Scan barcode
A review by naturalistnatalie
Beowulf: A New Telling by Robert Nye
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.
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.