Book Review: Norse Mythology
Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2017 7:14 pm
Title: Norse Mythology
Author: Neil Gaiman
Series: N/A
Genre: Mythology, Fiction
The title is pretty self explanatory. I would say the main difference is how the book is "structured."
Even though I've taken several classes that have dealt with Norse Mythology, it still has been one of those mythologies that I've been struggling to keep inside my head. What I've been experiencing is where there is a story here and story there, with very little connections. In what Neil Gaiman put together just...flowed. He began with the summation of each god and then went from beginning, of how the world was created to describing each of the nine worlds, to the stories of the gods, starting with the All-Father, and then expressing in his writing the flow of the stories of other gods and goddesses, to the end, Ragnarok.
My only one critic is the lack of an important detail in one of the stories. It wasn't discussed how there was a prophecy told to Odin that Loki's child, Fenrir, or the Fenris wolf, in the part, "The Children of Loki." This prophecy regarded Fenrir will kill Odin on the day of the coming of Ragnarok. They just kept giving the wolf the task of breaking whatever bindings the gods have put him in to "demonstrate" his strength. This task was given to the wolf from when he was a pup to the point he kept growing into a "giant."
If you are a person who loves mythology and just loves learning, I highly recommend this book!
Author: Neil Gaiman
Series: N/A
Genre: Mythology, Fiction
The title is pretty self explanatory. I would say the main difference is how the book is "structured."
Even though I've taken several classes that have dealt with Norse Mythology, it still has been one of those mythologies that I've been struggling to keep inside my head. What I've been experiencing is where there is a story here and story there, with very little connections. In what Neil Gaiman put together just...flowed. He began with the summation of each god and then went from beginning, of how the world was created to describing each of the nine worlds, to the stories of the gods, starting with the All-Father, and then expressing in his writing the flow of the stories of other gods and goddesses, to the end, Ragnarok.
My only one critic is the lack of an important detail in one of the stories. It wasn't discussed how there was a prophecy told to Odin that Loki's child, Fenrir, or the Fenris wolf, in the part, "The Children of Loki." This prophecy regarded Fenrir will kill Odin on the day of the coming of Ragnarok. They just kept giving the wolf the task of breaking whatever bindings the gods have put him in to "demonstrate" his strength. This task was given to the wolf from when he was a pup to the point he kept growing into a "giant."
If you are a person who loves mythology and just loves learning, I highly recommend this book!