The Norse Myths (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)

The heart of the book consists of 32 myths, arranged in basically a chronological order - beginning with the creation of the world / Ymir, and ending with Ragnarok.

This is followed by notes (of a more academic nature) keyed to each of the 32 stories, where he gives additional information, sources, parallels in other cultures, and interpretations.

The writing style moves well, and the myths are told in a way that holds the reader's interest. Younger folks may well need to start with something a little simpler, like D'Aulaire or "Gods & Heroes from Viking Mythology" published by Schocken Books, but for adult readers looking for an intelligent introduction to Norse mythology, this book can't be beat.


Comprehensive and Contemporary   July 23, 2001
unraveler (Nevada)
43 out of 44 found this review helpful

The book brings Northern mythology to life. Kevin Crossley-Holland retells the myths in a flowing, easy-to-follow, contemporary style. This is also a very comprehensive collection of myths that includes thirty two stories, some of which cannot be found in more slender volumes. The book also contains an introduction, notes, glossary, bibliography, and index.

The introduction is probably the most helpful of all introductions I found in books on Northern mythology. It starts with the role of geography in the shaping of Northern myths and proceeds to explain the cosmology and the pantheon of the ancient Anglo-Saxon peoples. It even contains a graphical representation of the mighty world tree Yggdrasill, which is very helpful in understanding the structure of various realms of the world of Northern mythology.

I cannot tell enough good things about the myths themselves. And the only way to appreciate them is to read them. The first myth in the book is the myth of creation, and the last myth is, of course, Ragnarok. The notes complement the tales and can be read after you are done with all the myths. I find many notes enlightening. I highly recommend this book


not really a review for this book...   February 24, 2003
Bjarne Kristiansen (Esbjerg, Denmark)
33 out of 41 found this review helpful

I read kevin crossley-hollands book "viking! myths of gods and monster" which contains 17 of the myths from his "norse myths" book. For people looking for good stories this book is fine, and can provide some entertaining moments, but for those interested in learning about norse mythology, this book is utterly useless, and packed with fundamental errors, and i can only presume that the errors from "viking!..", comes from his "Norse myths" book.

The biggest error is that he claims that Hel is the realm of the giants, and Niflheim is realm of the dead. Hel was in fact the realm of the dead (ruled by loki's offspring of the same name), and Niflheim is merely the cold land to the north. Hel might have been placed in Niflheim, but niflheim is not realm of the dead. What might have confused the author is that below Hel, is NiflHel which is where the people that dies in hel, goes. (Nifl means fog).

Another error is that he claims that Bifrost is a flaming bridge, when in fact Bifrost is a rainbow bridge.

he also fails to mention that Jotunheim is home of the giants (the giants are not actually giants. "Jaetter" translates better to throlls or orcs) as opposed to hel being the realm of giants. The only one capable of becoming a giant is utgards-loki, by the help of magic as he does in the "thor's expedition to utgard" myth.

All through the book there are errors in the myths and the ones i've mentioned and other errors, may seem unimportant to most people, but if an author wants to retell the myths of the norse, or any other, mythology, the first thing he should do, is to familiarize himself with the surroundings and the realms in which the myths take place, which this author fails miserably at.

It's probably worth noting that im a dane, and have great passion for the norse mythology and ancient religion and as such am more sensitive to such blatant errors.


Strange and disturbing stories we think we know.   April 15, 1998
31 out of 34 found this review helpful

Adult retelling of stories we think we know from the surviving original sources. Reading Crossley-Holland's book is like reading the real Grimm's Fairy Tales -- they are much stranger and more disturbing than you remember from the kiddie show about Thor and his hammer. The Aesir are a doomed race of flawed, violent, sometimes cruel but ultimately heroic gods. Odin is not always a benevolent father, but also is obsessed with knowledge and willing to kill, deceive and suffer intensely to get it. Freya is not only a war-goddess but a kind of personification of sex. The stories cover the building of Asgard, an ur-War between the Aesir and the ultimately allied Vanes, struggles between the gods and the Frost Giants, the mischief and ultimately evil of Loki, and an array of malevolent dwarves and monsters with names like Niddhog (the worm that gnaws the root of the world-tree Yggdrasil, Fenris the wolf of the end of the world. Incidentally, Tolkien got many of the names of his characters from the sources. Highly recommended.


Entertaining while educating....   December 12, 2000
Kathryn A. Rudzena (Urbana, Illinois)
25 out of 28 found this review helpful

I picked this book up after I ran across many kindred websites suggesting this as text that would help one to understand norse mythology. Before C-H even begins the tales, he sets up a general overview for you so that you are "on familiar ground" when you are reading the myths and have an understanding of the layout of the worlds. What is even more pleasing is that he has a picture layout of the nine worlds (for those who like 'visuals'). The Myths were set up in a storytelling format that is easy to read and enjoy....in otherwords its not 'textbook' style. Also, he has a lot of notes for each tale at the back of the book that go into depth about all the texts he used in his retelling of the stories as well as some interpertation of what the stories were getting at. I highly recommend this book for those people who are interested in learning about norse mythology