Odd and the Frost Giants
by Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury, 2008); audiobook read by Neil Gaiman (Bolinda, 2018)
A gentle fairytale that foregrounds, in its young protagonist, a healthy, happy-go-lucky open-mindedness and lack of preconceptions. Through Odd, Gaiman subtly modernises the genre’s worldview, bringing clarity and self-awareness (plus a certain phlegmatic Britishness) to the endlessly fascinating characters of Norse mythology.