To the one that I serve

When I ordered the book Living Asatru I expected much more than what I got for my money. I wouldn't even consider it to be a book to be honest. It's more like a hand held small reference. There was some good information in the book, but I feel it could have been expanded quite a bit more.

The book does provide the reader with a good idea of how the author interprets the way an Asatrur should live. He never says that his work is an authoritative book on the works. He merely states that the book is a reflection of how he interprets his own path. It seemed to me that the book has more potential if it was expanded into a longer book (it's only about 60 pages, if that)

One of the things that this “book” had going for it was the description of the ethical code of Asatru. Unlike other books I have read on Asatru this book actually gave sample situations with an answer for the question of is that behavior ethical. The book also included the 6 fold Goals, which the author considered more behavioral goals than ethical standards.

I did like how the author gave a brief overview of Orlog and how ones Orlog is important for the future of their kith and kin. I do wish he had elaborated a bit further on the issue of Wyrd, Orlog and the soul in general. Still his work was intended to be small, and you can't cover everything in a few pages. The book barely covered the basics.

The most disappointing thing about the book was the information on the Gods. Each God only had about a paragraph on them. Now for a book on Asatru I would have expected at least a page for each God giving examples from the Lore about that God and how they interacted together. Even then not all of the Gods were covered. So in general this book left a lot to be desired in regards to the information on the Gods.

Another disappointing area of the book was the information regarding the holidays and how the Gods were honored. The book gives a deity for the festival, when it happens, and that was about it. No information about exactly what the rites would have included, nor does it offer any information about how to worship these Gods. While there were two samples of rituals, those rituals were written with a Gothi in mind. There was no information about how a nonmember of the clergy could worship.

All in all if this was someone's very first book on the subject they could get something out of it. If however you are familiar with Asatru your money would be better spent on books of Lore or even other books on the topic. I will not be reading this book again. I intend to sell it and hope that some one else will get more out of it than I did.
I will give my all