Norse Mythology

Image credit: Dymocks

Continuing on the mythology bender theme of the week, this week saw me nestled down on the couch enjoying the magical tales from Norse mythology as retold by one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman.

Norse Mythology chronicles a number of well-known stories concerning the gods, giants, and monsters of Norse mythology, the numerous tricks of Loki, the various adventures of Thor (including how he got his signature hammer), and the uncountable bouts of wisdom from Odin the all-father, all leading up to the inevitable Ragnarok, the end of things. A glorious mixture of fantasy, creation myth, and fun bedtime story, this book is a wonder; very easy to read and highly enjoyable.

Like Stephen Fry’s Mythos and Heroes, Norse Mythology really shows Gaimain’s love for the content and characters. As is depicted in a number of his other books, namely Good Omens and American Gods, his fascination with myth and creation stories that early people created to make sense of the world is what makes this book so consumable, as the excitement and admiration is gloriously apparent in the prose, like a small boy retelling his favourite story, only with a better vocabulary and use of grammar.

Image credit: Vulture

The stories he tells with a modern twist of inflection and voice, but they still retain their traditional short and predominantly oral tone, which would make this book a perfect one to read out loud to the younglings at story time or bedtime. It’s a truly wonderful book!

Norse Mythology is a collection of short stories and myths as retold by Neil Gaiman. It was published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc in 2017.