Reviews

4,5.

"The truth is a slippery customer"

Starting with the Norse creation myths, the trickster god Loki takes the reader on a wild ride through Norse mythology, from the time the gods - the founders of Asgard - defeated races of monsters, and hurtling through famous stories.
Alongside the politics of Asgard, it charts the course of Loki's many loves and families, from his mothering of Odin's famous horse to his intense, turbulent, and, eventually, fatal relationship with Baldr the Beautiful - a tender and moving story of love that goes wrong, jealousy and a transitioning that is forbidden by society.

I love norse mythology and especially Loki. He is so much more than the "villain" or the trickster god and I love the complexity of his character. I have read other books on norse mythology but it's the first with only Loki POV and it was so cool to have his perception. The horse scene was maybe a bit too descriptive, like I maybe did not have the need of knowing this much but overall it correspond to the character. There was a lot of like Lgbtqia+ rep and it was very well written, explained and treated. As you may know, Loki is gender-fluid/ form changing and he plays a lot with it.

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If norse mythology is a subject that interest you, I can recommend "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman which is also a retelling but not with Loki POV and it's so funny too (Neil Gaiman narrate the audiobook !). Neil Gaiman stays true to the myths with the major Norse pantheon: Odin, the highest of the high, wise, daring, and cunning; Thor, Odin's son, incredibly strong yet not the wisest of gods; and Loki--son of a giant--blood brother to Odin and a trickster and unsurpassable manipulator.

Or if you want an graphic/illustrated approach (which can be good also for kids), "Norse Myths" by Matt Ralph.

aurelia2's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A snarky sarcastic retelling of the norse myths from our favourite unreliable narrator the god of lies. I appreciated some of the attempts to flip the traditional stories, but some of the characters ended up flattened dimensionally, and there was maybe an over-reliance on crude language which lost its shock value. While I appreciate that it didn't shy away from a lot of the gender stuff, it did skip a few opportunities to examine (for example Odin), and there were some bits of Baldr's story that didn't seem as comfortable as others.