Review: Norse Mythology
This is another one of my capsules that says more about me than about the work.
In his introduction, Neil Gaiman describes being led to Norse mythology as a kid in elementary school by Lee and Kirby’s brilliant 70’s Thor comics. We both found the Viking halls of legend to be surprisingly flawed and human places. I don’t know if Greek mythology as told by and to laypeople became more whitewashed as the ancients became the basis (or the heroes) of the Enlightenment or if some other process sanded the edges off Zeus and his cohorts. Greek myth always feels more symbolic and consistent. Norse stories feel more like a campfire story than a fable, and the characters correspondingly more complex. Because of how I was led to them and that humanity, these stories have a special place in my heart.
Norse Mythology is master storyteller Neil Gaiman retelling many of the same tales that enthralled me as a kid. Gaiman breathes life into any fantasy, holds the stories with the same affection, and has great human stories to start from. For me, it couldn’t be better.
A must.