The great Norse myths, which have inspired so much of modern fiction, are dazzlingly retold by Neil Gaiman. Tales of dwarfs and frost giants, of treasure and magic, and of Asgard, home to the gods: Odin the all-father, highest and oldest of the Aesir; his mighty son Thor, whose hammer Mjollnir makes the mountain giants tremble; Loki, wily and handsome, reliably unreliable in his lusts; and Freya, who spurns those who seek to control her.
From the dawn of the world to the twilight of the gods, this is a vivid retelling of the Norse myths from the award-winning, bestselling Neil Gaiman.
Gaiman on kirjoittanut joukon norjalaiseen mytologiaan pohjautuvia tarinoita, joissa jumalat, jättiläiset, kääpiöt ynnä muut sankarit seikkailevat melko klassisissa myyttisissä merkeissä. Ihan käypäisiä tarinoita, ja tällaiselle norjalaista mytologiaa lähinnä pintapuolisesti tuntevalle nämä menevät ihan täydestä. Se tietenkin häiritsee, että kaikki nimet on survottu nykyenglannin 26 aakkosmerkin puitteisiin.
Entertaining, sometimes gruesome, sometimes funny and sometimes sad
4 stars
collection of stories about the gods of Asgard and the elves, dwarves and giants around them, book-ended by the Norse creation myth and the world-ending battle of Ragnarok. It’s a storytelling approach, not a scholarly description. And it’s not the shiny, techno-magical Asgard of Marvel’s Thor, or the ethereal Olympus we’ve come to think of with Greek myths. For all the magic and impossible feats that get tossed around, it’s still a gritty, harsh world with wars, murders, lust, deception and betrayal.
The stories are mostly separate, but a pattern emerges: not just when stories refer back to earlier events, but the slow transformation of Loki from the kind of trickster who steals Sif’s hair, tricks rival smiths into creating fantastic gifts, and generally outwits his opponents (while finding ways to embarrass the other gods if he can) to the kind of trickster who thinks it would be hilarious to …
collection of stories about the gods of Asgard and the elves, dwarves and giants around them, book-ended by the Norse creation myth and the world-ending battle of Ragnarok. It’s a storytelling approach, not a scholarly description. And it’s not the shiny, techno-magical Asgard of Marvel’s Thor, or the ethereal Olympus we’ve come to think of with Greek myths. For all the magic and impossible feats that get tossed around, it’s still a gritty, harsh world with wars, murders, lust, deception and betrayal.
The stories are mostly separate, but a pattern emerges: not just when stories refer back to earlier events, but the slow transformation of Loki from the kind of trickster who steals Sif’s hair, tricks rival smiths into creating fantastic gifts, and generally outwits his opponents (while finding ways to embarrass the other gods if he can) to the kind of trickster who thinks it would be hilarious to trick a blind man into killing his own brother.
In his introduction, Gaiman notes that we don’t actually have a thorough record of the stories. Like most myths, they were told and retold and changed through oral storytelling. The Norse didn’t write them down until well after Christianity had established itself in the region. And so there are a lot of figures who are mentioned in passing in one tale or another that we don’t really know much about.
And I realized that most of what I know of the mythology comes from modern works influenced by it. Comic books of course, not just Marvel’s Thor, but Vertigo’s Sandman and the manga and anime Ah! My Goddess. The Ring Cycle (by way of Bugs Bunny). Oddly enough, a lot of it by way of Neil Gaiman himself: Sandman, American Gods, Odd and the Frost Giants, probably a handful of short stories too.
I listened to the audio book and, frankly, in the beginning Gaiman's reading isn't the best. But either he got better or I got used to it. Mainly, some (not all) of the dialogue seemed flat
The book itself is wonderful. I know little about Norse mythology, and so was really interested in some of the details, as well as the history
This isn't original fiction, it's Neil Gaiman's retelling of classic Norse mythology in a series of short, readable stories. If you're looking for Neil Gaiman's fiction and character building this isn't the book for you, but it IS a great collection of classic myths, told with Gaiman's simplicity and elegant style and humour. In one of the audiobook forms Gaiman himself reads the stories and you can hear the humour in his voice and his love of the stories and characters, which is charming. A great resource for the original myths of this time.
Quite the entertaining read. Gaiman presents tales from Norse mythology with the brisk, efficient delivery that one might imagine from a bard telling the stories orally. Each tale has its main cast, usually involving Odin, Thor, and/or Loki, its central conflict, its action, and its resolution. The stories also feature plenty of hyperbole. Cauldrons for brewing ale are three miles deep, gods are described as the strongest, the mightiest, the most beautiful, or the most wise.
I couldn't help but think of how Odin, Thor, and Loki might as well have been characters in some grand sitcom; they have their unique personalities, they are presented with a challenge, and they each have their own solutions. What also struck me about Gaiman's Norse Mythology was how funny it was. You could almost imagine vikings guffawing as they listened to these tall tales during a feast.
We have heard these stories, I thankful Neil Gaiman has assembled and shared with us. I am also thankful Neil Gaiman and many other authors have expanded and elaborated larger tales.
Gaiman, for me at least, has always been a bit hit & miss. This one’s a miss for me, dog. It seems more stilted book report or fan wiki entry than story, & if compared with Fry’s Mythos (which I will, because I read that prior to this), it falls very flat.
