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A review by snappydog
The Goddess of Nothing At All by Cat Rector
4.0
I'm trying to work out whether you're better off going into this knowing what to expect or not knowing what to expect.
I've been excited for this book for a while because the author's been doing a pretty sterling job on the old social media marketing, talking about her book and about related interesting things. From that, I think I was probably expecting something with a strong female lead, a will-they-won't-they between her and Loki, and then everything to go wrong.
That kind of is what I got, but definitely not at the pace or in the structure I was imagining.
Whether this was deliberate or not I've no idea, but the structure of this book is less like a novel and more, I think, like a long-running TV series. That's not a criticism, by the way - it's no bad thing to be different if it works, and I think for the most part it does. We get a lot of episodes that get something like internal resolution while also feeding into the overall storyline of the whole thing, and that overall storyline is strong. I think I wish it had been split into maybe two or even three books, actually, at least partly because of this structure: that might have helped give some of the shorter episodes more room to breathe and to develop their characters, and the ending of this book honestly feels like the kind of ending that a whole season of a TV show could be building towards. My understanding is there'll be more books following the events of this one, and I'm intrigued to see what happens there given how big of an ending this first book has. It'll be hard for future installments to top, for sure!
I really like Sigyn as she's done here, and I like the interpretations of the Norse gods who show up here. We don't get to spend a lot of time with many of them - it's mostly Sigyn, Loki, a bit of Odin, and some family members who pop up later on - but they're recognisable if you're familiar with Norse mythology and understandable if you're not. Loki is, I think it's fair to say, the deuteragonist and other main character, and I also like this version of them a lot. They're tricksy and funny in the way modern audiences expect because of the Marvel version, but they're also tragic, repeatedly subjected to some truly terrible things either because of their own flaws or because of how the world sees them.
Things really pick up in the last 20-25% or so, and I sort of want to encourage anyone who might not be finding it quite as they expected to stick with it. The book and the author promise that you're going to get to see things go horribly wrong, and you do, but it takes longer than you might think from how much that part of things is stressed in the marketing. I think it works, taking time to set up all the dominoes and establish how much there is to lose so it's more effective when it does all come crashing down. That said, I still somehow wish we'd had more time to get to know several of the players who turn out to be important in the endgame; I still had a sense that I could've felt even more strongly about everyone's fates if I'd spent a bit more time with them and known them a bit better, especially given how, er, final the ending turns out to be for quite a lot of them.
I feel like this is coming out more critical than I intend, and that's probably just a mark that actually I think the book overall is strong enough to stand up to a close, critical review. I enjoyed the whole thing a lot, often continuing to read well after trying to get through 'just one more chapter' before going back to work or whatever else I needed to do. It's a good enough book that it's worth paying close attention to things and nitpicking a bit, I reckon.
Oh, but do make sure you check the content warnings. It is, er, pretty intense in parts. If you can stomach the many topics it broaches, though, I think you'll find it very readable, often gripping, and something in which you can get thoroughly invested.
I've been excited for this book for a while because the author's been doing a pretty sterling job on the old social media marketing, talking about her book and about related interesting things. From that, I think I was probably expecting something with a strong female lead, a will-they-won't-they between her and Loki, and then everything to go wrong.
That kind of is what I got, but definitely not at the pace or in the structure I was imagining.
Whether this was deliberate or not I've no idea, but the structure of this book is less like a novel and more, I think, like a long-running TV series. That's not a criticism, by the way - it's no bad thing to be different if it works, and I think for the most part it does. We get a lot of episodes that get something like internal resolution while also feeding into the overall storyline of the whole thing, and that overall storyline is strong. I think I wish it had been split into maybe two or even three books, actually, at least partly because of this structure: that might have helped give some of the shorter episodes more room to breathe and to develop their characters, and the ending of this book honestly feels like the kind of ending that a whole season of a TV show could be building towards. My understanding is there'll be more books following the events of this one, and I'm intrigued to see what happens there given how big of an ending this first book has. It'll be hard for future installments to top, for sure!
I really like Sigyn as she's done here, and I like the interpretations of the Norse gods who show up here. We don't get to spend a lot of time with many of them - it's mostly Sigyn, Loki, a bit of Odin, and some family members who pop up later on - but they're recognisable if you're familiar with Norse mythology and understandable if you're not. Loki is, I think it's fair to say, the deuteragonist and other main character, and I also like this version of them a lot. They're tricksy and funny in the way modern audiences expect because of the Marvel version, but they're also tragic, repeatedly subjected to some truly terrible things either because of their own flaws or because of how the world sees them.
Things really pick up in the last 20-25% or so, and I sort of want to encourage anyone who might not be finding it quite as they expected to stick with it. The book and the author promise that you're going to get to see things go horribly wrong, and you do, but it takes longer than you might think from how much that part of things is stressed in the marketing. I think it works, taking time to set up all the dominoes and establish how much there is to lose so it's more effective when it does all come crashing down. That said, I still somehow wish we'd had more time to get to know several of the players who turn out to be important in the endgame; I still had a sense that I could've felt even more strongly about everyone's fates if I'd spent a bit more time with them and known them a bit better, especially given how, er, final the ending turns out to be for quite a lot of them.
I feel like this is coming out more critical than I intend, and that's probably just a mark that actually I think the book overall is strong enough to stand up to a close, critical review. I enjoyed the whole thing a lot, often continuing to read well after trying to get through 'just one more chapter' before going back to work or whatever else I needed to do. It's a good enough book that it's worth paying close attention to things and nitpicking a bit, I reckon.
Oh, but do make sure you check the content warnings. It is, er, pretty intense in parts. If you can stomach the many topics it broaches, though, I think you'll find it very readable, often gripping, and something in which you can get thoroughly invested.