A review by whatthefridge
Liesmith by Alis Franklin
3.0
I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I picked this up expecting romance and Norse mythology. I didn't expect the horror elements, but they worked out fine. I also liked the diverse cast and the adorable pairing of Sigmund and Lain. What threw me off were the minor details that added up into clusters of annoyance.
Okay, let's start with the positives. Sigmund is a bundle of geekiness wrapped in layers of dorky awkwardness, and I relate to that so hard. He's brown skinned, pudgy, and not the best looker. It makes Lain's attraction to him special. Sig's defining feature is his built-in Lie detector, which aids him in getting past Lain's web of bullshit. That balances their dynamic out, with Lain being Loki in disguise.
I'm also fond of the use of Sig's best friends, Wayne and Em, in later chapters. I mean, here you have these two uber gamer girls playing a horror game while painting their nails. Wayne, in particular, stands out because she's a black, goth, pink-haired, ass kicker. That sort of representation is rare.
The negatives revolve around the story not being as tight as it could be. While the Norse myth facts are well researched, everything else is all over the place.
Lack of fact-checking: Dark skinned people blushing. The more melanin a person has, the less visible a rush of blood. I'm too white to be an expert on details, but with Sig being notably brown, there's far too much emphasis on the color of his blush being noticed by Lain.
Lack of awareness: Jesus Christ! It's very striking how often characters unironically invoke the name of a Christian god in a story where Norse ideology reigns supreme (which brings up a whole debate on religion the author didn't intend on). Worst offender is Norse god Loki, who is very liberal with his exclamations of "Jesus." That's just too many levels of awkward.
Padding. There are two scenes that bothered me because they did not add to the plot at all. The first is when Sig and Wayne are playing an online RPG. That fight scene, while interesting in itself, was way too long. It's only meant to set the stage for two facts: the character type Sig identifies with, and the proceeding conversation about Lain. The second is when Loki has a "flashback" at the World Tree, which I thought was a waste of my time when it could be summed up in a few sentences (not to mention that it heavily ties into the next point).
Forced Suspense: Loki's character development. The transition of Loki from Chaotic Evil to Lawful Good is not clear enough. A lot of it has to do with the big reveal at the end, but I don't feel there was enough foreshadowing. You get hints thrown in like breadcrumbs, but all I saw was a trickster-by-heart suddenly become a bumbling, lovestruck straight-as-an-arrow hero with ZERO awareness of that deep, internal change, all told through his POV. It's hand waved with "bad memory," but even bad memory wouldn't stop a trickster from rediscovering his true nature through trial-and-error. But Loki doesn't question it in the least.
Looking past these grievances, the overall plot is super intriguing, and this was a major page-turner. I'm a fan of any author writing queer fantasy fiction. This book just doesn't quite pull its weight, which is why I'm giving it my OKAY star rating.
I picked this up expecting romance and Norse mythology. I didn't expect the horror elements, but they worked out fine. I also liked the diverse cast and the adorable pairing of Sigmund and Lain. What threw me off were the minor details that added up into clusters of annoyance.
Okay, let's start with the positives. Sigmund is a bundle of geekiness wrapped in layers of dorky awkwardness, and I relate to that so hard. He's brown skinned, pudgy, and not the best looker. It makes Lain's attraction to him special. Sig's defining feature is his built-in Lie detector, which aids him in getting past Lain's web of bullshit. That balances their dynamic out, with Lain being Loki in disguise.
I'm also fond of the use of Sig's best friends, Wayne and Em, in later chapters. I mean, here you have these two uber gamer girls playing a horror game while painting their nails. Wayne, in particular, stands out because she's a black, goth, pink-haired, ass kicker. That sort of representation is rare.
The negatives revolve around the story not being as tight as it could be. While the Norse myth facts are well researched, everything else is all over the place.
Lack of fact-checking: Dark skinned people blushing. The more melanin a person has, the less visible a rush of blood. I'm too white to be an expert on details, but with Sig being notably brown, there's far too much emphasis on the color of his blush being noticed by Lain.
Lack of awareness: Jesus Christ! It's very striking how often characters unironically invoke the name of a Christian god in a story where Norse ideology reigns supreme (which brings up a whole debate on religion the author didn't intend on). Worst offender is Norse god Loki, who is very liberal with his exclamations of "Jesus." That's just too many levels of awkward.
Padding. There are two scenes that bothered me because they did not add to the plot at all. The first is when Sig and Wayne are playing an online RPG. That fight scene, while interesting in itself, was way too long. It's only meant to set the stage for two facts: the character type Sig identifies with, and the proceeding conversation about Lain. The second is when Loki has a "flashback" at the World Tree, which I thought was a waste of my time when it could be summed up in a few sentences (not to mention that it heavily ties into the next point).
Forced Suspense: Loki's character development. The transition of Loki from Chaotic Evil to Lawful Good is not clear enough. A lot of it has to do with the big reveal at the end, but I don't feel there was enough foreshadowing. You get hints thrown in like breadcrumbs, but all I saw was a trickster-by-heart suddenly become a bumbling, lovestruck straight-as-an-arrow hero with ZERO awareness of that deep, internal change, all told through his POV. It's hand waved with "bad memory," but even bad memory wouldn't stop a trickster from rediscovering his true nature through trial-and-error. But Loki doesn't question it in the least.
Looking past these grievances, the overall plot is super intriguing, and this was a major page-turner. I'm a fan of any author writing queer fantasy fiction. This book just doesn't quite pull its weight, which is why I'm giving it my OKAY star rating.