Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

16 reviews

halaagmod's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Murder, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

the_reading_wren's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative fast-paced

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

3.75

I haven’t read the book so can’t say how accurate the radio show is as an adaptation, but it is really well produced. I didn’t know much about Norse mythology before and this gave a great overview. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

nicholasbobbitt1997's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Fantastic rendering of the Norse myths. Eminently readable, broke me out of a months-long reading slump. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Excrement

riverofhorton's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I went into this book with the assumption that it is at least somewhat accurate to the myths, and while there are elements that are, this is very much a Christianised Loki-Bad-Odin-Good portrayal of those myths.

Taken in isolation, it is as well written and mildly comical as Gaiman's other works, but within the context of it being a retelling of the Norse myths, it just missed the mark on so many points for me.

As example:

the legions of Hel are described as being "the evil dead", which to my knowledge is not only a Christian concept, but also unjust. Those dead are simply people that didn't die in battle, so while there will be "evil" among them, they're not intrinsically so. Such phrasing also implies that Odin's warriors are equivalent to the angels of Christianity, something made ironic when you realise it's possible for "evil" people to die in battle.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

peachani's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Torture, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Genocide, Suicide, and War

kaaaaaaaa's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Infidelity, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

valpuri's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, and Pregnancy

elderwoodreads's review

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I loved this retelling of Norse Mythology. The beginning was a bit slow and dense for me but it picked up very quickly, and I can't believe how fast I devoured it! Neil Gaiman's narration definitely made it ten times more enjoyable than if I had read it as a text. Pleaae read the content warnings before reading/listening if you are sensitive to descriptions of torture and gore, they are behind the spoiler tag.

CW: eye trauma, intestines/entrail, genital mutilation/torture, graphic descriptions of death

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Excrement, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

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.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, and War

triforcefusion's review

adventurous informative medium-paced

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

3.5

I found that Neil Gaiman is a fantastic narrator. He gave such a good characterization to Thor in the way he spoke. The stories varied wildly from snappy, and fun to long and dull. There is also a barrier to entry if you are unfamiliar with Norse words. Sometimes there were so many Norse names that I couldn't remember who was who. 

I feel like Neil did a good job presenting these myths, but the quality of stories definitely fluctuated. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting