A Must and a Classic: This book gives you something other books on Norse mythology do not. This volume contains the most dramatic and compelling retelling of Ragnarok you will ever find.
In this book, the myths are partly stories and partly explanations of what stories and their characters mean. So it does not feel that you are actually reading tales.
Also, I thought that too much was made of similarities between Greek and Northern mythology at the end of this book. Some comparisons feel artificial and strained. But one should keep in mind that this book was originally written in the 1920s, when linguists were very impressed, some would say scandalized, by the apparent common origin of most European and some Asian languages. These languages, which today include all but three European languages, belong to the so-called Indo-European or Indo-Aryan group. It does appear that a number of characters in the Greek and Northern myths had a common Indo-Aryan prototype, but as already said, some similarities are farfetched and artificially constructed. The book contains a comprehensive index.
This book has got to be one of the most (if not THE most!) informative books on Norse mythology currently available.Each chapter went into great detail about Odin, Thor, Freya, etc. to the point that if you buy just one Norse mythology book for your library, this should be it. There is so much excellent information in this tome. The highest recommendation!!
