Runes Illustrated

As a complete beginner to the runes I was very interested in reading this book, and thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-copy for review.

The book is laid out very clearly with lots of photos and illustrations. Some of the photos seem to be fillers with little direct connection to the text, but this may be a feature of the e-book reader and they may not be as prominent in the printed book. The text itself gives a good introduction to the runes: what they are, the different types, how they are used in divination and how to make your own runes. Each rune is illustrated and explained well, both in the description and the potential meaning in a reading. I particularly enjoyed this part of the book as my primary interest is in divination,

The last part of the book consists of photos and explanations of historic runestones around northern Europe, Personally I found this section a bit 'dry' to read in one go. If I had a copy of the book I would probably revisit it periodically, especially to find stones I could visit nearby.

Overall I think this is a good introduction to the subject.

I've always been curious about runes. I think that curiousity comes from my Scandanavian roots. This was great for a beginner such as myself who really knew very little about them. Most of my experience has come through novels where runes played a part in the storyline. I have a little better understanding now and will be reading more. Thank you for the opportunity to satisfy my curiousity