Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
This was great fun and after getting through the first few pages and its long unpronounceable names it turned into a very easy read. The stories are short, travelling is never embellished and we get a refreshed look at some familiar characters like Odin , Loki, and Thor. It starts at the beginning and ends with Ragnarok, the end of the cycle and the start of a new one. There is some amazing imagery at work here like a snake that grows so big it encircles the earth under the water, a wolf of similar proportions that wants to eat the moon, frost giants and ancient dwarven magics that can allow one to fold up an entire ship into one’s pocket. It’s all brilliant but it must be said I picked this up because I like Vikings, their gods and Neil Gaiman and whilst there is gods galore there is not a great deal that is particularly Gaimanesque going on.
Onto the star of the show. Loki is one of the most interesting, twisted and sympathetic characters I’ve ever found on a page. He is an exceedingly nasty drunk and his primary goal when in such a state seems to be fulfilling all his own whims and fancies, no matter how dark and what the cost might be to the other gods. If the other gods don’t think he is directly responsible for a problem they look to him to fix it. If Loki cant come up with something or his solution does not work he is held accountable and threatened with torture most heinous. Most of the time he is responsible but there is such an extraordinary arrogance displayed by the Gods with their constant laughing at their own jokes and congratulating themselves on how clever they are, you can’t help but think that every time one of them gets into trouble they deserve exactly what is coming to them and seeing as Loki is the most likely to bring this comeuppance you find yourself quietly cheering him on. One of the stories involves him turning himself into a beautiful chestnut mare in order to distract a master builder’s horse from its work. They disappear into the woods and a year later he appears in human form with an eight legged foal at his side, daring anyone to mention it’s parentage and protecting it like a mother bear does her cubs.
In terms of the big guy I don’t mind a lot of these stories ending up with Thor smashing and killing everyone with his hammer and then walking away guffawing. He is not the most layered of characters and seems more there for comedic relief; Thor is as Thor does and Thor likes to smash things. He gets to smash a lot of things, especially hordes of giants, which makes him and me very happy.
Norse Mythology is enjoyable and easy to get into and as someone who had never read anything on this subject, my Norse experience being limited to “Eric the Viking”, it was interesting and also educational. It’s a solid 4 out of 5.
