Ragnarok: The End of the Gods Audiobook (Unabridged)

" Glad the Kindle has a dictionary. I met several words I did not know. So this enjoyable book expanded my vocabulary and my knowledge of Norse myth. "

" A three of five rating for an A. S. Byatt book is basically a five of five ranking for any other book. Ragnarok was brilliant, but not my favorite of her works. Very worth reading for the stunning prose. "

" I just couldn't get into this book. I think it's mainly because I misunderstood the blurb and it was nothing like what I expected it to be like. I find it hard to read a book when I cannot connect emotionally with the characters. Byatt actually intentionally dehumanised the Gods (or didn't conform to the practise of giving them human qualities) and the Thin Child was a deliberately distant character. It meant that I struggled to care what happened. HOWEVER, I don't think this is the last time I will read this book. I sense that somewhere in there is a story that I have yet to find. The writing was superb and I believe the book deserves another reading. Perhaps I will like it more if the style and content doesn't take me off guard as it has done on this occasion. "

" Less of a novel than an epic poem. It's a paean to the world of the Norse gods but equally, and in parallel, a paean to the English natural world that is increasingly lost to development and environmental destruction. There are a lot of sentences that are just lyrical lists of what there was. So it's a kind of mind-painting. "

" When I first picked this book up, I thought it was going to be one of those quick-reference factual books, the kind you can read in a day. Well, I did read it in a day, but it wasn't one of those books. For a girl so young the main character, the "thin child during wartime", has some very interesting opinions that I was able to ponder for some time after finishing. Overall a very appealing book. "

" A great re-telling of the Norse Myths alongside a child growing up in World War 2. Lovely design and layout with some illustrations. Great back up with further reading and an afterwards by the author talking abut this piece. "

" None of her novels has quite rivaled my first favorite, Possession, but this was very close! "

" it is okay ... "

" Not truly a retelling of myth, not truly a work of fiction, this is lush with detail and completely absorbing. I was sorry when there was no more left to read. "

" I'm not conversant with Nordic myths. It was interesting but somewhat confusing. "

" Tooooo poetic for this girl, where are all the monsters and bombs?? Had to quit early and move on. "

" Interesting work featuring the end of the Norse gods ... Byatt's essay on the use of myths in fiction was intriguing reading at the end. "

" A.S. Byatt is an amazing author. This was an engrossing re-telling of the Ragnorak story, from the perspective of a little girl in WWII Britain. Totally worth the time to read it, even for people who may not enjoy mythology much. "

" Gave me bad dreams, but I enjoyed this retelling of the Norse myth. "

" Not my favourite of AS Byatt's works, but it's still wonderfully written. "

" A beautiful retelling of Norse mythology and Ragnarok set against the backdrop of the Second World War. Byatt's wonderfully descriptive writing is a sight to behold and to treasure. "

" I don't know if this is fiction, mythology, memoir, or criticism. I just know it's good. "

" I wanted to like this, I really did. But it fell short. It read like a textbook, and while I did not mind learning about the gods I kept waiting for the story about the little girl to develop. All in all a 1.5/5. "