The Poetic Edda

The first time I read this, I picked up the Andy Orchard translation, and later read a few of the other, older translations. It was a good idea for me; often I have difficulty reading epic poetry and understanding what exactly is going on, and I'd heard that this version dropped a lot of the grandiose language, making it a lot clearer. Despite the inaccuracies pointed out by other reviewers, I was pleased I read it first. That said, definitely go and read at least one other translation to compare and contrast. The interpretations change slightly with every edition, and some of them (especially the older ones) are much more poetic than this one.

Five stars are for the Poetic Edda in general; for the Orchard edition, I'd give it three and a half or four.