The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún: Pre- and Reviews

[Lalaith]

but he is writing for a national newspaper

Shippey is writing for the Times which is also a national newspaper.
I've no problem with a reviewer saying the book's mass-market targeting might be misguided given rather scholarly niche of the subject matter. However, when he starts trying to give a literary response to the poetry the it becomes rather painful:

Thanks to the rhythm you can hear the approaching horses.

I've seen better from 14-year-olds.
And then...

It is some kind of achievement to bulk up the equivalent of 500 Twitter messages to 377 pages but there is no disguising the fact that everyone involved is simply flogging a dead Norse.

What the hell has Twitter got to do with anything?