Loki: WICKED, VISCERAL, TRANSGRESSIVE: Norse gods as you've never seen them before

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Melvin Burgess revolutionised children’s literature with the infamous cult novels Junk and Doing It. a mischievous, unpredictable and clever book that breathes new life into an already fascinating character and godly race. De manier waarop hij met de lezer communiceert, geeft het boek een aangename en humoristische toets.

Burgess also infuses the gods with humanity: Odin sacrifices his eye to gain further knowledge, and turns into a wreck of a man, everyone’s great-grandfather on the edge of death. Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit. And I’ve always loved Loki and Thor’s relationship and the way it fluctuates between best buds, weird uncle Loki, and bitter enemies. On the mystical side, Burgess is capable of chapters that brim with numinous light, as when Odin nails himself up on a tree to die.However, I found that the book dragged at times and the episodic structure, though fitting for the material the book is using, didn't always work for me as I didn't care about some parts.

Though Loki is at best an unreliable narrator, the overarching message here is to challenge the old ways and initiate new ways of the world. I was extremely interested in the premise of this book but unfortunately was just not a fan of the execution. Underlying the book is a lot about truth and lies, power, and not being ruled by brutality and narrow-mindedness, which serve as modern messages despite the mythological setting, though some of this is played with through the position of Loki as a trickster god and the reader never being quite sure to what extent Loki is really meant to be telling the "true" story.

Odin’s senescent rule becomes more and more oppressive, and the gods of Asgard start to resemble the tyrannical elements of our own civilisation. Not because there is anything necessarily to graphic or horrific in this book, but there are certain animal.

Other elements touch on the modern understanding of gender fluidity, with one of the gods (I won't say who, because spoilers) challenging the rigid, patriarchal regime of Thor and Odin with their developing understanding of their own identity. Here Burgess tackles the Norse myths, taking the reader through all the adventures and mischief that Loki gets wrapped up in.

I'm not sure whether this is meant by Burgess to be a depiction of Loki as a being with a supreme ability to distort the truth, or as a genuinely wronged figure in the narrative that's presented. Definitely worth a go if you’re interested in Loki…unless you really don’t wanna read bad language and vulgarity….

neither of these things are inexcusable in and of themselves however piled on top of one another while adding nothing new or unique to the narrative i found them disappointing, and reading the book a rather tedious process which was quite the opposite of what i had hoped for. Loki’ is Burgess’ first novel for adult readers having previously written for children and young adults. As a Norse (Dane) I've been wanting to read more books inspired by/retellings of Norse mythology, but they're not as easy to come by as certain other mythologies cough Greek cough, so I was excited when I came across this one - and it's also told by one of the best Norse gods, Loki ( I'm not biased. All the characters in the story are well developed and I loved that all the gods are a bit unreliable and untruthworthy.i suppose one must commend the attempt to shape the myths into something more inclusive and accepting but it simply felt unnatural, forced, and like the author was trying too hard and unconsciously ended up circling back to homophobia and transphobia once again. With the trickster, Loki, as your guide, journey to the ancient forests of Scandinavia and bear witness to the legends of Norse mythology. Melvin Burgess revolutionised children's literature with the infamous cult novels Junk and Doing It.