Reviews

Beowulf: A New Telling by Robert Nye

amgsteele's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

This should be an excellent introduction to Beowulf for my 8th grade students. I am excited to start the school year off with this text!

yanzhao777's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

A retelling of the classic story of Beowulf that includes further telling of before and after Gendel's death.

shiraoz's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Really enjoyed it I think it was a bit repetitive at some points but all in all a great book

naturalistnatalie's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I can see why this edition was recommended - I really enjoyed it. You get the same excitement of fighting the different monsters, with some excellent phrasing. For example, when Grendel first visits Hrothgar's hall, Hrothgar dreams the great hall is covered in blood. His servants try to convince him that he's just had a bad dream because of eating cheese the night before. And, then the cheese becomes a discussion point as they walk down the stairs, before noticing things are awfully quiet.

There were a couple of differences between the books. For one thing, Nye has Beowulf tied to bees. In fact, it's how he kills the fire drake at the end (which isn't a full-fledged dragon in this version). He also doesn't bring up as much of the ties to Christianity that Heaney did. Unferth seems much more evil in this version. He actually saw Grendel as evil and wants to go back to Grendel's mother's lair. Too bad she just wants to eat him. I can't decide which version I liked best. They both had great points and no bad points.

dilan11's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

This was a lovely re-telling of the Beowulf legend for children. It is clear and fast-paced and yet in no way dumbs the material down. I highly recommend it even to adults before they tackle Seamus Heaney's beautiful Beowulf translation.

hlburke's review

Go to review page

4.0

Perhaps not the most faithful rendition, but the brevity of it and the relative simplicity of it made it perfect to read aloud to my nine-year-old and she thought it was awesome.
More...