MYTH WEAVER by David J. Normoyle_Review

Myth Weaver by David J. Normoyle

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This review is based upon a copy provided to me by the author on July 29, 2012, in exchange for my fair, honest, and impartial review, via Goodreads Group Making Connections.


Review of Myth Weaver by David Normoyle

A lovely and lyrical reader’s hook and an endearing protagonist, pathologically shy but yet quite brilliant, commences an intriguing story line. I would judge the protagonist, Jagger, as being autistic yet functional (if he wished to be, that is). He very much lives “inside his head,” in the dream worlds that he imagines and delineates-first, managing a fictional soccer team, then later, after being shunted from his University Creative Writing & Literature program to Mythology-where he’s not wanted, either-he finds himself on the field witnessing Zeus and Odin battle it out. Clearly Jagger has a high intelligence level, but he disdains what his high-powered executive guardian terms “the realwhirl,” and I think if he could, he would ask to leave the real world entirely and just remain permanently inside his mind.
Author David Normoyle draws Jagger so sympathetically, yet makes clear the contrast between how we, the readers, see him-and the view of others who surround him. To us, he has a vivid imaginative life-is sometimes well-read, and is able to think and plan. To others, though, Jagger is practically a “dunce,” never answering, avoiding eye contact, not speaking even when addressed.
I’ve also very much appreciated the author’s clever and well-delineated rendering of the Norse and Greek myths and deity figures, and the way in which he has given mythology a solid foundation by applying it to Jagger’s life, via the discussions and narratives of the gods.
I can well recommend this book for YA readers and adults-it’s well-written, good reading-and encouraging, not to mention the education in myths we glean throughout the story. Mr. Normoyle brings to clarity the legends of both Ancient Greece and of Norse mythology.

This copy was provided to me by the author, David Normoyle, via Goodreads Group Making Connections-YA Edition, in exchange for my agreement to provide a fair, honest, and authentic review.




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