Reviews

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

houdach's review against another edition

1.0

I can definitely see why people enjoyed this book, but this just WAS NOT FOR ME, I didn't care about any of the characters, the story, the plot.. nothing. I was just bored all the time and nothing gripped me whatsoever.

penguin_emperor_of_the_north's review against another edition

4.0

Norse mythology is insane. After reading for the first two hours I had to go order the Prose Edda and Poetic Edda just so I could confirm if the insanity comes from the Norse or if that's just Neil. Will follow up.

For example, do you know where poetry comes from? Because I do now.

Spoiler

Odin stole the mead of poetry from a giant by smuggling it out in his belly and then puking it up. Poetic inspiration comes from drinking the mead. But if it's bad poetry? Then it came out of Odin's butt.

The moral of the story is, never accept a drink from Odin.

And Loki's a jerk. 100% deserved what he got.

Spoiler

Involving his kids was unnecessary though. Forcing one to kill the other and then using his entrails to tie up Loki? Brr, that's cold.

The book was really easy to read too, first time I ever thought of myself as drinking a book. That's how smooth it went down. Style wise, I'd say it was an easy reading level but content wise, definitely not for kids.

And Norse mythology has long been my favorite mythology. Partly because my ancestors are Germanic but more because it seems to have a story arc to it with a definite beginning and end. And Ragnarok's one of the coolest story humankind ever wrote down. I'm really glad that Gaiman wrote this so more people can learn these stories.

happythingsbookishdreams's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

dragonflymorning's review against another edition

4.0

Neil Gaiman does a superb job of making the classic tales of Norse Mythology accessible and understandable for the casual reader. Each of the fifteen short stories is just enough for a quick read before bed or between household tasks. I wouldn’t say it’s very compelling to continue between stories, which in my mind is perfect bedtime reading.

inphynite's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ftrebelo's review against another edition

3.0

Somewhat dry retelling of Norse myths, some of which I had read before and others of which were new. You can tell that Gaiman loves this topic, and I certainly hope it brings some of these stories to a wider audience. But, it reminded me a bit of Edith Hamilton's [b:Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes|23522|Mythology Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes|Edith Hamilton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1305000423s/23522.jpg|2625557], but set among fjords. Which isn't all a bad thing, I was simply left wanting a richer story.

maddollie's review against another edition

4.0

Enjoyable retelling of some Norse tales. All featuring Thor and Loki pretty much, and it feels like more variety could have been given with the tales told.

Those within, however, are told well.

anie_star's review against another edition

3.0

Norse mythology is a collection of short stories about Norse gods. They are retold in modern language and loosely follow the timeline.

I like it, but do not love it.

bbrassfield's review against another edition

4.0

Thoroughly enjoyable narrative by the Norse gods with a distinctive Gaiman tilt, which means weird, fascinating, and yes as LeGuin pointed out in her review, chatty. If I were a god I'd be chatty too! Think of the world perspective a god has after all. Probably because I'm a Tolkien geek and he loved the Norse poetic edda, which greatly influenced his otherwise very Catholic-underpinned world building, I've enjoyed the tales of Thor, Loki, Freyja and Odin for many years. To my mind, an afterlife of endless battling, drinking, humping and then doing it all over again on repeat for all eternity sounds pretty good.

fraggerbot's review

3.0

★★★½

This collection of short stories in Norse Mythology gives a taste of what it is about, but lacks detail to satisfy the craving.

I just finished God of War which portays Odin (extremely) and Thor as evil characters, so I wanted to look into the actual mythology and get the situations surrounding key events. Probably, this book is a bad choice. Some stories are good, some are meh but all of them left me with more how/what/why questions, which was not so satisfying.

This is a very light read, doesnt require much focus or attention. But if you want some depth, this probably is not the right book.

“Of course it was Loki. It's always Loki.”