Scan barcode
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 didn’t.
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 they‘re portrayed (for about two-thirds of the book, at least) just makes me imagine a bunch of 17-22 year olds. Now, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if the author’s aiming for a slightly younger fanbase. But…
I’m going to preface the rest of this review by saying that I don’t think this is a bad book; it’s not. Objectively speaking, it’s not terribly written or anything. (Not the best, but also not the worst, and nothing that can’t 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 hadn’t 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 I’m 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? Well… Yeah, here’s 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 very… 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 character’s perspective. It can be done well, I suppose - when an author truly follows the show, don’t tell principle, we don’t necessarily need to know the other characters’ every thought to see the depth in them. Unfortunately, the gods shown through Sigyn’s eyes feel rather one dimensional. We’ve 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 who’s still in his “girls have cooties” phase. If you noticed that I used “mean” to describe three different characters, that was intentional: nearly every character who isn’t Sigyn or Loki is your average high school bully. For a huge part of the book, there’s 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, there’s Idunn - Sigyn and Loki’s #1 fangirl* (seriously, I’m pretty sure she was described as “squealing” at them at least once), who doesn’t show up that often, but when she does, she braids Loki’s hair and calls him “adorable”. (* Well - it is like this until it isn’t, but… spoilers.)
The romance… 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 “love”)? 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. (It’s 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 she’s not patching him up. They really are that couple from a typical romcom, the “good girl falls for a bad boy and it turns out he’s just misunderstood and has a heart of gold and a tragic past” kind. That is, until things go awry, as they are bound to do. Loki and Sigyn separate (sort of), and quite frankly I’m still not sure if the way their relationship was described at that point was supposed to read as still-can’t-keep-our-hands-to-ourselves, true-love romantic, or if it was purposefully described as kinda toxic. I’m definitely leaning toward the latter. All in all, this entire relationship has a very… 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 can’t count the number of times I wanted to scream at Sigyn and be like: girl, this really isn’t worth it. Just move on.
That witty banter I was hoping for is just… for the lack of better word: immature, even juvenile at times (but, again, might very well be someone else’s cup of tea). An example:
“And yet that’s exactly what the prophecy says will happen at Ragnarok. Or are you feeling biased towards your kin?” Odin glared at Loki, who only flipped him an obscene gesture in return.
I sighed. “What’s your solution then?”
“I don’t have one. That’s why I summoned your irritating shadow.” 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 wasn’t 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 there’s 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 society… Váli’s coming out scene is probably happening in someone’s actual kitchen right now. And maybe that’s good. Maybe it’s 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 just… 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 “screen time”, so many of the themes that irritated me just weren’t 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 perhaps… I’m a little curious how that went, though I won’t 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 it’s just not “mature” 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 didn’t.
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 they‘re portrayed (for about two-thirds of the book, at least) just makes me imagine a bunch of 17-22 year olds. Now, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if the author’s aiming for a slightly younger fanbase. But…
I’m going to preface the rest of this review by saying that I don’t think this is a bad book; it’s not. Objectively speaking, it’s not terribly written or anything. (Not the best, but also not the worst, and nothing that can’t 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 hadn’t 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 I’m 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? Well… Yeah, here’s 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 very… 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 character’s perspective. It can be done well, I suppose - when an author truly follows the show, don’t tell principle, we don’t necessarily need to know the other characters’ every thought to see the depth in them. Unfortunately, the gods shown through Sigyn’s eyes feel rather one dimensional. We’ve 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 who’s still in his “girls have cooties” phase. If you noticed that I used “mean” to describe three different characters, that was intentional: nearly every character who isn’t Sigyn or Loki is your average high school bully. For a huge part of the book, there’s 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, there’s Idunn - Sigyn and Loki’s #1 fangirl* (seriously, I’m pretty sure she was described as “squealing” at them at least once), who doesn’t show up that often, but when she does, she braids Loki’s hair and calls him “adorable”. (* Well - it is like this until it isn’t, but… spoilers.)
The romance… 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 “love”)? 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. (It’s 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 she’s not patching him up. They really are that couple from a typical romcom, the “good girl falls for a bad boy and it turns out he’s just misunderstood and has a heart of gold and a tragic past” kind. That is, until things go awry, as they are bound to do. Loki and Sigyn separate (sort of), and quite frankly I’m still not sure if the way their relationship was described at that point was supposed to read as still-can’t-keep-our-hands-to-ourselves, true-love romantic, or if it was purposefully described as kinda toxic. I’m definitely leaning toward the latter. All in all, this entire relationship has a very… 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 can’t count the number of times I wanted to scream at Sigyn and be like: girl, this really isn’t worth it. Just move on.
That witty banter I was hoping for is just… for the lack of better word: immature, even juvenile at times (but, again, might very well be someone else’s cup of tea). An example:
“And yet that’s exactly what the prophecy says will happen at Ragnarok. Or are you feeling biased towards your kin?” Odin glared at Loki, who only flipped him an obscene gesture in return.
I sighed. “What’s your solution then?”
“I don’t have one. That’s why I summoned your irritating shadow.” 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 wasn’t 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 there’s 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 society… Váli’s coming out scene is probably happening in someone’s actual kitchen right now. And maybe that’s good. Maybe it’s 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 just… 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 “screen time”, so many of the themes that irritated me just weren’t 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 perhaps… I’m a little curious how that went, though I won’t 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 it’s just not “mature” 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.
bubblefox's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
ladyfives's review against another edition
5.0
At least in Hel, I’d have a seat at the table.
This is seriously a triumph. Immense Circe vibes in the absolute best way. I’d been yearning for a book that would again deliver that incredible sense of scale, breadth of life and experience, uncomfortably close intimacy with a character… I think it requires such a skilled hand to take that much time and that much story and make it into something cohesive that never lets go of its power (especially when the readers are lazy like me and take a month to read it) but WOW, Cat Rector did it. I need to lie down.
The past wouldn’t matter, because I’d be sitting alongside my family, not in their shadows but in their light.
My favourite part is that I was there. I fell for Loki as Sigyn did, mourned for him, fought for him, and hated him. I understood the gods’ hate for Loki and Sigyn even when she didn’t. I felt weird, terrible relief when she was done with Loki, as well as when she fell for him again. When going through my bookmarks for quotes for this review, I found some of the earlier chapters, and was just remembering happy times. :’’’)
Not only was it romantic and agonizing and satisfying, it was also funny — despite the overall grim tone, it isn’t afraid to lean into the bizarreness of the myths
Spoiler
though just when you’re busy thinking the Loki-having-a-horse-son thing is funny yOU JUST WAIT—“It’s just a hammer.”
“It’s not just a hammer. It’s my hammer, and I’ve been telling everyone about it and killing everyone with it, and if the realms find out it’s gone, then not only will everyone want to pick a fight with me, I’ll look like an idiot.”
Loki cackled. “Don’t you always?”
I’ll go lie down now. I am so happy to finally have another book to fit alongside the very, very narrow genre of sweeping, heartfelt mythology retellings that aren’t dry or all about the heroes. This was about war, trauma, infectious hate, so very much blood, and Ragnarok, but it was also about family, love, and forgiveness.
One more killer quote for the road:
“There’s no need for a war.”
“No,” Skadi said, a grin splitting her face. “You wouldn’t want a war with us. Because one day, you’ll get one, and you know as well as everyone else that one of those wars will end you. So. What will you give me?”
lineduring's review against another edition
Didn’t like the way the characters were written
jolietjane's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 rounded up to 4. I think this one absolutely deserves more hype. I got an arc of this unique book. Let's talk about it.
sil3nos's review against another edition
1.0
1,5/5
First of all, despite this being a negative review, this does not mean that this book can't be enjoyed (many have, according to its average rating) or that the author is incompetent. I think that there are some very cool ideas in here, just that they don't get the opportunity to shine. Also, this book is researched immaculately. Kudos to Cat Rector for that.
Okay, let's start with the elephant in the room: This book moves too fast when it is important and slows down too much when nothing of note happens. Literal eons pass in this book and we just fly by. I don't want to spoil anything but there is not enough time to care for Sigyn and Loki's romance before the narrative expects this of me. But then, characters just go on sidequests that do not really contribute much to the story. Also, there is just no real structure to anything.
The characters were (especially in the first half of the book) not for me. They got better the longer the book went on but before the 50% mark I just hated everyone with a passion. Not because the book wanted me to, but because it failed in making me care. In the end, my favorite character was Váli.
The prose was also something to be improved. People die in a sentence without any gravitas. A lot of paragraphs were totally skippable. Some of the dialogue felt really unnatural.
I think this book needed a few more polishing steps before it could be released (or at least before it suited my taste).
First of all, despite this being a negative review, this does not mean that this book can't be enjoyed (many have, according to its average rating) or that the author is incompetent. I think that there are some very cool ideas in here, just that they don't get the opportunity to shine. Also, this book is researched immaculately. Kudos to Cat Rector for that.
Okay, let's start with the elephant in the room: This book moves too fast when it is important and slows down too much when nothing of note happens. Literal eons pass in this book and we just fly by. I don't want to spoil anything but there is not enough time to care for Sigyn and Loki's romance before the narrative expects this of me. But then, characters just go on sidequests that do not really contribute much to the story. Also, there is just no real structure to anything.
The characters were (especially in the first half of the book) not for me. They got better the longer the book went on but before the 50% mark I just hated everyone with a passion. Not because the book wanted me to, but because it failed in making me care. In the end, my favorite character was Váli.
The prose was also something to be improved. People die in a sentence without any gravitas. A lot of paragraphs were totally skippable. Some of the dialogue felt really unnatural.
I think this book needed a few more polishing steps before it could be released (or at least before it suited my taste).
duhchappers's review against another edition
4.0
This book is quite unique and cool! If you like Norse mythology but aren't too attached to Odin, or if you just like a powerful fantasy romance, this book is perfect for you.
mordicant's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
jwhitlow91's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- 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
5.0