A pretty good retelling of Norse mythology and culture. What’s keeping it from greatness, however is the author’s vendetta against Snorri Sturluson, the Icelandic Christian and historian who wrote the Prose Edda. The dude gets dragged at the start of every chapter. It’s constantly stressed that Norse mythology was highly complex and open to change, but Snorri often gets singled out for his apparent a-historicity. The last chapter claims we shouldn’t look at the differences in strains of Norse lore as corruption of a fixed tradition, yet at the same time he repeatedly accused Snorri Sturluson of just that.
I like how the author analyses exactly where different aspects of Norse mythology can be confirmed in their culture, different sources, archaeology etc., and I enjoyed his method of retelling the stories in light of all the separate versions that exist. But I can’t help but feel a slight antagonism with later Christian sources. It’s one thing to point out where they differ/include content lacking from other known sources, but they are sometimes painted as especially untrustworthy, which reeks considering how often he recounts the general lack of standardization in and the ancient Norse practice of inventing/changing stories to suit the situation. Snorri, like in every Norse bard, indulges in this. And it seems unfair to hold him to a different standard than his forbears.
In all, this is a good medium-to-deep exploration of Norse culture. But watch out not to trip on the double standard.