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ktrecs's review against another edition
Shallow characters, terrible pacing (3 weeks later???), juvenile writing also, ginger loki is weird
lenastockton's review against another edition
5.0
What an incredible journey! I love mythology, Norse in particular. Cat did amazing job of creating what sometimes feels like a new story, but one whose bones are so well established in the Eddas. I'm looking forward to the second book!
eleonora_fr's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
dilayra's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
akairondragon's review against another edition
4.0
A heart wrenching imagining of the story of Sigyn and Loki. The first half of the book had me
bitteralbatross's review against another edition
slow-paced
2.5
The slog through the first half of the book is not worth the rest of it. Were we supposed to care about her quest for a title? Oh no she was given a hall and a life of luxury but it just wasn't as nice as someone else's - her obsession did not motivate me to care, nor did her switch to obsessing over Loki instead.
Also there were so many bits where it *almost* got it, but then missed.She even recognised that Loki had ruined their lives so thoroughly that he'd left her no other options... Then it was meant to be meaningful when she forgave him/loved him anyway? It seemed like she cared more about him than her children in the end which I haaaaaate, romance isn't everything. Just so frustrating about their gross toxic romance, it was portrayed well as just that and I thought she'd finally come into her own but nope just in love with him again, ugh. And why try to give him ultimatums or make him feel bad about wanting to help his kids so often? She wanted him to not go find his children once he got out of the cave? Him trying to save his kids was the only good thing about him. Why did they keep trying to save Loki but neglecting the other kids who she clearly did care about?? I wanted more effort to save them all, not just him
Also everything was just people lying/not communicating, which is a frustrating trope. Also learn to yell FFS.Just casually tried to walk up to stop her brother from being murdered š. She coul 've tried to have a conversation with Idunn too, pretty messed up that Idunn blamed her when they'd both loved and trusted him
Also there were so many bits where it *almost* got it, but then missed.
Also everything was just people lying/not communicating, which is a frustrating trope. Also learn to yell FFS.
dcnireads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Abandonment, Death, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Child death, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, War, Death of parent, Infidelity, Torture, Homophobia, Cannibalism, Mental illness, Grief, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Violence
Minor: Alcoholism
lducy's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
mallard_duck's review against another edition
1.0
Ten years ago, I probably would have loved this book.
But I read it now, so (unfortunately) I didnāt.
You know that bit of cognitive dissonance when you read a YA novel and all the characters who are described to be teenagers (clearly just for reliability factor) act, talk, and think like adults? (Looking at you, Leigh Bardugo.) This book is the opposite: we know that the characters are tens or even hundreds of years old (they are, after all, gods), but the way theyāre portrayed (for about two-thirds of the book, at least) just makes me imagine a bunch of 17-22 year olds. Now, that isnāt necessarily a bad thing, especially if the authorās aiming for a slightly younger fanbase. Butā¦
Iām going to preface the rest of this review by saying that I donāt think this is a bad book; itās not. Objectively speaking, itās not terribly written or anything. (Not the best, but also not the worst, and nothing that canāt be made better with practice.) This rating reflects my personal enjoyment of it. More than once I considered putting it back on the shelf; I powered through because writing a review of a book I hadnāt finished reading would have felt unfair. Plus, halfway through I went back to Goodreads to skim over the other reviews - and I kept asking myself, what am I missing? Maybe the other half will be as phenomenal as the reviews make it out to be?
A tl;dr from me: sure, give The Goddess of Nothing At All a try (clearly, there are plenty of people who liked it well enough), but check your expectations first. For me, there were two things that drew me in: the fact that this is based on mythology (not that Iām an expert on these topics, but I do love Loki) and the promise of LGBT+ themes. I mean, queer people AND myths? Count me in! RIght? Wellā¦ Yeah, hereās where the rest of my expectations come in.
What I wanted: a riveting story full of complex, multi-faceted characters. Depth and moral dilemmas. Witty banter. Some truly epic storylines to make the Ragnarok plot both tragic and fascinating. Queerness, and because of that queer label, some nice, non-heteronormative character dynamics.
What I got: sadly, none of the above, or little enough of it that it feels like none. Most of the characters come off veryā¦ flat; I think this is always a danger when you choose to go with first-person narration where the entire thing is written from the same characterās perspective. It can be done well, I suppose - when an author truly follows the show, donāt tell principle, we donāt necessarily need to know the other charactersā every thought to see the depth in them. Unfortunately, the gods shown through Sigynās eyes feel rather one dimensional. Weāve got Freya, the typical beautiful mean girl; Odin, the annoying (and also mean) dad who never explains anything; Sif, another beautiful mean girl; Thor, whom I can only describe as a frat boy whose masculinity is so ridiculously fragile that putting on a dress for the purpose of retrieving his beloved Mjolnir makes him revert to the mindset of a six year old boy from a conservative family whoās still in his āgirls have cootiesā phase. If you noticed that I used āmeanā to describe three different characters, that was intentional: nearly every character who isnāt Sigyn or Loki is your average high school bully. For a huge part of the book, thereās no nuance to it, just people saying mean things, often pointlessly, including (of course) being openly queerphobic. Then, on the opposite end of the spectrum, thereās Idunn - Sigyn and Lokiās #1 fangirl* (seriously, Iām pretty sure she was described as āsquealingā at them at least once), who doesnāt show up that often, but when she does, she braids Lokiās hair and calls him āadorableā. (* Well - it is like this until it isnāt, butā¦ spoilers.)
The romanceā¦ honestly, the premise was good. The God of Lies and the woman who stole their heart, an ominous prophecy, the looming threat of the End of Times, and a lie or two borne out of selfishness (or āloveā)? Yet, many of those tropes fell flat to me; not to mention that the romance itself felt - yes - so very straight, even though one of the characters is technically genderfluid/not cis. (Itās mentioned two or three times in the book, and I definitely feel like it could have been more incorporated into the story; instead, it felt slightly token-y.) It starts off with Loki saving Sigyn from a (bit of a dumb) death, which then becomes (to some degree) a recurring theme throughout the book - that is, when sheās not patching him up. They really are that couple from a typical romcom, the āgood girl falls for a bad boy and it turns out heās just misunderstood and has a heart of gold and a tragic pastā kind. That is, until things go awry, as they are bound to do. Loki and Sigyn separate (sort of), and quite frankly Iām still not sure if the way their relationship was described at that point was supposed to read as still-canāt-keep-our-hands-to-ourselves, true-love romantic, or if it was purposefully described as kinda toxic. Iām definitely leaning toward the latter. All in all, this entire relationship has a veryā¦ true love lasts forever, no matter what happens theme - a concept that can certainly be appealing, but also one I kind of grew out of. I canāt count the number of times I wanted to scream at Sigyn and be like: girl, this really isnāt worth it. Just move on.
That witty banter I was hoping for is justā¦ for the lack of better word: immature, even juvenile at times (but, again, might very well be someone elseās cup of tea). An example:
āAnd yet thatās exactly what the prophecy says will happen at Ragnarok. Or are you feeling biased towards your kin?ā Odin glared at Loki, who only flipped him an obscene gesture in return.
I sighed. āWhatās your solution then?ā
āI donāt have one. Thatās why I summoned your irritating shadow.ā He flicked a hand toward Loki, as dismissive as could be.
And then, about two thirds into the book, I figured out the second reason why I simply wasnāt vibing with it: it might as well be taking place in the modern world. No, hear me out. See, if you take away the magic and the fact that thereās no electricity and such, the characters could be put in modern day NYC or any other city and still act more or less the same (okay, maybe without the excessive torture). The same toxic masculinity, the same dilemmas of being gay in a queerphobic societyā¦ VĆ”liās coming out scene is probably happening in someoneās actual kitchen right now. And maybe thatās good. Maybe itās relatable; maybe this is exactly what some readers want: to read about what they know, about their own experiences dressed up in generic fantasy. Once again, my reception of it comes down to my personal expectations. I mean, you have an entire mythical world to explore; all these mystical, sometimes even magic-wielding characters who have been alive for tens or hundreds of years, and you justā¦ project modern society on them? Instead of, say, exploring how gender and sexuality could possibly exist differently in that setting? I would have been much more excited to read about the latter.
Last but not least, the ending. Frankly, I found the last 50-60 pages of the book more tolerable; it was a bit more action heavy, plus Loki got less direct āscreen timeā, so many of the themes that irritated me just werenāt present. The ending also opens up a possibility of a sequel, which is nice, and the setup could make for an interesting follow-up book - I know there is a second book, so perhapsā¦ Iām a little curious how that went, though I wonāt be checking out the sequel at this point.
To sum it up: yes, this is all obviously very subjective. Even re-reading what I wrote here, I realize that my biggest gripe with The Goddess of Nothing At All is that itās just not āmatureā enough for me (in terms of complexity and language, not themes), which, frankly, is a preference, not some objective measure of value. The tropes have the potential to make a great story; personally, I simply found the execution to be lacking.
But I read it now, so (unfortunately) I didnāt.
You know that bit of cognitive dissonance when you read a YA novel and all the characters who are described to be teenagers (clearly just for reliability factor) act, talk, and think like adults? (Looking at you, Leigh Bardugo.) This book is the opposite: we know that the characters are tens or even hundreds of years old (they are, after all, gods), but the way theyāre portrayed (for about two-thirds of the book, at least) just makes me imagine a bunch of 17-22 year olds. Now, that isnāt necessarily a bad thing, especially if the authorās aiming for a slightly younger fanbase. Butā¦
Iām going to preface the rest of this review by saying that I donāt think this is a bad book; itās not. Objectively speaking, itās not terribly written or anything. (Not the best, but also not the worst, and nothing that canāt be made better with practice.) This rating reflects my personal enjoyment of it. More than once I considered putting it back on the shelf; I powered through because writing a review of a book I hadnāt finished reading would have felt unfair. Plus, halfway through I went back to Goodreads to skim over the other reviews - and I kept asking myself, what am I missing? Maybe the other half will be as phenomenal as the reviews make it out to be?
A tl;dr from me: sure, give The Goddess of Nothing At All a try (clearly, there are plenty of people who liked it well enough), but check your expectations first. For me, there were two things that drew me in: the fact that this is based on mythology (not that Iām an expert on these topics, but I do love Loki) and the promise of LGBT+ themes. I mean, queer people AND myths? Count me in! RIght? Wellā¦ Yeah, hereās where the rest of my expectations come in.
What I wanted: a riveting story full of complex, multi-faceted characters. Depth and moral dilemmas. Witty banter. Some truly epic storylines to make the Ragnarok plot both tragic and fascinating. Queerness, and because of that queer label, some nice, non-heteronormative character dynamics.
What I got: sadly, none of the above, or little enough of it that it feels like none. Most of the characters come off veryā¦ flat; I think this is always a danger when you choose to go with first-person narration where the entire thing is written from the same characterās perspective. It can be done well, I suppose - when an author truly follows the show, donāt tell principle, we donāt necessarily need to know the other charactersā every thought to see the depth in them. Unfortunately, the gods shown through Sigynās eyes feel rather one dimensional. Weāve got Freya, the typical beautiful mean girl; Odin, the annoying (and also mean) dad who never explains anything; Sif, another beautiful mean girl; Thor, whom I can only describe as a frat boy whose masculinity is so ridiculously fragile that putting on a dress for the purpose of retrieving his beloved Mjolnir makes him revert to the mindset of a six year old boy from a conservative family whoās still in his āgirls have cootiesā phase. If you noticed that I used āmeanā to describe three different characters, that was intentional: nearly every character who isnāt Sigyn or Loki is your average high school bully. For a huge part of the book, thereās no nuance to it, just people saying mean things, often pointlessly, including (of course) being openly queerphobic. Then, on the opposite end of the spectrum, thereās Idunn - Sigyn and Lokiās #1 fangirl* (seriously, Iām pretty sure she was described as āsquealingā at them at least once), who doesnāt show up that often, but when she does, she braids Lokiās hair and calls him āadorableā. (* Well - it is like this until it isnāt, butā¦ spoilers.)
The romanceā¦ honestly, the premise was good. The God of Lies and the woman who stole their heart, an ominous prophecy, the looming threat of the End of Times, and a lie or two borne out of selfishness (or āloveā)? Yet, many of those tropes fell flat to me; not to mention that the romance itself felt - yes - so very straight, even though one of the characters is technically genderfluid/not cis. (Itās mentioned two or three times in the book, and I definitely feel like it could have been more incorporated into the story; instead, it felt slightly token-y.) It starts off with Loki saving Sigyn from a (bit of a dumb) death, which then becomes (to some degree) a recurring theme throughout the book - that is, when sheās not patching him up. They really are that couple from a typical romcom, the āgood girl falls for a bad boy and it turns out heās just misunderstood and has a heart of gold and a tragic pastā kind. That is, until things go awry, as they are bound to do. Loki and Sigyn separate (sort of), and quite frankly Iām still not sure if the way their relationship was described at that point was supposed to read as still-canāt-keep-our-hands-to-ourselves, true-love romantic, or if it was purposefully described as kinda toxic. Iām definitely leaning toward the latter. All in all, this entire relationship has a veryā¦ true love lasts forever, no matter what happens theme - a concept that can certainly be appealing, but also one I kind of grew out of. I canāt count the number of times I wanted to scream at Sigyn and be like: girl, this really isnāt worth it. Just move on.
That witty banter I was hoping for is justā¦ for the lack of better word: immature, even juvenile at times (but, again, might very well be someone elseās cup of tea). An example:
āAnd yet thatās exactly what the prophecy says will happen at Ragnarok. Or are you feeling biased towards your kin?ā Odin glared at Loki, who only flipped him an obscene gesture in return.
I sighed. āWhatās your solution then?ā
āI donāt have one. Thatās why I summoned your irritating shadow.ā He flicked a hand toward Loki, as dismissive as could be.
And then, about two thirds into the book, I figured out the second reason why I simply wasnāt vibing with it: it might as well be taking place in the modern world. No, hear me out. See, if you take away the magic and the fact that thereās no electricity and such, the characters could be put in modern day NYC or any other city and still act more or less the same (okay, maybe without the excessive torture). The same toxic masculinity, the same dilemmas of being gay in a queerphobic societyā¦ VĆ”liās coming out scene is probably happening in someoneās actual kitchen right now. And maybe thatās good. Maybe itās relatable; maybe this is exactly what some readers want: to read about what they know, about their own experiences dressed up in generic fantasy. Once again, my reception of it comes down to my personal expectations. I mean, you have an entire mythical world to explore; all these mystical, sometimes even magic-wielding characters who have been alive for tens or hundreds of years, and you justā¦ project modern society on them? Instead of, say, exploring how gender and sexuality could possibly exist differently in that setting? I would have been much more excited to read about the latter.
Last but not least, the ending. Frankly, I found the last 50-60 pages of the book more tolerable; it was a bit more action heavy, plus Loki got less direct āscreen timeā, so many of the themes that irritated me just werenāt present. The ending also opens up a possibility of a sequel, which is nice, and the setup could make for an interesting follow-up book - I know there is a second book, so perhapsā¦ Iām a little curious how that went, though I wonāt be checking out the sequel at this point.
To sum it up: yes, this is all obviously very subjective. Even re-reading what I wrote here, I realize that my biggest gripe with The Goddess of Nothing At All is that itās just not āmatureā enough for me (in terms of complexity and language, not themes), which, frankly, is a preference, not some objective measure of value. The tropes have the potential to make a great story; personally, I simply found the execution to be lacking.