Fetch Your Copy The Penguin Book Of Norse Myths: Gods Of The Vikings Originated By Kevin Crossley-Holland Formatted As Textbook

I didn't finish this as I decided to skip the notes, but I figure they are optional and as I actually read the introduction and all the myths, I'm counting this book as read.


They call Loki the trickster God but really they all could have had this title, And not just the Gods, all of the creatures in this universe seemed hell bent on tricking each other at any opportunity.
Yet Loki seems to be blamed the most, I think this is because he likes to trick other Gods and the others just save their tricks for mostly giants.
And they don't seem to mind getting Loki do stuff when they don't want to get their hands dirty.


And Thor! Thor who Marvel has made pretty awesome is a bit of a whinger in this book.
You say anything to Thor and he's ready to smash his Hammer into your skull, He can not take a joke,

Mainly they all seemed self serving and obsessed with gold and although some of the stories were interesting some of them were downright bizarre.
I don't think I'll ever be able to get the image of the giant menstruating so much it turned the river red while Thor was wading across it.
Grim.

Loki is my favourite God, yes this is thanks to Marvel and yes I fancy him.

This is a very strong book of mythology, While it certainly doesn't cover every story it presents some of the most notable ones and is a good read.
In addition to writing the stories in a way that makes them seem more like short stories CrossleyHolland also has some great discussion insights and notes on the different elements of the myths.
I love reading the Norse myths, and this one doesn't disappoint, with plenty of detailed stories, The very long introduction provides a welcome list of the pantheon, along with a map of the Norse 'world,' which makes it easier to keep track of these things.
I revisit this book now and again for a good story my favorites are probably the stories of Creation and Ragnarok apocalypse.

Read with a flagon of ale and a roaring fire preferably seated a reindeer pelt to truly get into the mood.
I greatly preferred this to Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology, Kevin CrossleyHolland's retellings of the myths were lively, He provided history, cultural context, and insight that was written in an engaging manner, You can tell he's passionate about this subject, his excitement for the topic shined through the writing, I'd love to sit in on one of his lectures, Onto Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H, R Ellis Davidson next. A great companion read to either Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology or The Norse Myths by CrossleyHolland, I had always meant to read the Norse myths but had never got around to it until recently.
I'm so glad that I chose Kevin CrossleyHolland's retelling of these fascinating myths, He has skilfully drawn on multiple sources from preChristian and Christian Iceland and other Nordic countries however most of all he draws from Snorri Sturluson's 'Prose Edda' written in approx.
If you're not familiar with the myths, I would advise reading the 'introduction' beforehand it contains a map of the nine worlds that the Norsemen believed in.
At least then you can understand the various references to each realm in the myths, The myths themselves are far more thrilling and entertaining than I thought they would be many of them portray the ongoing tensions and fights between the Gods and the giants.
I kept thinking how much the works ofth andst C fantasy writers from Tolkien to C.
S. Lewis to Neil Gaiman are influenced by them,

The Gods and Goddesses are intriguing characters and some are multifaceted in that they are worshipped for more than one reason e.
g. Freya is not just Goddess of love but also of war she rides to battle in a chariot drawn by two cats!.
Loki the trickster has to be one of my favourites, It was interesting to read more about the traditions and beliefs of preChristian Scandinavia like the boat burials too.
I'm going to miss reading about the Gods' various exploits and I can actually see why the old Norse worshipped them far more exciting than the monotheistic religions.
They also seem more relevant to our own British culture than Greek myths, due both to the fact that we were invaded by Vikings and in the wider sense of reflecting a similar northern European outlook.
Yet unlike the Greek myths, Norse myths are strangely and sadly overlooked here they should be on the national curriculum.
All in all, I wholeheartedly recommend this version of the beautiful Norse myths it will go straight onto my 'favourites' bookshelf.
Awesome, awesome book, and certainly a mustread for fans of Tolkien or fans of fantasy literature in general.
Kevin CrossleyHolland draws from several primary and secondary sources to deliver a complete and academic study of the Norse myths.
CrossleyHolland turns the myths into a cultural event with an informative introduction and copious endnotes, which compose about a fourth of the book.

The stories themselves, though, come across as short folk tales for children no offense intended to old Snorri Sturulson and company.
The one exception, the prophecy of Ragnarok, which packs an entire mythical apocalypse of universal darkness and destruction into four pages.
It's worth reading, rereading, and a little memorizing, Start with:
Axeage, swordage
sundered are shields
Windage, wolfage,
ere the world crumbles, . . This is a really excellent collection, The myths are retold with humor and enthusiasm, and CrossleyHolland's notes are excellent, A lot of times it's hard to find collections of myths that are welldocumented and scholarly rather than simply being retellings that don't list the source material but are still readable as complete stories rather than being fragmentary.
This collection lands right on the money, I will admit, I have been fascinated by the norse mythology for years, My introduction and to Greek and Egyptian mythology came from a game i played whenage of Mythology.
In that game one plays as an atlantean admiral on a quest to stop demons and titans from returning to earth going from Greece to the nile and all the way to Scandinavia.
Each mission one had to take a patron god and worship minor gods to gain favor, godly interventions and mythological creatures such as minotaurs, mummies and ice giants to help them in their struggle.
Interweaving stories and characters from each mythology in this wider story arch as a bonus every unit, god and creature had an internal information page that gave background information it was great and left a lasting impression on me and interest in these stories

So I do have some solid background knowledge on Norse mythology stretching back at leastyears.
But still I was a bit apprehensive of picking up this book I was afraid that it would be a semi incomprehensible literal translation or a boring listing of gods and what the stories tell of them.
This book does none of that Kevin CrossleyHolland brings us not a mere translation from Icelandic, latin and old norse but rather he presents the reader with a carefully reconstructed bundle of stories.
In his notes with each story points out differences between versions and why he choose one version over the other or why he added details that one source lacked but others did have or vice versa, the social context of this story and what it could have most likely meant for the listeners is also commented upon.


I have to say, it is by far one of the best reconstructions and retelling of these kind of mythology stories and the author strike a near perfect balance between keeping to the source and original intentions and rephrasing it so a modern reader can read and comprehend it and get some joy from it.
Although some of the stories served more as cultural repertories containing long dialogues concerning the nature of the universe and aspects within it between gods, dwarves and giants, several others are as intriguing and compelling as ever.
My personal favorites must be how Thor got his hammer, the death of Balder and the marriage of Skadi but each story had such a richness to it that puts it up there with other world literature of this kind.


Here we come to a crucial question though I have been treating this as literature and is that a correct way of looking at this A combination of monotheistic cultural background and rather rigorous secular lifestyle does make it difficult to treat these as more then mere stories although some of them like how thor had to dress like a bride to get his stolen hammer back are identified as humorous folk tales rather then religious epics.
On the other hand, the prime source of most of what we know of Norse mythology Snorri Sturluson and his prose Edda, did wrote them down not as religiously significant tales but as memories of a bygone age, similar to Romans who kept fresco's depicting Neptune or building chapels under sacred oak treas.
This

intermediary does add an extra difficulty to fully comprehend religious values and impact of these tales and on this I do find the author did not succeed in reconstructing this original value.


One thing is clear though, is that without Snorry Sturluson, we would have lost so much and is agonizingly frustrating that we do get glimpses of so many other stories within the one we have got.
Because all and all the gods who get the most attention are Thor, Odin, Loke and less importantly Tyr with Freya, Skadi and Frigg following behind as the most mentioned and active female gods but so many more gods, only show up or are mentioned a present but don't get that center of attention arguable the worst fate is for Balder who gets to be incredibly important but at the same time completely passive, dying being his only contribution.
It does make one appreciate even more what we did save trough the ages, .

Anyone interested in Norse mythology and wants to learn more about it should pick up and read this book, it is accessible for all those who don't have more then a sliver of familiarity with the material but I bet you will still know Loki and Thor and worthwhile for those who already know a lot.


sitelink youtube. com/watchvARnBg .