Reviewing Norse Mythology

 Hi,

This cycle, I finished reading Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. It is a book that comprises many tales from Norse mythology and explains them. I have been interested in different mythologies for a while and have had trouble finding a book of many myths from Norse Mythology. This book puts ancient tales into small, digestible and interesting stories that are fun to read.


Some of my favorite tales from the book are about the treasures of the gods. In it, Loki tricks dwarves into making gifts for the gods to repay his debts. The book really makes you understand the characters and their traits, for example in almost every tale, Loki did something mischievous to get into trouble and had to get out of trouble by using his cleverness. At some points, you may feel bad for characters like Loki, while at others you will not.


I especially liked the metaphors that are used throughout the book. The real world comparisons to the mythology really made me understand the mythological scale of the events. For example, as Loki, Thor, and another character accompanied by against travel towards the realm of the giants, it as described as them walking towards a fortress that they thought was very close, however as they kept walking for days, the fortress kept on getting larger, making them realize that the fortress was still very far away, but just astronomical in scale. Details like this is what encouraged me to finish reading the book.


All this being said, I would give Norse Mythology a 7/10. It was very digestible, but not too simple that it feels inauthentic. The book was very detailed and vivid, however, the book did feel drawn out at some points. I would especially recommend the book to anyone who has felt interested in mythology and was looking for a new book.

Thanks for reading,

Thomas Ballard

Comments

  1. Gavin McGillSeptember 4, 2024 at 6:34 PM

    This book sounds great. For me I really liked learning about all the gods of different ancient cultures back in early middle school. We never really learned about Loki so this sounds like a good book for me to learn about some more mythology. I'm somewhat confused on the 3rd paragraph but the mix of mythology in their own worlds seems very fascinating. I'll have to give this book a go and let you know how I liked it.

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  2. Johnathon SpencerSeptember 9, 2024 at 11:28 AM

    This sounds liked a good book. I've heard some of the stories about Loki and it sounds like this book has Loki in many of its stories. I would love to learn more about Norse mythology and this books seems like a good start to it. Thanks Tom for this book report.

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  3. Sam BhaleraoSeptember 9, 2024 at 12:03 PM

    Very nice. Seeing the cultural aspects of myths like these in our modern world is always fun. Norse mythology is often used in pop culture but I don't know the actual myths, so this could be cool to read. Thanks for the post!

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