Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Norse Mythology

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.

Spoiler

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

Content Warnings

brittni_in_ink's review against another edition

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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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triforcefusion's review against another edition

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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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aravenclawlibraryx's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

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

4.0

Title: Norse Mythology

Author: Neil Gaiman

Genre: Historical Fiction Fantasy

Format: paperback book from the library

Star Rating: 4 stars

tw: death, murder, bodily harm, suicide, bestiality, violence, drowning, torture

One of my goals in life is to learn more about different mythologies, besides all the basic ones. I’ve been interested in Norse mythology since I watched Apsolov: End of Gods and Unforgiving: A Northern Hymn. Both are very cool horror games relating to Norse mythology and I suggest checking out John Wolfe’s playthrough of them both.

Anyway. What an exciting book! The Norse gods are pretty interesting, including Loki. He’s one of my favorite gods. Even though this book was pretty short, I felt like all the gods were pretty fleshed out. They got almost equal amounts of page time. I just learned so much. I could tell a lot of research went into this book. It felt like I was reading the bible but better. I am not sorry for that comment at all.

I wish Marvel had followed this book and actual Norse mythology. The movies would have been way better, in my opinion. Plus they would have gotten their information right especially with Loki and Hel (another one of my favorite gods). Plus, I think that this is way more interesting than what they did. Sure, I liked the Thor movies but I felt like they could have been way better.

Overall, the buzz about this book and this author were spot on. I’ve heard the author is just a sweetheart online and is so nice to fans. I had such a blast reading this book. I will be sure to check out more of Neil Gaiman’s work since this one was such a hit for me. As for my recommendations, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about Norse mythology.

Content Warnings