayton put forward a variant in which Mergen's sister does come to the rescue, or is it another tale altogether? Did she conflate two tales, in her telling, perhaps, or did she simply change a tale, in order to make it "fit" her project? This wasn't clear to me, and made me rather uneasy - after all, there are enough stories about Siberian heroines already (see, for example, The Girl Who Wanted to Hunt: A Siberian Tale), without creating new ones, and passing them off as traditional. Of course, it's entirely possible that Clayton is presenting a traditional tale, one found in the other source she listed, The Oral Epic of Siberia and Central Asia, but in that case, the inclusion of the reference to the Riordan book puzzles me.

In any case, leaving aside these concerns of a folkloric nature, this was an engaging collection of tales, one I would recommend to those young readers who enjoyed the other, similar collections, mentioned above. ( )