My Favorite Books

The Walking Drum
Ender's Game
Dune
Jhereg
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Curse of Chalion
The Name of the Wind
Chronicles of the Black Company
The Faded Sun Trilogy
The Tar-Aiym Krang

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Review: Norse Paganism for Beginners: Explore The History of The Old Norse Religion - Asatru, Cosmology, Astrology, Mythology, Magic, Runes, Tarot, Witchcraft & More

Norse Paganism for Beginners: Explore The History of The Old Norse Religion - Asatru, Cosmology, Astrology, Mythology, Magic, Runes, Tarot, Witchcraft & More Norse Paganism for Beginners: Explore The History of The Old Norse Religion - Asatru, Cosmology, Astrology, Mythology, Magic, Runes, Tarot, Witchcraft & More by History Brought Alive
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The narration was okay with some more obvious pronunciation issues (but it was close enough).  The topic itself is a very quick summary of a Norse culture (circa 10th to 12th centuries).  For the most part, I would have been happier with a little more as some of the brief treatments might lead to a few minor misunderstandings and some would just be more interesting IMHO if etymology were included … such as what exactly the names of each of the nine realms actually mean.  

Additionally there are a few careless comments that imply Easter was synchronized from a Norse holiday instead of the other way around (based solely upon the “bunny” avatar).  No serious scholar that I know of would make that connection (although it is pretty common on social media).  There are some comparisons between Egyptian myths and Norse myths that are a bit of a stretch with no real support other than similarities (which would be expected for any cultures in contact with each other), so fun to think about but not really accepted by any consensus.  All that said … this was a pretty fair introduction to the topic and I would recommend it.

Introduction
Chapter 1 - History of Norse Paganism
Chapter 2 - Norse Pagan Beliefs and Values
Chapter 3 - Spiritual Practices
Chapter 4 - The Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda
Chapter 5 - The Norse Pagan Creation Myth
Chapter 6 - The Nine Realms
Chapter 7 - Mythological Gods, Creatures, and Being
Chapter 8 - Ragnarok
Chapter 9 - Magic in Norse Paganism
Chapter 10 - Runes Tarot and Astrology
Chapter 11 - Norse Pagan Pathways
Chapter 12 - Norse Paganism in the Modern World
Conclusion

I was given this free advance review copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#NorsePaganismForBeginners #KindleUnlimited

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My Ratings Explained ...

  • [ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
  • [ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
  • [ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
  • [ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
  • [ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.