The full title of this book is Uncovering Norse Mythology: A Guide Into Norse Gods and Goddesses, Viking Warriors and Magical Creatures. I picked this up, because as a board gamer, I came across a mythology-based game that I was interested in. I've always been interested in Greek and Roman mythology (mostly Greek), but I realized how little I knew about Norse mythology.
*After reading this book, I picked up the Younger Edda from Gutenberg.org. I'll review that separately.
Russo does a good job summarizing many of the stories of Norse mythology. He also goes into detail on the culture and how the gods are seen today. I would've preferred to have a little less information on religions that use the gods today, but it was an interesting addition to the book.
My favorite part of this book is the glossary that shows you how to pronounce the sometimes intimidating names of locations and people. One thing I noticed is that most of the entries have emphasis on the first syllable. While most times this makes sense, other times I was confused. Valhalla, for instance, sounds more correct as val-HAH-la (and is also listed as the pronunciation is some dictionaries), but in the book, it's written out as varl-hah-la. It just doesn't sound right that way. There might be a reason why it's written this way in the book, but at least I have a place to start if I want to learn how to say these things, even if it's only in my head.
I commend the author. He did a good job, and I enjoyed the read. I also noticed that the author made some of the illustrations, which was pretty cool. Some of the images didn't transfer so well to my Kindle, but they were well done overall. If you're interested in this subject, this book is short, easy to read and affordable. Good Book!
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