Review: Odin (Asgardians #1) by George O'Connor

Title: Odin

Series: Asgardians #1

Author: George O'Connor

Genre: Middle Grade, graphic novel, fantasy, Norse mythology

Publication date: March 26th 2024

Published by: First Second

Source: eARC from publishers via Netgalley

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Synopsis: Following his smash-hit the Olympians series, New York Times bestseller George O'Connor embarks on a new saga about the Norse gods. This first volume tells the story of the warrior god Odin!

Welcome to the Nine Worlds, home of Gods, Valkyries, Dwarves, Jotnar, and more! Travel the burning rainbow bridge to Asgard where Odin, king of the Aesir, surveys his realm. His thirst for knowledge drives him ever onward, but nothing is learned without sacrifice...

In Asgardians, George O’Connor’s highly kinetic illustrations bring these gritty and astonishing tales of war, betrayal, and the quest for enlightenment at any cost to vivid and startling life and provide the perfect companion to his Olympians series.

My rating: ★★★★☆

I really enjoyed this author’s Olympians graphic novel series, so I was very excited when I found out he was going to be starting a Norse mythology series!

I love mythology, but Norse mythology is one I’m not super familiar with. And I really enjoyed this retelling! We start off with the myth of creation which, again, I didn’t know. But apparently, Odin and his two brothers killed the giant Ymir and made the world and the first two humans from that. They made Midgar from the giant’s eye...

I did not know any of this! Most of the myths that were retold in this graphic novel I was severely unfamiliar with, so I really enjoyed reading about them! One thing I noticed though, is that Odin is the type of guy to attack first and ask questions never. This guy would just attack people left and right just because he, idk, didn’t like the look of them. Lol. At the end of the book in the author’s notes section called Norse Code (I love this part of the book by the way! It is so informative!), he mentions xenophobia and I was like yes! The way that Odin is portrayed? Absolutely! It made me not like him very much if I’m honest.

Another thing I noticed is that these myths seemed choppy, skipping over things and characters just straight up disappearing at times. Well, the myths seemed fragmented because they are!! Unfortunately, a lot of the original material is either missing or lost, and as a lover of mythology, this makes me so sad! These myths are so interesting and it would’ve been nice to get the complete picture. But I guess that’s just the way history is.

But I very much enjoyed this! I loved learning about Odin and the Norse myths, especially after the Marvel movies totally tainted my knowledge of Norse mythology. The way those movies crammed so much inaccurate information in my head. Lol.

And one thing I liked about these myths is how hard they go! In Greek mythology, more often than not, it’s about Zeus romancing anything and everything that passes him by and him just having a bunch of kids. Lol. But this one had a lot of action and fighting, which I enjoyed. Even if Odin was the one to always initiate it, which honestly made me question his sanity 👀😂

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊