Norse Mythology

Norse mythology has informed a lot of Gaiman's work, especially his great novel American Gods, where Odin, Balder and Loki wander the underbelly of the United States. So when it was announced that he was to retell some of the Norse legends it made complete sense. That he manages to do it with such style, wit and elegance is a pleasant surprise. Because some of the retellings I have read have been perfunctory, telling the story while leaving the Gods as cardboard cutout caricatures.

Gaiman's Norse Mythology is a pleasure to read. Gaiman has gone back to translations of both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, primary sources for the Norse legends and chosen which of the tales he wanted to tell. So we get the creation of the Nine Realms, the World Tree, the Midgard Serpent, the Frost Giants, to start with, and we are then introduced to that most fallible and human of pantheons - the Norse Gods. For Odin, Thor, Loki and the rest are reflections of the Norsemen, bluff, passionate, raw gods who eat, drink, fly into rages, are petty and jealous, make mischief and seek revenge.

The tales are told with a regard for making them proper stories, with fleshed out characters. Loki is the most slippery of the gods, hard to pin down, a trickster who's inferiority complex feeds his hatred. Odin is the wise All-Father, yet also savage at times, vengeful when needed. Thor is not the brightest, but brave and indomitable with a ravenous appetite, just don't get in the way of his hammer.

There is humour here too, for the gods are prone to playing tricks on each other.

The final quarter of the book is a group of tales leading up to Ragnarok, the downfall of the gods. And it's these tales that are really the heart of the book, full of doom, destiny, fighting and destruction. The ending is almost elegaic.

So, a fantastic read, a triumph for Gaiman and one of the best set of Norse myths out there. Go read!