Review: The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M. Harris

Summary

With his notorious reputation for trickery and deception, and an ability to cause as many problems as he solves, Loki is a Norse god like no other. Demon-born, he is viewed with deepest suspicion by his fellow gods who will never accept him as one of their own and for this he vows to take his revenge.

From his recruitment by Odin from the realm of Chaos, through his years as the go-to man of Asgard, to his fall from grace in the build-up to Ragnarok, this is the unofficial history of the world’s ultimate trickster.

My thoughts

If you know me, you also know that I might be somewhat biased against this book. The Gospel of Loki is written from Loki’s POV so what’s not to love. I tried not to expect too much from this, but I did and I’m glad that my expectations were met and I had so much fun reading this.

If I had to describe The Gospel of Loki with just one word it would be “fun”. This is a book that I enjoyed immensely and that made me laugh for various reasons.
First off I always love to read from a bad guy’s perspective. Being in their head and learning what makes them tick is so much more interesting than with the good guys. And Loki is quite the special case because he absolutely loves being the bad guy.
Then there is the fact that Loki is a notorious liar, always playing tricks on the other gods and oh boy did I have fun reading about that. The plans he comes up with to take the other gods down was nothing but funny.
What made me laugh the most was that Loki is so damn proud of himself and thinks way too much of his great schemes, that he constantly gets into trouble, almost loosing his head in the process, literally.

Another reason why I loved this book is because Loki is obviously an unreliable narrator. He himself starts the story by saying that it is time to tell his version of the events that are so well known. The fun part is that when you read it from Loki’s point of few, you actually start to feel kind of bad for him, because of the things that happen to him but you also can’t deny that he is a bad guy through and through.

I also enjoyed this mix of old and new. Joanne included the best-known myths but also includes a different interpretation to cast a new light on who Loki really is. She also added something completely new, woven around the familiar stories, which makes this even more fun.

There really wasn’t anything not to love. I loved reading Loki’s very own story. Getting into his head was nothing but interesting and as much of a bad guy he is, this only made me love him as a character even more. If you like reading about Norse mythology, if you like Loki, and want a refreshing view on the known myths, definitely read The Gospel of Loki.