That said, I’m not the only one who noticed discrepancies. Many, especially adult readers seem to love it. I might be one of the only ones to think like this about Odd and the Frost Giants. Neil Gaiman writes a lot of stories for events and anthologies and I’ve often noticed in the past that they aren’t as good as the other stories. The beginning is very nice, typical Gaiman, but then it sort of fizzles out. Odd, who may be strange and disabled, is also courageous and so they travel to Asgard together to defeat the Frost Giants. But because of a mistake, they were booted out by the Frost Giants. Usually they live in Asgard, not in Midgard, where they meet Odd. They are not really animals but the Gods Odin, Thor, and Loki.

At night, Odd finds out that the three animals can talk. On his way to his dad’s old hut, he meets a bear, a fox, and an eagle who accompany him. Odd doesn’t only leave because he’s mistreated by his stepdad but because, for the first time, this year, spring isn’t coming. He has the habit of smiling an infuriating smile. After his dad’s death, his mother married again, and the stepdad doesn’t like Odd. Odd, a half-Viking, half Scottish boy with a disability from an accident, leaves his home. Besides, I haven’t read any of Gaiman’s children’s books so far, with the exception of Coraline, and The Graveyard Book, which appeal to kids and grown-ups alike. Odd and the Frost Giants is inspired by Norse Mythology and because I want to read Gaiman’s book on Norse Myths, I thought it would be fun to read this first. It’s also illustrated but the illustrations are not very typical for a Neil Gaiman book as they aren’t anything special. My version is the World Book Day version. The one in the middle was illustrated by someone called Adam. The book has since been reissued twice, illustrated by different people, one of which is Odd and the Frost Giants illustrated by Chris Riddell. That’s the cover on the right. Neil Gaiman wrote Odd and the Frost Giants for World Book Day 2008. The cover on the left is the original cover.

Odd and the frost giants illustrations