#lyra wolf

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Birthday book haul!

Last year I read ‘The Gatewatch’ by Joshua Gillingham and ‘Truth & Other Lies’ by Lyra Wolf (both are leaning off to the side here) so I was able to get part 2 to ‘The Gatewatch’ and parts 2 and 3 to ‘Truth & Other Lies’.

Last year I also read ‘Northern Wrath’ by Thilde Kold Holt from my local library and absolutely loved it, so my wife got me the entire trilogy.

And I had a little leftover birthday money so I got myself a couple books by Cat Rector about Sigyn and Loki.

I don't think any of these are particularly new. Trying to make a list of all I've read. And granted, my attention span has gotten worse over the years.

The first book featuring the norse pantheon in any form I read was Neil Gaiman's "American Gods".

There's Diana Wynne Jones' "Eight Days of Luke" which served as inspiration for "American Gods", according to Neil Gaiman. Children's book.

There's also "Odd and the Frost Giants" by Neil Gaiman and his "Norse Mythology" retelling. Children's book.

I LOVED Louie Stowell's Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good, if you have children or trouble getting through books, get this! It's hilarious and smart. I enjoyed it as an adult. Diary of a Wimpy Kid meets Norse mythology.

I enjoyed the first two books by Joanne Harris as a teen, "Runemarks" and "Runelight." The first two (esp. the first) are fun and I love the Bart Simpson-esque portrayal of Loki. Unfortunately, the quality of later books focusing on Loki is terrible.

I unfortunately read Joanne Harris' "The Testament of Loki", first chapter is interesting, but he's unwillingly sharing a body with an annoying teen girl, and the way Harris deals with eating disorders is really bad. It's awful. Don't recommend.

I think Lyra Wolf's The Nine Worlds rising series are an easy read. I think she has a great comedic voice and the books are worth reading just for that, and I like the toxic Odin/Loki relationship. I do have complaints about them, such as the anachronistic language (e.g. Loki knowing what a Chihuahua is), and that Sigyn doesn't have flaws other than caring too much for her no-good brother. She also has the women are either saints or evil witches dichotomy going on in terms of portrayals of goddesses. I think the stakes are good in these books so that you keep reading them.

I enjoyed Cat Rector's "The Goddess of Nothing at All" A LOT. While it doesn't have my ideal morally gray portrayal of Sigyn yet, it did make Sigyn more complex than others have. I also like this book mainly because I am a sadist and I love whump and there's a lot of suffering on it. It's so sad you won't be laughing at the myth!Loki memes. I would avoid this book if you don't like whump. I do have criticisms about it, such as her Loki was a bit too nice for my taste and could have been worse (making him justified for cutting Sif's hair feels forced; he can still be a loveable and tragic asshole, you know?). But my tragedy-loving self loves this!

I was looking forward to Genevieve Gornichec's "The Witch's Heart", it has a cute start of Loki giving Angrboda her burnt heart, but she criminally made Angrboda and Loki boring as fuck. Angrboda conveniently doesn't remember anything and just fumbles her way inside a cave for a large portion of the book. And she is the POV we're following. WE ARE STUCK IN A CAVE SHE WON'T LEAVE. Loki's portrayal in this is one of the most cisheteronormative I've seen yet, and it's surprising the author managed this in a story where Loki's myth hijinks ensue and wears a dress (he impatiently yanks off because he felt emasculated). The author thinks having a lean build and no beard=queer. Loki only shows interest in women and feels emasculated while wearing a dress. I also happen to hate Skadi and her weird castration fetish in this book. Bitch wouldn't shut up about it. The good thing about this book is that there's no anachronisms, and I liked Hel's portrayal.

So confession, I had Kindle Unlimited trial briefly, and I read a bunch of Loki books, such as Lyra Wolf's.

I think(?) I read A.B. Frost's "Father of Monsters". It was quite short, but has nice illustrations, and Loki's endearing, even if a little shit. That both takes one for the team and also endangers the team.

I read (partially) some book about Loki escaping his punishment early and rejoining the Aesir, but it was criminally boring (it never described how Loki got out of situations and the prose was incredibly VAGUE) and seemed geared towards Norse pagans(Which I AM NOT). Had a spiritual conflict-avoiding vibe. It was called "Loki" but forgot the author's name and I accessed for free by Kindle Unlimited. I also didn't like that it referred to cops as "Tyr's warriors". FUCK COPS.

Yes!! It was made for Lyra Wolf's book series "The Nine Worlds Rising"