A review by ryuutchi
Liesmith by Alis Franklin
4.0
2/3/2017: REREAD BECAUSE I NEEDED TO. This book is so charming. And now that I'm a little farther away from Marvel!Loki, Lain is definitely a really fascinating character on his own.
Original review:
I don't know what I was expecting when I requested this book off of NetGalley, but I don't think this was it. I noticed it was listed as an LGBT book on the site and promptly forgot about that listing, so I was somehow startled to realize that, yes, this was, in fact, a book about a young Black (and Jewish!!!) boy being the reincarnation of a goddess and falling in love with Loki. Not that I was particularly bothered-- Loki in this book is definitely a woobie-Loki in the vein of some of the more recent Marvel depictions (I'll admit that Loki: Agent of Asgard heavily influenced my mental images of both Loki and Sigmund), but my "that's not historically accurate behavior" was soothed by the fact that the woobiness was actually plot relevant for once. Gosh. If I had a quibble, it's that the pacing was a bit uneven at times-- I was glad that Sigmund's friends were brought into the main plot, but their integration was somewhat awkward, and didn't progress their character development as well as I would have liked. That aside, it was an entertaining book, that I have no problems recommending to people who enjoy comic book-y, queer reinterpretations Norse mythology.
Original review:
I don't know what I was expecting when I requested this book off of NetGalley, but I don't think this was it. I noticed it was listed as an LGBT book on the site and promptly forgot about that listing, so I was somehow startled to realize that, yes, this was, in fact, a book about a young Black (and Jewish!!!) boy being the reincarnation of a goddess and falling in love with Loki. Not that I was particularly bothered-- Loki in this book is definitely a woobie-Loki in the vein of some of the more recent Marvel depictions (I'll admit that Loki: Agent of Asgard heavily influenced my mental images of both Loki and Sigmund), but my "that's not historically accurate behavior" was soothed by the fact that the woobiness was actually plot relevant for once. Gosh. If I had a quibble, it's that the pacing was a bit uneven at times-- I was glad that Sigmund's friends were brought into the main plot, but their integration was somewhat awkward, and didn't progress their character development as well as I would have liked. That aside, it was an entertaining book, that I have no problems recommending to people who enjoy comic book-y, queer reinterpretations Norse mythology.