Mythology Books

Ilerion is a hunter who is haunted by his inability to protect his loving wife, Cylacia. Now, he is faced with protecting another of her kind, a Damselfly. Ilerion and his men stumble upon a bloody scene of torture, mutilation, and death. Despite all odds, there is a sole survivor. Brutally raped, her wings cut off, and left for dead, the last Damselfly hangs onto life. Her only reason for living is revenge upon the men who have destroyed her people, an act completely alien to her peaceful people.

It seemed to me that Damselflies was actually two books in one. The first part of the story focused primarily on Ilerion and Archinae: their meeting, their journey, and their eventual romance. The second part of the story then continued after the death of Ilerion and Archinae. At this point, the focus of the story was their twin daughters and the continuation of the fulfilling of the prophecy. I personally would have like this book to end with the birth of the children and have the next book begin after this point.

Ilerion and his assistant Nilius have come across a villiage burned to the ground, bodies are now blackened ash along the earth. One woman is left, she barely is alive so Ilerion and Nilius take her to a healer in hopes of saving her life. Arcinae is the last of the Grimmore Damselflies, and has been raped and stripped of her wings.

Unknowing the ways of the cold hearted, she must learn to fight. She is on a mission to exact revenge on those that have killed her kind, and Ilerion will teach her what she needs to know. Lazaro would pay dearly for trying to vanquish her kind. But she is still without her wings, she is riding under the guise of just a woman. Arcinae hopes to find the hidden Sylph's, they may be her only hope to be turned back into a full Damselfly.

Ilerion, Nilius, and Arcinae are out for blood, but they will have many twists along the way. A true young adult fantasy woven with precise detail, Jayel Gibson makes her Ancient Mirrors Tales a fabulous wonder to read. 5 Hearts

Lives are ruled by prophecy and legend in Gibson's continuation of the Ancient Mirrors series. Men whose minds have been corrupted seek to destroy all the enchanted folk, especially the Damselflies, because of their fear of a legend telling that men would be ruled by a Damselfly's halfling daughter. Only through the kindness of two hunters is Arcinaë able to survive, becoming the last Damselfly. She struggles to overcome her passive nature and become a warrior, in order to get revenge on the men who killed her Damselfly kin and to learn to lead Grimmoirë, as is her right. Damselflies tells the tale of Arcinaë's struggles as well as those of her halfling daughters.

Firstly, I commend Gibson for being able to weave a thrilling story that held my interest the entire way through. I really like the strong female characters presented throughout the Ancient Mirrors series, and Damselflies was no exception. These females are skilled warriors in battle and are also highly intelligent and usually stubborn, yet they are easy to like by the reader. I also like how there's always a bit of romance woven into the story, even in the midst of fighting. My only issue with this story was that in the second half, the plot seemed rushed and sometimes details were unclear, such as the location of one character and who spoke what line. However, Damselflies was a truly exciting read.

Out of the three first novels in the Ancient Mirrors series, Damselflies is by far my favorite. It isn't necessary to read the first two novels to understand Damselflies, but I recommend reading Dragon Queen and The Wreckening just because they are also great stories, although readers who are not very into fantasy may be intimidated by the length of Gibson's novels.

Reviewed by Ian McCurley (age 13) for Reader Views Kids(10/07)

"Damselflies" begins when Ilerion and his servant, Nilus, are traveling through the country of Aelarggessae. They come upon the ruins of what was the last settlement of the Damselflies. The Damselflies were a winged pacifistic race of the enchanted. Finding only one alive, they take her to a healer. With both her wings and her pacifistic nature gone, the Damselfly wants revenge on those who brutalized and butchered her and murdered her people. Ilerion vows to help her. He discovers that Lord Lazaro, due to fear of a prophecy, has been ordering the murder of all enchanted races in Grimmoire. During their quest for revenge, Ilerion and Nilus train the Damselfly whose name is Arcinae to fight. After her training, Ilerion sends Arcinae to Revere in Aedracmorae. She travels there through the Ancient Mirrors to meet with the Dragon Queen, Yavie. The Dragon Queen uses her influence over the winged council to convince the Feie to rekindle the Light of Grimmoire. During her stay with the Dragon Queen, Qwen, the estranged daughter of Yavie's guardian Nall, helps Arcinae find the Sylph who give Arcinae her wings back in exchange for her immortality. For her help, Qwen asks Arcinae to help the wizard Lohgaen to recover his birthright, the House of Lochlaen. Meanwhile, Ilerion is gathering forces to defeat Lord Lazaro before he and his allies can take over Aelarggessae.

The book "Damselflies" hooks the reader from the start, and the story flows well. Jayel Gibson's writing style is, as always, unique. The characters are deep and dynamic with little unknown about them. The mood of the book changes throughout its entirety. The book is divided into two parts; I have only summarized the first. I will not hint at the plot of the second part because it would give too much away, though the book does span two generations.

This book is for ages 15 and up who enjoy reading fantastic tales of adventure. "Damselflies" is the third in the Ancient Mirrors series.



Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (10/07)

Set during a time of magic, "Damselflies" begins with the story of Arcinae and her mate Ilerion. Arcinae is the last of the Damselflies. Her race was destroyed by a warlord who feared them and their magic. Barely surviving herself, she is aided by others who want to save her magic. Ilerion rescues her and teaches her to defend herself. This totally goes against her nature, but she must be willing to be violent to survive. In time, they fall in love and have two daughters. The second part of the book tells the story of the two Halfling daughters.

J'yorie is the strong one. She is a warrior like her father. She has been born without wings and therefore is able to hide her Damselfly blood. Her sister A'Janae has the wings of a damselfly. She is the gentler of the two. When she is kidnapped, J'yorie goes in search of her. She goes with trusted friends, but along the way she encounters others that are willing to help. She has to decide whom to trust. Not everyone is what they appear to be.

Jayel Gibson has written an incredible, timeless fantasy novel. I had such a hard time putting this book down. I was disappointed when it ended and it is over four-hundred pages! Since the story is written in a different place, she supplies maps that help the reader understand the lay of the land. Ms. Gibson also includes an extensive glossary that makes it easier to understand some of the terms and the names of the people being discussed.

In spite of this being a fantasy tale, there are undercurrents of prejudice, suspicion, and distrust that we see among different cultures in our mundane world. As in the novel, what is not understood by one race tends to be feared and hated by another. The people in this novel, who were not prejudiced, greatly benefited from their relationships with those of the other races. Except for the trolls and a few other creatures, the supernatural races all seemed to be able to work together; they did not fear each others gifts such as man did.

I highly recommend "Damselfies" to people who enjoy fantasy fiction. This is a well-written, quality novel. I look forward to other books that will be a part of "The Ancient Mirrors Tale" series.

I'm Canadian (but not First Nations) and laughed so much during the first of these cassettes that I had to stop and buy all of them. The humour is consistent, the delivery is excellent, and the topics are hilarious - I keep listening just to find out how many different ways Jasper Friendly Bear can make Tom buy his coffee.

Absolutely hilarious, if your ego can withstand uppity Indians.
Audio File review is plainly and hopelessly clueless on this one.

I'm Canadian (but not First Nations) and laughed so much during the first of these cassettes that I had to stop and buy all of them. The humour is consistent, the delivery is excellent, and the topics are hilarious - I keep listening just to find out how many different ways Jasper Friendly Bear can make Tom buy his coffee.

This is possibly the funniest audio recording I own, but if you aren't Canadian, and/or Native American you probably shouldn't bother. They are able to make me laugh even while harpooning me for behaviours I have been guilty of, and while making incredibly cynical comments on European treatment of North America's first residents. Because of the humour, they can make comments that would otherwise be harsh beyond belief. The cast also has a fine sense of the plain slapstick, and absurd presented with great comic timing. I've had to pull the car over several times while listening to it because I was laughing too hard to drive safely.

I know for a fact that Ben Feinberg has watched over one hundred hours of "I Dream of Jeanie."

But if that's not enough to convince you to buy his book, you might consider the actual subject matter. How do people in small places not overcome by the hegemony of time and space most people reading this website live with conceive of time and space? Feinberg looks at this, dealing with different categories of time and such from the perspective of the Sierra Mazteca. How do you get to Oaxaca de Juarez from Juatla? Where is the United States, and who are these weird tourists?

Read the book for the answers to these questions and more.

I've been interested in the Sierra Mazateca for years-- after spending time there, I read the handful of books written about it, yet felt that there was much more to be said. I was thrilled to discover that last year, someone finally wrote a well-researched ethnography about it. Feinberg's book is packed with fascinating observations and reflections on the way people in the Sierra Mazateca understand and talk about their lives, history, and "culture." I would recommend this book to anyone with a background in anthropology or a similar field who is interested in cultural identity negotiation and "indigenous-ness," Oaxaca, sacred mushrooms, and folklore about devils and caves.

His analysis is brilliant. If you are unsatisfied after reading through once, then I suggest you purchase another copy and read it over again.

I know for a fact that Ben Feinberg has eaten Armour(tm) Potted Meat Food Product.

There have been a few books readily available on various deities and spirits of the world, but this is by far the best I have ever seen. I appreciate that the author really seems to have done some solid research, theres certainly a bit more than just the scratch of the surface on many of the deities listed. I have found a lot of information on many Gods that I had heard of, and even more on those that I had not. Buy with confidence.

With over 500 pages of listings, the "Dictionary of Ancient Deities" is an excellent guide to ancient deities, as well as related topics such as spirits, festivals, places, sacred objects, heroes, monsters, demigods, and mythical beasts. Not only mojor religions represented (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, etc.) but also various mythologies (Norse, Roman, Greek) as well as less commonly found info on Native American and African deities.

The index includes not only the entries, but aslo subjects (such as dreams). Each entry includes its source in parentheses, plus alternate spellings and similiar entries from other cultures.

The index does include some useful groupings (i.e. India, Norse Mythology, etc) but an appendix that grouped the entries exclusively by culture or religion would have been a nice bonus. Also, there are some strange omissions: Archangel Gabriel is listed, but Michael is not; Abraham is here, Moses is not. Still, this well-indexed book is highly recommeded for researchers, students and those interested in comparitive religion.

Go to the mythology section of any bookstore and peruse the shelves--what is the ratio of Greek/Roman & Norse mythology to any other? As much as I love delving deeper into the more well known myths/religions, a little variety would be wonderful. And it just so happened that one day it was necessary.

I was hunting about for some information on Egyptian and Slavic mythology, but found precious little on the latter and only a little more on the former. That's when I came across the *Dictionary of Ancient Deities*. I flipped to the index and found every name that I was looking for(including some obscure ones that I had found no mention of in any other books.) This wonderful reference tool spans just about every continent and gives a concise accounting of people, places, etc.

Sure, the entries may not be incredibly long, but it's the best starting place I've yet to find. And even just thumbing through it, stopping when an interesting name or ritual popped out at me, gave me some interesting writing ideas. *The Dictionary of Ancient Deities* is surely a must for anyone wishing to explore world mythology.

This reference was filled with a smaller number of Gods and Goddesses than some other books that can be found, but as far as the references go, They were down to the point and yet still full of usefull information. I recomend this book to those who wish to crss reference Gods and Goddesses from many different religions and just read in general.

This is a book that is easy to read. It beautifully explains many of the Navajo stories of their creation. There is humor, pathos and much wisdom.
If you read it, you will see parallels to other stories of creation.
A lovely book to read any time, but especially if you are planning to visit the American southwest. You will appreciate New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado in a heightened way, seeing sacred spots to the Navajo and understanding why they are to be respected.

This book is about the creation of life. How human beings evolved in a world that had kaos. This tale includes many different worlds, in which life was discovered. Many gods have created human life to bring forth to what we arrived to today, but the only thing to destroy us is kaos. Hatred among both sexes causes the seperation which leads to longing for one another. Among the humans, anxiety was brought to the world and the gods who created the world, got angey. So the gods took action and destroyed the world by pushing all forms of life out almost killing everyone, but the humans were the smartest and emerged into the next world which is known today

There are several versions of the Navajo Creation Story known but Paul Zolbrod has captured the most plausible and accepted rendition in print. Most Navajos that I know accept this text as adequate and feel that the author's treatment of the subject matter is fair and sensitive to a very vital element of Dine' culture. Many Navajos, especially elders will say that the material printed in this book used to be reserved for the sweat hooghan and special times between family members but understand that now things have changed and accept the publication of very special and sensitive aspects of a great peoples' religion, as long as it is done under the auspices of the Navajo Nation. Perhaps in time others will publish material more to the needs of Navajo scholars but to this day this book is the literary standard of the creation stories.

Paul Zolbrod does a fine job of collating his own transcriptions of Navajo oral traditions with the records of other scholars from decades past to create a seamless narration of the Navajo story of creation. This is a valuable contribution to a deeper understanding of a specific native American culture.

Searching for a book on fables / folktales and was delighted when I came across this book. Although illustrated and retold by adults with disabilities, I think this is a great book to encourage and empower students of all backgrounds, special needs or ELL. I especially like the section of "What This Story Means to Me" after each fable.

These are my kind of fables! I love the different points of view. It's past time people on the spectrum and people with a myriad of challenges had a turn at bat.

As a child, I said I didn't like "stories with morals" because they were the kind "people tell when they're mad at you." This is a refreshing change of pace from the preachy, personal dig and judgmental tone that many moralistic tales take. Kudos to this book!

This book was recommended through a school reading program that I volunteer for and it is truly an amazing book. It is uplifting for children and adults due to the morals of the stories and the illustrators' biographies.

This is a charming and unque book. The artists' stories provide a nice counterpoint to the fables. Having not read Aesop's fables since I ws a child, I was amazed how insightful and apropos they remain. This book would make a nice inspirational gift.

The Disobedience of the Daughter of the Sun: A Mayan Tale of Ecstasy, Time, and Finding One's True Form
Wonderful storytelling of a creation/coming of age(s) myth that has echoes in myths from many cultures and lands. The exploration into five layers of meaning that follow the story give a greater depth and breadth to the mastery (and mystery) of storytelling and myths, which is transferable to reading and understanding other myths. Very resonant with Kabbalah and earth-based traditions.

Much as he does with his paintbrush, Prechtel as storyteller excels in painting a vibrant landscape of words. As he draws out the subtle details of the book's central myth, like the nuances of various hues on a canvas, he pulls us deeper into the bigger picture of this ancient tribal teaching story. Here we are introduced to the concept of the Indigenous Soul.

Prechtel descibes the Indigenous Soul as "...that natural non-human, spiritual origination place inside all beings, peoples, animals, and plants that is older than anything ancestral, past the ancestral greatnesses and sucesses, past the ancestral ruts, prejudices and stupidity."

This story a significant gift--an invitation to recover our own innate indigenousity--that comes from the Tzutujil people and is made possible through Prechtel's artful use of metaphorical language. I encourage those concerned with the loss of native traditions and wisdom to read this story, or better yet to live this story, and help bring the world back to life.

We in the West have at least a nodding acquaintance with the coded language of various mythic traditions - the Greco-Roman, the Norse, the Celtic - but here is something unique. It is a centuries-old story to live by - an ecology of the spirit - told by an ancient people, recorded and interpreted by Martin Prechtel.

Prechtel gathered the Story over years of living among the Tzutujil Maya in Guatemala where he learned their language. Since these people were almost totally wiped out by American-backed death squads in the '80s, this a treasure book.

The Story, then, is of the beautiful Tall Daughter of the Sun (a workaholic) and his wife, the Moon (somewhat of a shrew). Their daughter weaves the world alive on her loom - a womb of creation. She is a being too elevated in her parents' eyes to have a mate because, of course, no man is good enough for her. [Sound familiar?]

Enter the Short Boy - a little man shining with "...a green brilliance, which in the right light sparkled iridescent..." He comes in the morning after her parents have gone to work. They recognize each other immediately as the Beloved. Turns out that he is the son of Hurricane and Ocean (but she doesn't find that out until she is running away with him). When their liaison is inevitably discovered, the Daughter, in her own defense, truly maintains that they never touched. "What they did do for hours was lose each other fast and far inside the other's eyes." [Remember that?] She loves him.

Mother Moon, in a hissy fit and a twirling rage, says.."Love him! Him! How can you love something that can only lick your knees? Well?!! And the Daughter is "...chilled by the winds of her mother's hatred and by the shock of being hated for the first time." [Been there, done that - yet?]

How their arch-enemy, the Northwind, blows all their hopes to smithereens and how the Beloved Daughter of all creation is re-membered into a new form, is the substance of the rest of the story. It has elements of other world myths in it (the gathering of her parts somewhat like Isis gathering Osiris, for instance), but unlike the Norse Baldar myth where all present pass the buck for the god's demise, or the compromise cyclic disappearance and return myth of the Greek Eleusinian Mysteries, all creatures in the Mayan world accept responsibility for their complicity in either precipitating the tragedy or letting it happen. And they all cooperate, with grief, repentance and hope, in an effort to bring the Daughter, who is life itself, back to life in any form.

Told with humor, compassion, mystery and understanding, I wouldn't call this story a myth set in granite. It's an interactive live Story of Life reverberating through time. I read the entire book with the author's five levels of commentaries (aloud in parts. The entire narrative reads like a prose poem). And then I went back and read the Story again, and its world view began to enter my dreams. [No kidding!]

Prechtel's commentaries add layers of understanding. In the first layer, he observes that, "To punish or trivialize the youth for having subtlety of vision is what makes depression an epidemic in modern culture."

"So often the artist is sacrificed for the art and the art is what lives. This story tells us that our art must be sacrificed, turned into a magic that puts us back together in a new way and hatches the world back to life" and that "...living the life of an artist is not as useful as living our lives as a work of art."

In the second layer, he notes that: "In this story-method of learning, we humans become part of the geography of nature, important not because of our inventories or conquests, or chronicles of having been victimized, or our labor-saving inventions that kill this geography, or our egalitarianism or our capacity to get to heaven, but just for having been born and showing up for work, the work of living out our part of the story."

In the third layer, the author talks about indigenous languages that eliminate the verb "to be." I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind around this concept, but as I understand it, "to be" is an abstraction and indigenous people don't distance themselves from the rest of creation by abstractions.

"The brilliant ingenuity of Indigenous language...though often mounted on rails of metaphor, is the way they zoom way past metaphor into realms of undertandings that have metaphor looking rather naive," says Prechtel.

"A ritual can "be" the universe, because the ritual and the universe can be the same thing. In this way our bodies are not metaphors of the Earth; they are the Earth."

Unlike her future in-law, the Sun, whose Time only lives now, the Ocean is nonsequential time, time already done, time to come, time that will never happen, time that could have happened and more, all mixed into one large matrix of Gathered Time." Time and water. "To the Tzutujil there is only one water which rushes, puddles or is captured in a multitude of diverse forms like plant leaves, hot springs, rivers, lakes, ponds, ice, tears and streams, and like the amniotic flood at our births, all this water is trying to get back home to the original mother of life, the Great Grandmother Ocean, the great dream pool."

The fourth layer is a true story in present time that puts it all on the palm of your hand like a Hummingbird and the fifth layer is a perfect round waterdrop - a distillation like brandy from the wine of the Story.

I wish I could give this work 8 stars. Eight would be just about right.

pamhan99@aol.com

I reviewed an ARC of this book a couple of months ago, and was quite intrigued by the story that was retold by Prechtel, an experienced shaman, or medicine man of sorts. According to the publisher, Prechtel previously published two non-fiction books, but this is his first work of fiction. Although the story starts off as a simple tale, it is soon apparent that there is much more behind the scenes than was evident at first glance. For a wonderful and concise summary of the content, please read the review below this one - I could not have said it better myself, so I won't even try.

The tale is the probably the easiest part - deciphering the several layers of deeper meaning is where the experience becomes much more complex. There are a few passages that come to mind that I have already outlined, and I definitely plan to read this book again in the future. I would recommend that anyone, like me, is not well-versed in complex philosophical thought, read the explanations behind each layer in a couple of sessions rather than all at once. The material is a bit much for the average reader, particularly people that, like me, are mostly used to reading works of fiction, but that should not detract from its appeal. Of course, much of the discussion covers some universal truths, and everyone could stand to pick up some valuable lessons from the book. This is a book that I don't plan to get rid of anytime soon. Check it out, if you dare..

Very well written book, one of my personal favorites from the Time-Life series. This book spans the globe on dragons and folklore from europe , asia, and russia as well. There's a pretty handy section called a field guide for dragons that may help you on your quest! Some pretty wild art in here also. My favorite sections were, Glittering gods of the east, and a story titled "sojourn into a watery realm." well worth purchasing if your into the enchanted world series!

I read this book in the 5th grade and still enjoy it today. The book gives insight on the myths and legends of Dragons. It has intresting storys from around the world and some ancient eyewitness acounts. The book is easy to understand and even has refrences to diffrent dragons.

If you love dragons, this is the ultimate guide book. No wizard's library should be without the Time-Life book of Dragons. Learn the difference between a lindworm and a guivre! Find out the sacred tasks of the Chinese dragons! Discover all the uses of a dragon's dream pearl! It's all here. Particularly instructive is the story of the dragon of Lambton Hall. It'll make you think twice about throwing a salamander down the well. I was reading this book at school one day and a boy sitting next to me remarked, "Lucky!" That's how you'll feel when YOU get your hands on the big book of DRAGONS.

This book is one in Time Life Books' The Enchanted World series. Each of these books covers a different aspect of folklore and mythology, and they are an excellent set. They tell stories in a similar format and complement each other well without repeating the content. Each is about 140 pages. This is a beautifully illustrated well printed volume. Modern and older pictures of dragons appear on almost every page. The history here is visual as well as factual.

Each chapter follows the format of general information and then a fairy tale illustrating that theme. The general information here give a very nice overview of the types of dragons in different cultures and the different myths around their slaying and extinction. Stories are retold in a style that makes for a good read and come from all over the world. Often there will be smaller illustrations and captions in the margins to the main text. These tell variations of the story and related stories from other cultures.

This is a beautifully bound and printed book. The binding is just cloth to collectors, but it is printed to look like a wizard's book. The cover shows a dragon holding a picture of Sigurd slaying the dragon. I think it was the cover that got me reading this when I was child.

Chapters:
Chaos Incarnate: A Field Guide to Dragons
Glittering Gods of the East: A maid who braved the deep
The Serpent Ascendant: Sojourn in a watery realm
Rise of the Dragonslayer: Ancient tales of Persian kings

This is a well researched nicely produced series. For me one book in the series had me hooked. If you are interested in mythology and all things magic then it is definitely worth trying out the series. This book especially, with it's Field Guide to Dragons, should appeal to you. High school and middle school libraries should consider the series.

Over my different stays in Kauai I have walked the first two miles of the Kalalau trail several times, and always wondered how it would be to walk it all the way to the Kalalau Valley. Thanks to "Dramas of Kalalau", I now have a good idea of what the trail is like, and the valley as well... I liked a lot reading the very specific descriptions and the tips for the trail itself. Intertwined with this, you have past and recent history of the area, and some really interesting and amusing real-life stories of some of the people encountered there. To my knowledge, there is no other book like this, and I highly recommend it! Not only for those planning to walk the trail, but also for those who would like to do so, but can't. You won't be disappointed.

Having just spent a month on the north shore of Kauai, I was especially interested to read Mr. Moeller's book; to go deeper into Kauai's history, both contemporary and early. I'm glad I did. I couldn't put this book down. The beauty of the Na Pali cliffs is obvious for anyone who has seen them even from a distance, and Mr. Moeller has a special talent for revealing some of this beauty through true-life drama, humor and eyewitness details that can't be faked. The Kalalau valley is brought to life here up close and personal. The characters and situations described in this book will keep you guessing, gasping and laughing. They could only exist in such an other-worldly atmosphere such as Kalalau. This Edenic mythical valley is certainly one of the most beautiful and difficult to access in the world, and worth your time to explore! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book!!

Starts out a little slow, but eventually catches on. Some of the descriptions of the Kalalau characters are very funny and the author has some hilarious chapters about the local scene there. Useful for anyone interested in Hawaiian culture and history. The book ends with the wonderful and inspiring story of Koolau the leper, first recounted by Jack London. In this case the author used primary sources (Koolau's wife's diary) rather than a dramatized version of the legend, though that itself is good reading.
Tom

If you've ever wanted to hike the famous Kalaula trail, or simply would like to read about one of the most fascinating places on God's good earth, this is the book for you.
Dramas of Kalaula focuses on what many consider a "top ten" hiking experience in the world, the eleven- mile trail along the Na Pali Coast in Kaua'i. The book contains excellent color photography as well as practical safety information, but I particularly enjoyed the amusing tidbits. It is filled with bits of history, as well as entertaining interviews with Kalalau hikers, recluses and "personalities."
I confess that I am entirely too lazy to have ever done the entire trail myself, but the book (almost) has prodded me into trying again. Kalalau beckons, all you armchair travelers and avid hikers out there. Answer the call and start with this guidebook. Eminently readable and thoroughly entertaining.
Cheryl Swanson, Mystery author, Death Game
www.cherylswanson.net

This is my absolute favorite English/Old Norse Translation of the Poetic Edda. It has marvelous woodcut illustrations and is side by side Old Norse and English, giving the reader an instant feel for the beauty in the poetic meter of the Original. Bray's translation is soft and artful and at times emotional, and yet the power behind the epic words is not at all compromised. For the Eddic enthusiast, Norse Lore scholar, or heathen devotee this book is worth every penny of its $100+ sales price. It succeeds where Lee Hollander's very literal acedemic translation feels dry and boring. This book is a treasure no Norse Mythology library should be without.

This book is very readable and the drawings give a added attraction to the book,a great translation

First of all, I really like this book, and am saddened that it's currently out of print. Some have expressed some criticism with the "Christianization" of the material, particularly in some of the illustrations, but it still is a favorite.

Sombody should explain to these knuckleheads at Amazon that the title of the book is indeed "the Elder or Poetic Edda"; however, it is attributed (mistakenly) to an Icelandic bishop named Saemendur; Saemunder's first name is not Edda. The actual author is unknown. Olive Bray is the translator.

Lavrans Reimer-Møller
Cambridge MA
USA

I have had this edition of the Edda Saemundar for many years now (the Viking Society first published it in 1908), and consider it the most valuable simply because it is in both Old Norse and English. This makes it possible to unquestioningly follow the original as closely as possible. The Viking Society has always maintained high standards of scholarship.