Review: Tales of Norse Mythology, by Helen A Guerber

Just finished reading this fantastic book, part of the Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions, and it was exactly what I was after.

On the book itself: it’s a lovely leather-bound hardback with gold edging, a ribbon bookmark, and great illustrations within (mostly paintings but some statue photographs).

The text itself dates back around a century, and I think this is for the better. I’ve read a more recent book on Norse mythology that had some very ‘current day’ interpretation (Ivar the Boneless as literally boneless and with cartilage instead as the Vikings moved away from needing a front rank fighter as leader, disregarding and not even mentioning the more likely alternative that his nickname is based on a mistranslation).

Initially, the book covers the origin of the world according to Norse mythology, which also explains the enmity between gods and giants.

Following this, things take a god-by-god approach, with an interesting order. I would’ve assumed, wrongly, that Odin, Thor, and Loki would be the starting chaps, but instead it’s Odin, Frigga (his wife), and Thor, with Loki well towards the end. Each section covers the god’s divine domain, in both the sense of a physical palace or multiple halls and the aspect of reality for which they were responsible. Minor characters of mythology associated with a god, such as Odin’s wolves Geri and Freki, are mentioned in the relevant god’s chapters, as are major stories (origin and shenanigans).

After the gods we come to general chapters covering giants, dark elves/dwarves, and elves. There are also two chapter’s dedicated to sagas (the Volsungs and the Saga of Frithiof) but there’s no mention of definitively real world characters such as Ubba, Ivar the Boneless etc.

Then we come to the penultimate chapter on Ragnarok, and end with an interesting comparison between Norse and Greek mythology which notes the very large number of similarities.

The book’s very easy to read and it’s often noted when there are multiple names (either minor or major variants) for a god or place. Quotations from other texts are used often as well, to good effect, and the artwork is all good stuff. Much detail is present when it comes to gods, with far more than just the main ladies and gentlemen covered and a lot of information on the most significant ones.

I like this book so much that about halfway through reading it I ordered Classical Mythology by the same author. If I were designing what a great mythology book should be, this is it.

As the cunningly astute of you may have surmised, I heartily recommend this book.

Thaddeus