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A review by stillnotstars
The Goddess of Nothing At All by Cat Rector
i picked this up bc i was browsing idly through some norse mythology book lists and am always curious about how queer loki is depicted---dark/gritty sff is not a genre i tend to read, so take this with a grain of salt.
i didn't find this very interesting as someone who's read the myths/eddas. this doesn't feel super different from other retellings/adaptations that're sympathetic with loki, but maybe i've just read five million of them. rector just gets way into the gore, which like---yeah, i know you warned me about it, i know it's on the tin, it just really does not add that much to the myths or anyone's characterization for me? i guess this is probably more interesting if you haven't tried to hunt down and read every norse mythology retelling you can get your hands on.
wrt queerness... well, at least loki didn't shapeshift into a woman once for the sleipnir myth and never again? but still, don't make me tap the sign [sexuality as an identity rather than an act is a 20th century concept tied to modernity and the rise of the individual; queerness did not exist the same way in 13th century iceland and in 2022] [also, someone's pronouns don't necessarily change based on their genitals and presentation]
i have lots of questions about why sigyn's this pale on the cover. like, isn't she mixed?
there are cw's on the author's website but it doesn't mention memory manipulation in addition to what's listed there.
i didn't find this very interesting as someone who's read the myths/eddas. this doesn't feel super different from other retellings/adaptations that're sympathetic with loki, but maybe i've just read five million of them. rector just gets way into the gore, which like---yeah, i know you warned me about it, i know it's on the tin, it just really does not add that much to the myths or anyone's characterization for me? i guess this is probably more interesting if you haven't tried to hunt down and read every norse mythology retelling you can get your hands on.
wrt queerness... well, at least loki didn't shapeshift into a woman once for the sleipnir myth and never again? but still, don't make me tap the sign [sexuality as an identity rather than an act is a 20th century concept tied to modernity and the rise of the individual; queerness did not exist the same way in 13th century iceland and in 2022] [also, someone's pronouns don't necessarily change based on their genitals and presentation]
i have lots of questions about why sigyn's this pale on the cover. like, isn't she mixed?
there are cw's on the author's website but it doesn't mention memory manipulation in addition to what's listed there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Medical content, Torture, and Violence