Norse Mythology by Kelsey A. Fuller-Shafer PHD
The Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook
From Vikings to Valkyries, An Epic Who’s Who in Old Norse Mythology

Beautifully illustrated, well-written, easy to follow look into a topic I have always wanted to know more about. This book is one that cannot be read and remembered in its entirety in one sitting…not if you want to know all the characters and how they fit into the world they inhabit. I can see myself adding this book to my mythology collection and returning to it often till I am sure I know who is who in this pantheon and what each of their stories is.

The first section of this book deals with the WHAT of Norse Mythology and where the information comes from. As with the Bible, the stories were written down after a long history of narrative telling and not first hand historical recordings. I learned what Vikings really were and what era they pirated about in and then learned more about Norse vs Scandinavian and a few other tidbits. This section included the creation myth, talked about the nine realms and their relation to the Life Tree, and discussed Ragnarok as the destruction myth.

Section two introduced the Aesir and Vanir – Gods and Goddesses of the Pantheon. Here I learned that immortality was not a given and that these entities had quite a few rather human issues to contend with, too. They lived higher up in the realm on the tree than others

Section three brings in the Jotun (Giants) and other villains or antagonists that play parts in the stories found in this mythology.

Section four finishes off with human heroes and a bit about each one that made it into the book. I was most interested in King Harald because I have been reading about him recently and also wanted to read about Egil One-Hand as I wanted to see if this might be related to Otto of the Silver Hand that I read long ago. My take on Egil and Otto was that they both lost a hand and came up with a way to make a device to use in place of the hand that was no more there.

Each section’s characters are easily found with the name at the top of the page, alternative names they were known by, what they were known for-alternative translations, and who they were related to. Characters sections also included what was important about them and a section on what one should remember about them. A the end of the book there is a list for further reading and an index.

I enjoyed this book and thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster – Adams Media for the ARC.

5 Stars ( )