REVIEW: NORSE MYTHOLOGY by Neil Gaiman

Title: Norse Mythology
Author: Neil Gaiman
Series: -
Genres: Fantasy, Mythology, Fiction
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Release: March 16th, 2018
Source: Audiobook
Pages: 304

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BLURB: Neil Gaiman, long inspired by ancient mythology in creating the fantastical realms of his fiction, presents a bravura rendition of the Norse gods and their world from their origin though their upheaval in Ragnarok. In Norse Mythology, Gaiman stays true to the myths in envisioning the major Norse pantheon: Odin, the highest of the high, wise, daring, and cunning; Thor, Odin’s son, incredibly strong yet not the wisest of gods; and Loki?son of a giant?blood brother to Odin and a trickster and unsurpassable manipulator.

Gaiman fashions these primeval stories into a novelistic arc that begins with the genesis of the legendary nine worlds and delves into the exploits of deities, dwarfs, and giants. Through Gaiman’s deft and witty prose, these gods emerge with their fiercely competitive natures, their susceptibility to being duped and to duping others, and their tendency to let passion ignite their actions, making these long-ago myths breathe pungent life again.

EXPECTATIONS: I enjoyed every book of Neil Gaiman I have read so far, so I thought let's give this one a try also. I of course really like Norse Mythology and the complexity of their Gods, so I went into this book with quite some expectations.

THE WORLD: The old Norse times, even beginning of the times time. The plots are set before the creation of Gods and humans, during and after.

CHARACTERS: We get to meet a lot of old Norse Gods in this book. We also explained and shown how Odin became the all seeing God, how he had children and his family, we get to see them grow up and become their own person and God.

There are truly a lot of names and Gods to remember but for me only few stood out: Odin, Loki, Thor and Freya, since the book is basically written about them and their life events. We get to see Thor's hammer being stolen, Loki doing mischievous tricks on his family and Freya getting married. And of course Odin being this wise old man.

I will discuss the issues I had with this in the Bad section.

ROMANCE: There are some God couples but they are not the focus of the book.

GOOD: The last chapter with Ragnarok. For those who might not know what that is, it's basically the last war and ending of the Gods. This was a very amazing chapter in the book, the best one I liked. Because you got to see the true nature of every God, their strengths, weaknesses and powers. I particularly enjoyed the ending. I don't want to spoil it for you, but it made me smile a lot. It was a good ending! Not in a way of someone dying or justice being made or whatever, it just showed how the world is wired, how everything in history happens.

BAD: Now what I didn't like. It was rushed, a lot of things pushed into one, and I ended up not caring for a single God. This wasn't a novel or anything, this was short stories filled with a lot of Nordic names and locations and Gods, and half of the time it was very difficult for me to follow what was happening. I think this would have worked much better as a single plot novel.

OVERALL: Overall, I liked it in it's own way. It was interesting to read about Nordic Gods and the last chapter really brought the book to life for me.

What do you think about NORSE MYTHOLOGY?