Reviews

The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes by Jackson Crawford

krisglomb's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative medium-paced

3.0

3 stars for the fact that my edition definitely could have been better researched, translated, and edited. My version had multiple misspelled words, sometimes a forgotten untranslated phrase, and most of the end notes referenced Wikipedia 💀

So how is this still sitting at 3 stars? Because in spite of all of that I think it got me to fall in love with this myth. The prose really grabbed me in some of these poems and I felt like I could still be put in a place where these stories had power. I see why this is a text that has always been worth saving. 

darumachan's review against another edition

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adventurous informative mysterious slow-paced

4.5

Thanks to Libro.fm for the ALC provided to educators.

This was a great collection. I enjoyed Larrington's translation and introductions to each poem, and the narration by Gunnar Cauthary absolutely made them come alive in a way I'm not sure I would have gotten if I'd just read the text. 

tamara_joy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

4.0

charlottesometimes's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative mysterious medium-paced

4.25

lexa_oxford's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

medievalwitch's review against another edition

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4.0

I was aware that Tolkien took inspiration from Norse mythology and stories, but I didn't realize how deep that inspiration went. Basically, name any middle-earth dwarf you can think of and his hairy ass is in these stories.

I listened to this on audio and unfortunately, I cannot recommend it in that format. The translator Jackson Crawford has an exemplary handle on the pronunciations of course, but he reads these supposedly exciting tales and legends like he's being forced to by a teacher. There's hardly any emotion or excitement or character of any kind given to any of these poems, up until the end when he does a charmingly accented western-style rehash of the Havamal rules. Other than that, I say pick this up if you've never read these because they're worth reading and this translation is very accessible.

cchipmunck's review against another edition

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‘Sky it’s called among men, planet-home by the gods,
wind-weaver the Vanir call it,
the giants call it the world above, the elves the lovely roof,
the dwarfs the dripping hall.’

airthiel's review against another edition

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adventurous informative slow-paced

3.0

calodar's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

4.5

impalingheaven's review against another edition

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adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

5.0