Odd and the Frost Giants

I had a internal debate about this book a few months ago. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to read it digitally or not. I ended up deciding to just go for it, and read the advance reading copy on my computer.

I didn’t enjoy the experience of reading the book digitally. I got antsy while reading it on my computer. I wished the book was in my hands. I don’t enjoy reading books on a screen. That is never going to change.

That said, I did enjoy the story itself. Here’s the description from Amazon:

In this inventive, short, yet perfectly formed novel inspired by traditional Norse mythology, Neil Gaiman takes readers on a wild and magical trip to the land of giants and gods and back.

In a village in ancient Norway lives a boy named Odd, and he’s had some very bad luck: His father perished in a Viking expedition; a tree fell on and shattered his leg; the endless freezing winter is making villagers dangerously grumpy.

Out in the forest Odd encounters a bear, a fox, and an eagle—three creatures with a strange story to tell.

Now Odd is forced on a stranger journey than he had imagined—a journey to save Asgard, city of the gods, from the Frost Giants who have invaded it.

It’s going to take a very special kind of twelve-year-old boy to outwit the Frost Giants, restore peace to the city of gods, and end the long winter.

Someone cheerful and infuriating and clever . . .

Someone just like Odd.

It’s quite a bit different that his other kid’s books that I’ve read (The Graveyard Book and Coraline). This feels more like a classic fable, a timeless story (because it is – I like that it’s based on Norse mythology). I enjoyed it, but as an adult I didn’t love it as much as I did the stories of Coraline and Nobody Owens. Probably because I’m not incredibly into folklore, although I don’t know why that is.

I do think it’s going to be a great book for kids, which is, after all, its intent. I think my little brother will love it.

I can’t wait until it’s released (September 22). I want to see it in person and look at the final illustrations. (In the ARC only sketches are included.)

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Neil Gaiman

My favorite part of the discussion was his thoughts about the creative process. He said that any creative person (writer, designer, artist, etc.) often works better when working within certain parameters. If an editor says to a writer, “I want you to write something for me, it can be absolutely anything you’d like,” and you’ll observe how absolutely nothing comes out. However, when you give people creative guidelines, they thrive. You can tell them you’re collecting pieces for an anthology about cats who think they’re Shakespeare, or Shakespeare thinking he’s a cat, and you’ll be flooded with submissions. (He explained this thinking much more eloquently than I just did.) I really like this example, and I’m going to try to keep it in mind when I’m trying to work on a creative project. I often give myself wide open parameters as well, and I bet I would come up with more ideas if I set some guidelines for myself to stick to.

Neil Gaiman

There’s a picture of him signing books. I got my copy of The Graveyard Book signed:

Signed “The Graveyard Book”

Also, I just found a great, detailed description of the event and what Neil spoke about on this blog, if you’re interested in reading more about the event. You can also actually listen to the entire event on the Pen World Voices website if you’d like.

(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)