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stillnotstars's reviews
10 reviews
The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
i have a bad track history with norse mythology books so i was wary going in but this was actually nice. skadi/angrboda and baldur/hel are GREAT pairings.
The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan
Did not finish book.
Did not finish book.
this book put me in a book slump so bad that i'm still in it now. it's been five years
100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write: On Umbrellas and Sword Fights, Parades and Dogs, Fire Alarms, Children, and Theater by Sarah Ruhl
LOVE. absolutely a delight
Epilogues for Lost Gods by Cat Rector
[i received an arc of this book in return for an honest review. the content of this early copy may not reflect the final book]
i will be honest. the goddess of nothing at all is not my favorite book. it's painful and long, and if you're familiar with the myths--and especially if you're sympathetic to loki already--gonaa will not be that interesting, honestly? which is fine and understandable. it's just not really my thing.
but because this book can stray from the myths it has a lot more flexibility for what happens to the characters in it, and that means the angst and dark readings of pre-existing norse mythological content can be toned down. i like that this book is framed as an epilogue rather than a "full" "length" narrative. i'm a short books guy! i'm an enjoyer of norse myth stuff that's based off it rather than a straight up retelling! i love it when people read ragnarök as climate change, too, which makes me want to see what it looked like from the midgard side... on the emotional/trauma discussion end, it could get cheesy/trite at parts but not in a way that made me stop reading. and the ending is a delight.
things that bothered me, though:
loki's gender at any point seems to depend on her shapeshifting into a "feminine" or "masculine" form, as though she can't be female when she has a dick and can't be male when she doesn't. (longer ramble where i wonder what the hell is going on with loki being genderfluid here)i guess she can be someone who chooses her gender? which, as far as i know, is not how genderfluidity works? does shapeshifting change her gender, or does she shapeshift because her gender changes? i'm confused but i hope she's winning. at one point she refuses to shapeshift back into her original form because "it's not time yet" although it would make a spell she's doing easier, which suggests that she would rather risk permadeath than experience gender dysphoria, which: y'know, i can respect that.
also [gestures vaguely at how disability is handled through all this] [does not elaborate] yeah.
this is a norse mythology-based book that i didn't hate (i am really picky about norse fiction. like, really picky), which i s'pose is a positive review. mind the cw's on the author's website, but if you've read gonaa, i found this book much easier. thumbsup
i will be honest. the goddess of nothing at all is not my favorite book. it's painful and long, and if you're familiar with the myths--and especially if you're sympathetic to loki already--gonaa will not be that interesting, honestly? which is fine and understandable. it's just not really my thing.
but because this book can stray from the myths it has a lot more flexibility for what happens to the characters in it, and that means the angst and dark readings of pre-existing norse mythological content can be toned down. i like that this book is framed as an epilogue rather than a "full" "length" narrative. i'm a short books guy! i'm an enjoyer of norse myth stuff that's based off it rather than a straight up retelling! i love it when people read ragnarök as climate change, too, which makes me want to see what it looked like from the midgard side... on the emotional/trauma discussion end, it could get cheesy/trite at parts but not in a way that made me stop reading. and the ending is a delight.
things that bothered me, though:
loki's gender at any point seems to depend on her shapeshifting into a "feminine" or "masculine" form, as though she can't be female when she has a dick and can't be male when she doesn't. (longer ramble where i wonder what the hell is going on with loki being genderfluid here)
also [gestures vaguely at how disability is handled through all this] [does not elaborate] yeah.
this is a norse mythology-based book that i didn't hate (i am really picky about norse fiction. like, really picky), which i s'pose is a positive review. mind the cw's on the author's website, but if you've read gonaa, i found this book much easier. thumbsup
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
oh this book was lovely. it's slow and thoughtful and meandering like the tides. the prose is beautiful. i really enjoyed it.
Nightingale by Paisley Rekdal
beautiful, lovelovelove. read this a while back but it's stuck with me ever since
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Rape
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
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
this is my favorite fantasy series, the way it talks about trauma hits so well every time, thank u kristin cashore
Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
please stop comparing this book to mulan, it's clearly only compared to it because of the crossdressing and fantasy asian setting. also, the mulan that exists in the white imaginary is not mulan. i think howls moving castle (ghibli flavor) would be a WAY better comp.
i thought it was a bit boring but alright. i don't believe for a second that maia could have knitted a sweater in two days. some of it was very generic tragic backstory / romance stuff that i didn't really pay attention to. the magic system felt somewhat inconsistent and i wish it were fleshed out more, but i'm VERY excited by fiber arts magic. (eta: also the social aspect of the magic system is like, slavery? thats, um, a choice. again, i wish it were fleshed out more and thought abt this more clearly.) the romance was cute; i am once again finding that i am not immune to pretty magic boy. thats my thoughts.
i thought it was a bit boring but alright. i don't believe for a second that maia could have knitted a sweater in two days. some of it was very generic tragic backstory / romance stuff that i didn't really pay attention to. the magic system felt somewhat inconsistent and i wish it were fleshed out more, but i'm VERY excited by fiber arts magic. (eta: also the social aspect of the magic system is like, slavery? thats, um, a choice. again, i wish it were fleshed out more and thought abt this more clearly.) the romance was cute; i am once again finding that i am not immune to pretty magic boy. thats my thoughts.
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