About the book

Author: Gaiman, Neil

Title: Norse mythology

Publication: New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 2017. ISBN 9780393609097.

DAISY audio format narrated by the author. CELA library call number DA53608. 304 pages in the paper edition; 6 hrs., 30 mins. as a recorded book.

About the story

Published this year (2017) and read by the author, this is a straight-forward re-telling of the stories of Norse mythology: Odin, Baldur, Freya, Thor, Hod and — of course — Loki. All your favourites, plus many more!

Having spent years in the archives, fascinated by the Norse gods (who feature prominently in his celebrated novel, American Gods), I get the impression that Gaiman retold these stories as a labour of love. Listening to him read them aloud, this was certainly the feeling I got.

Now, I have read many retellings of Norse mythology over the years: I can tell you that this is a very good one! It conveys the flavour of the originals, and it’s very well-written. The stories selected are both important and a representative of the corpus. And listening to Neil Gaiman read his own words is a treat of timing and subtle emphasis: it’s literally read as he wanted it to be read. So nice.

Here is the origin-story of Thor’s hammer, the mead of the gods, the frost giants, the beginning and the end of days. It’s not a novel. Each story stands on its own, but does relate to previous ones, in many cases.

Recommended. If you like mythology, this is a very fun collection – and splendidly read.