Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

42 reviews

bambiann's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Neil Gaiman did a fantastic job! Every story was written well and easy to understand. Neil had captured my full attention. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Sexual content, Torture, and Death

valpuri's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Torture, Animal cruelty, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Blood

Minor: Sexual content, Grief, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Ableism

redheadorganist's review

adventurous informative fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Child death, Death, Blood, Grief, Torture, War, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury

elderwoodreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I loved this retelling of Norse Mythology. The beginning was a bit slow and dense for me but it picked up very quickly, and I can't believe how fast I devoured it! Neil Gaiman's narration definitely made it ten times more enjoyable than if I had read it as a text. Pleaae read the content warnings before reading/listening if you are sensitive to descriptions of torture and gore, they are behind the spoiler tag.

CW: eye trauma, intestines/entrail, genital mutilation/torture, graphic descriptions of death

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Excrement, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Sexual content

takarakei's review against another edition

adventurous informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I'm not super familiar with Norse mythology in general so I picked this up to learn a bit more about it. The storytelling definitely was interesting and kept my attention for the most part. Neil's narration of the audiobook was very well done!! Selfishly I wanted at least 1 story about the Valkyries, and this focused more on the 'major players' in Norse mythology (Odin, Thor, Loki). From what I understand this is a more updated and accessible version of these myths, so worth a read if you're interested in this subject.

Totally did reinforce that Loki is my favorite tho ...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, and Gore

Minor: Murder, Animal cruelty, and Sexual content

softanimal's review against another edition

adventurous informative

4.0

Very fun to listen to Neil Gaiman read these stories!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Alcohol, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Transphobia

queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

4 ⭐ CW: violence, torture, descriptions of blood and gore, murder 

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman is is his way of compiling all the Norse stories he had access to, and rewriting them in a way modern readers can understand. He has also arranged the stories in some coherent order to create an overall narrative of the Norse Gods. 

Gaiman explains at the beginning that a lot of stories about the Norse Gods are simply lost to time and oral tradition, so the stories only follow a handful of the gods, mostly Thor, Loki, Odin, Freya, and a few others. 

I found this book to be extremely informative about the Norse God lore and the way the Norse understood our world and universe. These stories set the foundation for so many fantasy stories. Gaiman's comedic timing in this is perfect. I found myself chuckling regularly about Thor and Loki's antics. 

Basically, Loki is ridiculous no matter who tells the story, Thor is the biggest himbo, Freya is tired of all the bullshit with people trying to constantly marry her off, and Fenris Wolf deserved better (especially from Tyr). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Gore, and Torture

brittni_in_ink's review

adventurous funny informative fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.0

Neil Gaiman uses his incredible storytelling to breathe new life into the Norse pantheon. The short stories that feed into the grand narrative of Creation to Ragnarök are expertly chosen and crafted to bring the reader right into the deceivingly sparse and simple language, echoing the oral tradition that kept these stories alive. The style is reminiscent of someone speaking aloud, perhaps in a great hall or around a campfire, telling these stories to whoever will listen. The important details are introduced, repeated, and we get to know the gods and all their flaws in the cycle of time that always ends and begins again in Ragnarök. The book is a fairly quick read, full of humor and strangeness, revenge and envy and marriage and love. I enjoyed it and learned a lot reading it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Violence, War, Alcohol, and Confinement

mooshake's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

me and the boys trigger the end of the world 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, and Gore

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Misogyny

yrlaevelyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny informative mysterious reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death of parent, Animal death, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Kidnapping, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Grief, Slavery, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Pregnancy, and Sexual violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Fatphobia, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Suicide