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softanimal's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
4.0
Very fun to listen to Neil Gaiman read these stories!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Torture, Transphobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
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).
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).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, and Blood
brittni_in_ink's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, and War
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Torture, and Murder
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Misogyny
yrlaevelyn's review
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexual violence, Slavery, Kidnapping, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
Minor: Alcoholism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury
danny_fox's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
relaxing
fast-paced
- 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
This book was a delight from start to finish.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent
rhm04's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, and War
emilyplun's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Alcohol
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Gore, Torture, Blood, Murder, and War
nebraskanwriter's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
inkdrinkers's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I really loved listening to this audiobook! Norse Mythology has always been fascinating to me and Gaiman does a wonderful job weaving the pieces of forgotten stories together to breathe new life into them.
All of the stories were fascinating as they built towards Ragnarok, the death of the gods, and the ultimate end to the world. It was both bittersweet and wonderful to listen to as the gods all slowly succumbed to their fates. I can easily see myself listening to this again!
All of the stories were fascinating as they built towards Ragnarok, the death of the gods, and the ultimate end to the world. It was both bittersweet and wonderful to listen to as the gods all slowly succumbed to their fates. I can easily see myself listening to this again!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Torture, Blood, Murder, and War