The Poetic Edda – The Raw Voice of the Norse World
The Prose Edda gave me the map of Norse mythology. The Poetic Edda dropped me into the territory itself — no guide, no handrail, just ancient voices coming at you sideways. It's rawer, stranger, and in its best moments considerably more powerful.
The Prose Edda – The Mythology That Built Modern Fantasy
Before Tolkien. Before Marvel. Before almost every fantasy world you've ever loved. There was this — one Icelandic writer in the 1200s who decided to write down the Norse myths before they disappeared forever. Turns out it was the most important thing he ever did.
The Ramayana – Duty the Distance of Perfection
A prince. An exile. A abduction. And a war fought across an ocean to get one woman back. The Ramayana is the most focused epic I've read on this challenge — and somehow also the most uncomfortable.
The Mahabharata – Too Big to Hold
The longest epic ever written. A family destroying itself. A war that costs everything. And somewhere in the middle of it all — one of the greatest philosophical texts in human history, just casually sitting there inside a bigger book.
The Aeneid – the Cost FOR AN Empire
Virgil’s The Aeneid is not just a continuation of Homeric storytelling — it is a shift in purpose. Where The Odyssey is about the struggle to return home, The Aeneid is about the burden of building one. Through Aeneas, we explore a hero defined not by glory, but by sacrifice, duty, and the weight of a future he cannot escape.
The Odyssey – The Long Road Home
A 5-star reflection on The Odyssey—a story not of victory, but of endurance, identity, and the long road home. Where The Iliad explored what a man will die for, this epic asks what he must survive to return.
The Iliad – Rage, Honour, and the Cost of Glory
A review of The Iliad exploring rage, honour, and the cost of glory—revealing a story far less about war, and far more about the consequences of refusing to let go.
The Epic of Gilgamesh – Ego & mortality
A deep dive into The Epic of Gilgamesh, the world’s oldest recorded story, exploring mortality, friendship, and the timeless human struggle to find meaning in the face of death.