Reviews

The Elder Edda: A Book of Viking Lore by Unknown, Andy Orchard

disconightwing's review against another edition

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3.0

Narrator is the worst narrator and that's why the three stars. I needed something to listen to at work.

fieldofhats's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

As a Norse Pagan, it’s hard to rate this book. These are the stories of my Gods and the great heroes of their culture. Not all of them are great; some are disturbing, some are boring, and others are hard to follow. But these stories and poems really are wonderful. And Jackson Crawford’s translation is amazing! I loved that he included not only the Havamal, but the fun and heartfelt Cowboy Havamal. I haven’t read any other translations (although I plan to rectify that soon), but this one was a very good beginner-friendly one.

amwright's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

3.0

amrabad's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.25

Probably would’ve enjoyed more if I had read along with the audiobook. 

pigeonindustrialcomplex's review against another edition

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this translation is practically unreadable without a dictionary in the other hand, so I'm sparing myself the time until I can buy another translation 

ladygray_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

my favorite translation of the eddas!! beautifully done 

scarletwitch004's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

4.5

diverdovvn's review against another edition

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3.0

Look man, it's viking poetry. It's not bad but it isn't my shit. I can't say I enjoyed reading it per say, I just liked learning more about the Norse Gods. It's hard to imagine that this is where 90% of the information on them comes from.

hexatrance's review against another edition

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adventurous informative medium-paced

4.0

A historical gold mine of stories. This ended up more interesting than I anticipated. You have to take your time by looking at the notes, but once you have your head around whose who, the stories unravel themselves in true old Norse fashion. I especially enjoyed the Mythology poems and loved learning all about the gods. Only reason not a 5 star is because of the nature of the text as originating in manuscripts. Sections will be missing or seemed disconnected but that’s due to the material/oral history.
 
Reread: the heroic poems can get repetitive but still the stories of Sigurd and Gudrun are good ones. I wish there was more of the Old Norse in the notes, especially for names and kennings, instead of just the literal translations.

Reread again: A joy as always. The mythological poems are my favourite and the Helgi ones my least favourite, but I enjoyed the Gudrun poems a lot more this time around. 

fourfootedbeasts's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

3.0