The Gospel of Loki (Spoiler free)

Book: The Gospel of Loki
Author: Joanne M. Harris (@joannechocolat on Twitter)

Let's start by admitting I do love a well-done villain. Take a look at any popcorn movie or blockbuster (especially the SF/F ones) and you should see why pretty quickly. The bad guys get the best outfits, the best music, the best snappy comebacks. I could do a whole post just analysing that (and probably will at some point, remind me).

My point is, I'm already very much inclined to enjoy an entertaining devil, whichever side they're on and whether they're guilt-ridden or utterly unrepentant.

I also love mythology. All of it. I have more volumes than I can count of myths from all over the world, and as a child I loved the Old Testament half of my Illustrated Children's Bible (fire and brimstone and stuff turning to snakes all over the shop! Awesome!). I loved the Tricksters in myth most, though. Coyote, Anansi, Crow, pretty much all of the Greek or Egyptian pantheons at some point or other, let's face it (tricky lot), and, of course, Loki. They were the ones who got the stories going, who triggered events and thought their way out, rather than those who fell victim to a villain and fought their way out.

Much to my delight, Joanne Harris takes this particular trait and amplifies it in The Gospel of Loki. She's added backstory and layers to a string of episodic myths, starting with the Norse creation myth and the rise of the gods, and formed a coherent arc from them. There are forces in the background pushing everything and everyone towards Ragnarok, the apocalypse described in the original sagas. But in the foreground, pretty much every individual episode is driven by Loki trying to get what he wants, whatever that currently is (excitement, revenge, power, acclaim, more revenge, more power), from the moment he sets foot in the world. The whole thing is narrated from Loki's point of view, though, in close first person, so while it's delightful to read a character with so much agency they drive the whole book on their own, we should probably add a pinch of salt when Loki takes the credit for every key event.

That being said, Loki makes for a wonderful narrator. We know he's biased from before the word go, since Harris includes a helpful cast list as part prologue, part teaser, and this is written in Loki's voice too, listing half the traditional Norse Gods as "Not a fan" of him, among less flattering descriptions. This sets the tone for the rest of the book. Everything gets filtered through Loki's sarcasm and utter disregard for the other gods. He's keenly aware of everybody's faults and eager to point them out, focusing on the petty side of the pantheon and casting most of the gods as little more than playground bullies with too much power. He admits his own flaws as well, albeit only to the reader, with a fleeting vulnerability precisely calculated to make us just that little bit more sympathetic to his view.

The comparisons with the current Marvel films version of Loki (praise be to Tom Hiddleston) are inevitable, but let's not forget that both of these modern, savvy, witty, anarchic, charming, frustrated, vengeful versions come from the same source material, so it's not surprising they're similar. Neither suffers from comparison to the other, though Harris's Loki is probably more immediately sympathetic to more people, since we spend 400 pages inside his head and know exactly why he does what he does.

Where Harris really impressed me, though, was in her worldbuilding. She combines classic Norse legends with additions of her own devising so well that aside from the stories I clearly remember and was pleased to spot, I couldn't differentiate everything with any certainty. I'm sure she's tricked me into thinking a couple of details in the book are from the original mythology when they're actually hers. I think this is a large part of what makes The Gospel of Loki so worthwhile - it's not just a retelling of myths you can find in a lot of other places. It's a story of its own, with enough new material (quite aside from the Loki spin on everything) to be fresh and fun even for people who know the original tales. If the overarching plot is too familiar for comfort to those versed in the myths, then the details (pet names for terrifying goddesses and demons, supposed etymologies of common words, catchy soundbites of sage advice from the Trickster himself) are enough to keep your attention.

I was also astonished at her treatment of the powers and magics of the gods and other races. In the myths, magic obeys whatever rules are necessary for the current story, and there is no particular clarity or continuity in most cases. Here, though, Harris has managed to clarify and codify the multitude of powers being flung around, and even conveys all of this to the reader without it becoming confusing or resorting to huge info-dumps to get the rules straight. As a reader, I found this a relaxing change from some of the heavier, determinedly intricate magic systems I've come across. As a writer, I'm determined to read this at least twice more and work out exactly how she did it. I particularly enjoyed the fun she clearly had with Loki's Aspects, which were handled so well as to make it look effortless.

What this boils down to is a vastly entertaining fantasy that thoroughly enjoys pointing out the ridiculous parts of mythology and manages to make you root for the Trickster all the way, however much you occasionally want to shake some sense into him. It definitely ticks the Charming Rogue box, which is always a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

It even has a pretty cover. What more could you ask for?