The Gospel of Loki, Joanne M. Harris

The Gospel of Loki
Joanne M. Harris
ISBN: 9781473202351
Read Sept 10, 2014
Old Norse Mythological Cycle re-telling, possibly related to two novellas: Runemarks and Runelight.

The title itself is interesting, taking the flyting (think modern celebrity roast) poem "Lokasenna" and expanding it into a biased account of a larger narrative regarding the Aesir and Vanir of old Norse mythology.

Is it proper mythos?  Nope.  Anyone who reads fantasy novels to get actual real-world religious or mythological understanding really ought to know better.  Not that they can't be read and enjoyed, nor that they can't be correct or insightful at times, but if this work is what you're basing your understanding of Norse mythos, or using to influence your personal way of life, or to establish your worship practices?  Please just don't.

Is it mythic?  Nope.  The characters use odd and strangely dated slang ('chillax' would be the worst example, but there are many others, including a reference to a "teenage dirtbag" that literally made me roll my eyes).  The mythic stories are hung into a vaguely chronological framework, and worked into episodes of a larger struggle (heralded by the "inevitable" approach of Ragnarok) between Loki and the Aesir and Vanir family and associates of his blood-brother Odin.  The focus on family squabbles and individual mythic stories makes the whole seem much less epic in scope - even the eventual arrival and descent of Chaos (ie, Ragnarok itself) is framed as a personal struggle between Loki and the various people who have wronged him (the list is quite long at this point).

Is it fun?  I thought so!  It was a quick read, the stories themselves were familiar - Loki convincing Thor to dress up as a bride, the death of Baldur, Odin as the Wanderer, Loki's flyting episode - all were there, as well as many others that I've either forgotten or never learned (or were made up?).

Loki himself is the perfect unreliable narrator, his narcissism preventing him from ever making deep attachments or from casting himself as the eternal victim or from plotting over-reactive revenge for any slight.  He reminds me of a family member, and I read the whole with a conflicting sense of exasperated affection and a burning desire to smack the shit out of him.  That seems to be pretty accurate for the character.

Not earthshaking, not the best I've ever read, but for a very light-hearted introduction to the utter pompous asses of the Aesir and Vanir, and the utter self-absorbed vanity that is Loki, there are many worse things to read.