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tifftastic87's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-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
1.25
The main character of this story is as close to wet cardboard as a main character in any book I've ever read. She has just about as much agency too. I'm extremely disappointed because I was so hyped for it.
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. It isn't until Loki calls the children monsters that she is ever outwardly angry at him. This kind of kicks off everything, but then after she bans him she lets him back! So the kids get taken and then she vows to not forgive him... and then forgives him!
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:
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.
Content Warnings
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
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