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dreamgalaxies's review against another edition
3.0
I'm sure I benefitted from Jackson Crawford's translation and adaptation of the text, but his delivery is pretty rough. Flat affect, and he talks too fast--which I admit is an ironic complaint from someone who frequently listens to books at 1.25-1.4 speed, haha. But the sections with the Volsungs were especially difficult to absorb spoken at this rate, because there are so many similar names and I found myself getting confused about which Sigmund/Sigurd was doing what. I preferred the Ragnar section--easier to follow with one protagonist. Otherwise, fascinating glimpse into the brutality and whimsy of early Germanic culture. Hopefully eventually someone learned something about marrying women off to men they didn't want to be married to.
cazxxx's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
andieb_x's review
2.5
Literally part of the core reading for one of the most stressful and terrible essays I’ve had to submit. If I could try this again without having to write an essay on it … tbh I probably still wouldn’t enjoy it.
Might return in a couple years with a better comment. But until then, ugh.
Might return in a couple years with a better comment. But until then, ugh.
toldotha's review
5.0
Absolutely one of my favorite things to read, I could read this book again and again.
wesleyboy's review against another edition
4.0
Flinty, sparse prose. Good read, but I think I need to check out some of Jackson Crawford’s YouTube videos about this and other translations to get more out of them.
taylstark's review
4.0
I'm not sure what to think of this.
On the one hand, chronology is all over the place, continuity is out the window, I feel like large portions of the text offering explanation for some elements had been completely dropped, characters make zero rational choices, not to mention have zero motivation or moral centres, and Odin appears like five hundred times in disguise for literally no reason (a lot of these things can be explained by the fact that the saga is cobbled together from various lays by the anonymous author with little in the way of an editorial eye to making it a continuous whole). On the other hand, this text is hilarious, stirring, heartbreaking, suitably epic, revenge-filled, and at one point a dude tries to filter out poison from his beer using his moustache.
In fact, no, I know exactly what to think about this. I loved it.
On the one hand, chronology is all over the place, continuity is out the window, I feel like large portions of the text offering explanation for some elements had been completely dropped, characters make zero rational choices, not to mention have zero motivation or moral centres, and Odin appears like five hundred times in disguise for literally no reason (a lot of these things can be explained by the fact that the saga is cobbled together from various lays by the anonymous author with little in the way of an editorial eye to making it a continuous whole). On the other hand, this text is hilarious, stirring, heartbreaking, suitably epic, revenge-filled, and at one point a dude tries to filter out poison from his beer using his moustache.
In fact, no, I know exactly what to think about this. I loved it.
despenkhenk's review against another edition
2.0
Mismatch between expectations and reality. This turned out to be a dry summary of a family history with some magic sprinkled in, rather than the saga I was hoping for.