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savshanae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
As the story continued I felt more and more attached to Angrboda and invested in her story, whatever form she took. The way Gornichec weaves together so many myths (and has notes to back it up at the end!) and draws the characters in a new light is nothing short of stunning. The portrayal of motherhood is raw and heartfelt, all while subtly highlighting the strengths (and weaknesses) of women.
10/10, no notes, just praise for this book!
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Grief, Murder, Death, Sexism, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Violence, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Torture, Toxic relationship, Gore, and Infidelity
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Genocide, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Body horror, Emotional abuse, War, and Sexual content
Minor: Sexual violence, Slavery, Alcohol, and Mental illness
ruthmoog's review against another edition
4.75
I have especially found Loki a hard one to understand, and Angrboda's perspective made him come to life as a character, it's brilliantly told.
My knowledge of the sagas and eddas isn't enough to know if anything is "creatively authored", but I understand there is Viking age ideas included as well, but from what I was familiar with it all clicked. (I do not know about the Marvel universe portrayals).
Graphic: Pregnancy, Torture, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: War, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, and Body horror
singalana's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I got very strong fanfiction-vibes from the start of this book, but in my opinion, this story lacks the best aspects of a good fanfiction: deep understanding of the characters and compelling interaction between them.
The ending, which was meant to be profound and emotional achieved some of what it was trying to do, but still felt somewhat clichéd and so did parts of the dialogue.
And finally, things that I liked about this book (warning, spoilers ahead):
-
The banter in the beginning of the book. -
The reunion of Loki, Angrboda, Fenrir and Jormungand. -
Baldur -
Some scenes with Loki.
Minor: Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Torture, Violence, War, Animal death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, and Death of parent
tifftastic87's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
The book has this premise of "everyone always forgets that Angrboda wasn't just a monster mommy and Loki's wife" and then went the extra mile to make her nothing but a monster mommy who pines for Loki. She is described as this badass witch, but acts like a naive woman who can't do anything on her own. Loki is very much an angsty teen emo kid from 2008. This is supposed to be more based on the poems (Poetic Edda and Prose Edda) but you cannot convince me this isn't a fanfic of "what if MCU Loki was dropped into the actual myths?"
There is literally no reason given why Loki and Angrboda end up together or why she "loves" him before they hookup. He only comes to complain to her and get her help and then she's like "omg he smiled crooked and his hair is so curly" and marries him. She forgives him living a double life with a whole ass other family, which again I understand is the myth, but she could have had emotions over it other than the brief flashes of jealousy that she then feels guilty for. When Loki is present in her life he has the energy of a 90s sitcom dad. He brags about how much more the kids like him, gets them riled up before bed and then complains to "Boda" about things. So, then she feels like she's not good enough.
She works forever to be able to contact Hel and when she finally does Hel rejects her. Which is fair honestly, but not done in a way that makes sense. However, when she can finally contact Fenrir and Jornumgand they are excited to see her, because "boy mom." She then convinces them not to eat Loki. For some reason, she just keeps forgiving him. They could have finished the myth out with each of them playing their parts without her forgiving him and having an emotional goodbye with him.
I will give it that the end wasn't predictable until at least the last 30 pages-ish. But that could also be that I wasn't paying much attention because I was so irritated.
I wasn't a fan of the writing style it was overly narrative with no prose. To the point it felt like reading the poems sometimes instead of a novel. So many sections (there are no chapters) started with "then one day" or a variation of and it was grating to me. A lot of the world building was done in weird asides. Example being when the raven's of Odin are introduced it says:
"I didn't know that Odin sent his ravens out to disperse information," Angrboda said to the birds, who were named Hugin and Munin, Thought and Memory. They flew around the Nine Worlds each day before returning to tell their master all they'd seen.
Most world building was done in this way, a lot of telling and little showing.
Things I liked, Thor is played as dumb and angry and reactive and that kind of feels on brand with the poems I am most familiar with.
I gave it a couple of points for making me laugh at a couple of places, but I took a lot away for the disturbing (bigoted) way that it talked about Loki's gender fluidity.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Animal death, Gore, Grief, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Infidelity, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Alcohol, Ableism, and Bullying
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Body shaming, Vomit, and Cannibalism
redheadorganist's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Confinement, Abandonment, Animal death, Grief, Blood, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Torture, and War
Minor: Sexual content
lornagrace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Grief
nick13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Grief, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, and Death
Moderate: Pregnancy, Infidelity, War, and Torture
Minor: Animal death and Genocide
zghutcheson01's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, War, Chronic illness, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Violence
claudiamacpherson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Self harm, War, Death, Murder, Xenophobia, Infidelity, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Kidnapping
Minor: Sexual content, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Miscarriage
r_a_bell's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Abandonment, Grief, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Minor: Gaslighting, Animal death, Blood, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and War