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elderwoodreads's review against another edition
- 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
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
softanimal's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Torture, Alcohol, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Transphobia
brittni_in_ink's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Torture, Violence, War, Alcohol, and Confinement
charliekjg86's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Minor: Body horror, Child death, Death, Excrement, Sexual content, Cursing, Blood, and Alcohol
triforcefusion's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I feel like Neil did a good job presenting these myths, but the quality of stories definitely fluctuated.
Moderate: Death, Confinement, Violence, and Alcohol
Minor: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Animal death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Gore, and Murder
danny_fox's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I don't know how accurate and true to the cannon these stories are (since this is pretty much my first introduction to Norse Mythology), but I still found it to be super enjoyable and interesting. Besides, I feel like retellings of stories from old mythologies don't need to stick that much to the "cannon", because their whole point is to be retold and see how each person will tell differently the same story.
Normally, I do my reviews by pointing out 3 things I liked and disliked about a book, but since these stories weren't made up and created by Neil, I can only judge it based on its writing style, which I had no issue with.
Instead, I'll separate it like this:
- The stories were super fun.
I found them all to be super interesting and the end even made feel quite upset. This book certainly got me into Norse Mythology.
-The writing style is simple, but in a good way.
I saw that a lot of people find Neil's writing style to be boring. Although, I understand why that is so, I find his more simplistic and not as crazy descriptive writing style to be very relaxing and easy to read. I could see everything in my head really clearly and I didn't feel bored at any point.
But I think it all just comes down to personal preference.
- The way Neil retells these stories is really fun.
The book made me laugh out loud a couple of times and it also made me feel really sad and bad for the characters. As I mentioned this before, the writing was nice enough that I could see everything clearly enough in my head, so I was really invested into this book.
- I don't think there is anything I didn't like about the book.
Again, I don't know how accurate it is to the original sources (and I honestly don't care), and writing style might not be to your liking if you are more into really detailed and descriptive styles. I think it just depends on the person. For me, I didn't have any issues with neither of these things.
Final thoughts:
If you like Norse Mythology or want to learn more about it, I'd suggest reading this book. Before getting into Norse Mythology, I only really knew stuff about Greek Mythology, which books that I read about I found to be a lot more darker and upsetting. I was expecting this book to also make me quite uncomfortable at certain parts (old times were quite brutal and disturbing), but I didn't really have any of those issues. So, the book was just really fun for me. It's definitely a solid 5 ⭐ from me.
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Animal death, Alcohol, War, Torture, Animal cruelty, and Gore
Minor: Sexual content, Death of parent, and Grief
emilyplun's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Alcohol, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Torture, Gore, Murder, and War
nebraskanwriter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Sexual content, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Death, Grief, Gore, Murder, and War
tays_books's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Murder and Death
Moderate: Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Infidelity
Minor: Excrement
atlanticgiantpumpkin's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Abandonment, Gore, Incest, Sexism, Sexual content, and Suicide
There’s also bestiality.