Johan Egerkrans

This is a slim encyclopedia over creatures from Norse folklore. It gives a good overview of a large number of beings. The descriptions are rather brief, trying to find common ground rather than being anecdotal. I can’t help but feel it loses something because of it. Rather than “it’s described as this or this or this, some say it’s big, some say it’s small”, I would have preferred examples. The occasional snippets of story are constantly interesting.

I guess the Swedish show more relationship to nature is keeping many of these creatures alive in our minds. Most of the entries here are, I think, well known to many Swedes – troll, älvor, skogsrån, tomtar, lyktgubbar, gastar, lindormar, Näcken and so on. But here are also regional varieties. I was happy to learn more about vittror, the variety of the fair folk from the very north of Sweden. And some creatures, like Askefroa, an evil tree spirit from the southern provinces, or the giant hen skåkhöna, were completely new to me.

The main thing here though, and probably the reason this book came to be, is surely the gorgeous illustrations. Egerkrans’ rendition of all these beasts and creatures is nothing short of stunning. A few examples can be found on his webpage: http://www.egerkrans.com/egerkrans.com/Vaesen.html show less

It is a gorgeously illustrated book, and it gives a good summary on many of the vaesen that exists in the nordic countries.

This is a beautiful book, gorgeously illustrated and a treat to read.

GORGEOUS illustrations.