Norse Mythology (Gaiman) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Who else but Neil Gaiman could become an accomplice of the gods, using the sorcery of words to make their stories new? The author of American Gods transforms Norse myths into addictive reading for young and old, with high-wattage retellings that preserve the monumental grandeur of the Nordic universe but also turn it into a world that is up close and personal, full of antic wit and dark intrigue.
Maria Tatar, Chair - Harvard University, (Folklore and Mythology)


The fascinating ancient tales in the Prose Edda and Poetic Edda have always needed gifted storytellers to breathe new life into them from century to century, and who better now than Neil Gailman to retell the tantalizing Norse myths with great gusto. Gaiman has such a profound understanding of the conflicts of Odin, Thor, Loki, and other gods that he revitalizes them through his imaginative depictions. His interpretation of major Norse myths will draw readers into a strange realm that will dazzle and baffle and lead to a new appreciation of Norse mythology.
Jack Zipes, Ed. - Norton Anthology of Children’s Literature


Gaiman turns his restless imagination to a retelling of Norse folklor.… [He] provides a dramatic continuity to these stories…[and] has great fun in bringing these gods down to a human level.… Gaiman takes a well-worn subject and makes it his own.
Publishers Weekly


( Starred review.) [T]he classic stories of Norse mythology but with no less humor, sense of adventure, and imagination than when [Gaiman's] playing in worlds of his own making.… A spectacularly entertaining and elucidating collection of stories with wide crossover appeal. —Stephanie Klose
Library Journal


[Gaiman] does a bang-up job of it.… His simple, Anglo-Saxon-canted diction…couldn’t sound better to modern ears used to the clipped, the droll, the laconic that a century of hard-boiled literary patter has made normal.… Gaiman’s retelling of these ever-striking and strange stories should be every reader’s first book of Norse mythology.
Booklist


( Starred review.) Gaiman writes assuredly and evocatively and with a precise eye for the atmospheric detail…. Superb. Just the thing for the literate fantasy lover and the student of comparative religion and mythology alike.
Kirkus Reviews