Loki: Melvin Burgess
Books 1 and 2. Entertainingly promising start although do wonder if will get a little tired of the incessant smart-alec tone of Loki after a while; it’s already beginning to pall a little as it is so one-note and he is starting to come across as shrill.
And having now finished: the Loki tone did get irritating but as the final chapters approached it was, necessarily, rather reduced as matters got much darker. I very much liked the idea of ‘becoming’ the gods gaining their adult, essential attributes. This was an original idea but one that made total senses – to the extent that I realized it had never been done before (I think) I suppose the tellings of the past were all of the Gods when they were ‘fixed’. But there is an historical thread running through this as it goes from the beginning of all things (or no-things, to be more accurate)
The Baldr story, which I always found one of the most powerful and moving, even when forst reading these tales as a very young person, was interesting, particularly the ‘new rules/no deviance’ idea.. But it was dramatically clumsy; too self-consciously contemporary = although B’s transition as ‘becoming’ is intriguing, original and well done.
Another original idea I much liked was the idea that Odin, once he had gained full knowledge, had access to all multiverses. I thought this was a very smart use of a modern fantasy trope that actually makes a lot of sense in this mythic context. The effect that it had on him almost breaking him and not being so godlike was an excellent one. This helped to put Ragnarok/end of the Gods in context and make it more understandable, perhaps inevitable.
The ending was very impressive and powerful. Loki becomes almost a saviour figure who can save the world in the way that Baldr, temporarily, gave Asgard a Golden Age. This suggests humanity could have its own Golden Age if it rejected bigotry/prejudice/idiocy and made use of the skills and talents it had -viz Science/knowledge. An admirable idea and fine and powerfully moving ending.
