Honestly, I have yet to read a Neil Gaiman book that didn’t blow me away. I wish I had his talent. So of course, I loved Norse Mythology.

This book is a series of short stories, retelling the myths of Odin and his fellow gods - from the creation of the world, to the end of it. You can tell that Gaiman really wanted to keep to the spirit of those original tales - tone, pacing and even verbiage are all in line with the old myths (with his own personal touch thrown in). It made the stories very engaging, and I loved how the individual tales came together into one large arc.

Have you ever watched the dramedy series The Almighty Johnsons? I loved that show - it’s about a messed up family that are actually reincarnated Norse gods. But the constant reincarnation means their powers are rather weak and sad. They are a bit dumb and extremely petty at times. This book reminded me of it - I thought the show was written that way for comedic value, but Gaiman’s norse gods act the same way. It cracked me up a bit. And of course I couldn’t help but picture those actors whenever certain gods were mentioned!

Now I’m in the mood to read some more myths - maybe Greek this time!