Norse Mythology

Come along on a journey to distant lands. From Jotunheim, the realm of the Giants, to Midgard, the realm of Man, to Asgard, the realm of the Gods of the Aesir. Here we will hear stories of mighty Odin, the All-Father and leader of the Aesir. We will encounter Odin’s blood-brother, Loki. Born of Giants but an inhabitant of Asgard, Loki is the most cunning of the Aesir, even more so than Odin himself. We will also encounter Odin’s son, Thor, one of the most famous of the Aesir. We will hear of the creation of Thor’s hammer, Mjölnir, and of his adventures with Loki. We will also hear of Ragnarok, the end of the world, and of the Thor’s final battle with the great serpent Jörmungandr which ends with both Thor and Jörmungandr slain. These stories, along with many others, await readers in the book Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman.

Norse Mythology represents Neil Gaiman’s life-long love affair with the tales of the Scandinavian and Germanic folklore. His passion for the tales is evident in the prose that he has composed and in his performance in the audio version of the book. Whereas some works focused on mythologies can be overly dry or archaic in language, Gaiman keeps the reader interested and entertained by updating the language used and truncating the story where necessary. This is an excellent, entertaining work that any Gaiman fan or fan of myths and legends should read. The audiobook, narrated by Gaiman, is especially outstanding.

Those who are interested in other mythologies should seek out Edith Hamilton’s excellent look at Norse, Greek, and Roman Mythologies in Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes as well as Bullfinch’s Mythology by Thomas Bullfinch.