Just Finished Reading: The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M Harris (FP: 2014) [296pp] 

He certainly had hopes when Odin pulled him from the void that was Chaos. Loki saw becoming corporeal, real, with its pains (that he would’ve liked to do without) as well as its pleasures (which he rather enjoyed) as an opportunity. He was also promised something he had never had and, because of that, wondered if he was missing out – family, well kind of family if you could call a dysfunctional bunch of wannabee gods family. But, he thought, there’s no harm in giving it a ‘go’ for a while, a few centuries maybe, just to see. Leaving Chaos without permission (not something Chaos really considered much) he had burnt his boats anyway. Binding himself by oath to Odin didn’t seem so bad, at least at first. But he felt it as soon as he arrived in the fabled (and surprisingly run down) Asgard - the suspicion, the sideways glances, the mistrust. He would, Loki realised, never be ‘one of them’. He would always be an outsider, an ‘other’. But he could live with that. What he couldn’t live with was being blamed for everything that went wrong. OK, he was responsible for *some* of it but that wasn’t really his fault. But it wasn’t long before Loki decided that he had had enough of the ‘gods’ and their petty ways. It was time to teach them a thing or two, to bring them down a peg, to make them, in the end, ask for his help to save them. Then he could look them in the eye, smile sadly, and say: No. He would be there to watch Asgard fall. Luckily, there was a prophesy for that.... OK. Work to do.... 

I’ve been a fan of the Norse myths for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest heroes was Thor (WAY before Hollywood got hold of him) and one of my long-time heroes is Odin (ditto). So naturally, on seeing this in my local franchise shop, I snapped it up. Essentially this is a modern retelling (complete with numerous modern anachronisms in speech/comments which Loki knowingly scatters throughout the narrative – very ‘meta’) of the Norse myths but from the point of view of Loki. He is the narrator throughout and it’s no real surprise that I ‘heard’ the voice of Tom Hiddleston (who plays Loki in the Marvel series of movies and TV shows) in my head the whole time I was reading this. Likewise, I ‘saw’ the other gods played by their movie counterparts – I really couldn't help it. Rather dark in places – as you might imagine from Norse culture – these are stories full of intrigue, lying, sex (how Sleipnir, Odin’s 6-legged horse, came into existence is HILARIOUS), violence and death (not always permanent). There is a rather convoluted plot – based around the prophesy of Ragnarök - which binds the whole thing together which is interesting to see play out. The ‘feel’ is very cinematic and there’s plenty of laugh-out-loud moments (of course!) including the teenage werewolf Fenris hanging out with his pack looking tough! Needless to say, I thought this was a delight from beginning to end. It’s prompted me to read up more about the actual myths/stories themselves and I have a few (rather old) tomes I can dive into when I can slot them in. So, if you’re a fan of Norse myths, Loki or Tom then this will be the book for you. Definitely recommended – although I do feel it might annoy Norse purists a bit! [..and I’ve just discovered there’s a sequel! Yeah!]