Search
Trials of Apollo | The Hidden Oracle
8.7
Rate It
Book
How do you punish an immortal? By making him human. After angering his father Zeus, the god...
greek mythology lgbt Fantasy YA Rick Riordan
The Seven Spires
8.0
Rate It
Book
An incredible high fantasy adventure set in a world based on familiar fairy tales, folklore, and...
Fantasy
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)
6.5
Rate It
Movie
It's the 21st century, but the gods of Mount Olympus and assorted monsters have walked out of the...
The Last Unicorn: The Lost Journey
9.5
Rate It
Book
Peter S. Beagle first imagined his beloved heroine when he was twenty-three, half a decade before...
Hera
8.0
Rate It
Book
When Hera, immortal goddess and daughter of the ancient Titan Cronus, helps her brother Zeus to...
Greek mythology
ClareR (5991 KP) rated North is the Night in Books
Oct 5, 2025
I’m so glad that I don’t really pay attention to the reviews of other readers (I read them, though), and that I did a bit of digging around as to why there seemed to be so much negativity on Goodreads. I really enjoyed North is the Night.
The main attraction for me was the promise of some Finnish mythology and it’s diminishment under the cosh of Christianity. I love a bit of myth and legend in any and/ or all of its forms and nationalities, and North is the Night didn’t disappoint.
I loved the premis of the two female characters ending up in Tuonela (the land of the dead) even though they’re both very much alive.
Love, magic, death, life and bravery - it’s a heady mix!
The main attraction for me was the promise of some Finnish mythology and it’s diminishment under the cosh of Christianity. I love a bit of myth and legend in any and/ or all of its forms and nationalities, and North is the Night didn’t disappoint.
I loved the premis of the two female characters ending up in Tuonela (the land of the dead) even though they’re both very much alive.
Love, magic, death, life and bravery - it’s a heady mix!
Rachael Moyes (404 KP) rated The Gospel of Loki in Books
Jul 8, 2017
Fantastic take on the character of Loki
‘The Gospel of Loki’ by Joanne M. Harris is the story of the Norse Gods from the point of view of Loki, the Trickster. I’ve always found Norse Mythology very interesting and Loki is by far my favourite of the Gods. I first heard about this book about a year ago and I finally managed to grab a copy from my local library earlier this week, then proceeded to read the whole book in two days. It was just that good!
Odin rules the nine worlds from his fortress of Asgard. When this book starts his people, the Aesir, have finally made peace with the Vanir and members of both groups make up the Gods of Asgard. The world is split into Order and Chaos, with Odin and the Gods trying to maintain Order over the nine realms. Loki was born from Chaos and is essentially a demon with no physical form (or Aspect) living in the realm of Pandaemoniem under the evil Lord Surt. But Loki was curious about the worlds where Order and Chaos co-existed so he left Chaos and traveled to the worlds above where he gained a physical Aspect, met Odin and was invited back to Asgard where he became the 25th God.
He did not receive a warm welcome from the other Gods, however, and soon lived up to his names of Wildfire and the Trickster. This book, which I would imagine takes place over a number of years, tells the story of many of Loki’s exploits in the nine realms including when he tricked a builder into fortifying Asgard’s walls without paying him, cut off Sif’s golden hair (to Thor’s outrage), got Thor to dress up as a bride to infiltrate the Ice Folk and kill their enemies, met the giants of Utgard and their own Trickster Utgard-Loki, all the way up to Ragnarok and the final battle between Order and Chaos.
Okay, I’ve just tried to describe the plot fairly simply above and I don’t know how much sense it will have made if you’re not familiar with the Norse Gods, but hopefully it wasn’t too bad!
I’ve always found Norse Mythology very interesting, mainly, I think, because of the diverse characters and fanciful stories. We get to meet all those characters in this book; Odin, Thor, Frey, Freyja, Balder, Frigg, Sigyn, Skadi, Gullvieg-Heid & many more. And as this book is written in first person from Loki, we see them all from his point of view. I also loved Loki’s illegitimate children, particularly Hel, the ruler of the Underworld and Fenris the werewolf.
I know a fair bit about Loki from things I’ve read online and books about mythology so I was a bit wary going in about how historically accurate Joanne had written her character, but I have to say that I found her version of Loki spot on! She voiced him perfectly and I also found the other characters to be very close to what I’ve read about them.
I really enjoyed the author’s writing style and the story flowed so well that I found it really difficult to put down. Loki’s storytelling was both informative and engaging and each of his stories flowed into each other very well.
This book is very heavy on the Norse Mythology (obviously) and I think it’s probably best to go into it with a little bit of knowledge beforehand. I think that if I knew nothing of the subject before, I might have found it a bit overwhelming mainly due to the amount of characters and worlds. But saying that, it is so well written and well explained that I think anyone could read it, I just think you’d get more enjoyment out of it if you knew a bit about some of the characters first. There is a very useful character list at the beginning that you can go back to.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves Norse Mythology, especially Loki and Odin but I think anyone who likes a good fantasy novel would enjoy it :)
Odin rules the nine worlds from his fortress of Asgard. When this book starts his people, the Aesir, have finally made peace with the Vanir and members of both groups make up the Gods of Asgard. The world is split into Order and Chaos, with Odin and the Gods trying to maintain Order over the nine realms. Loki was born from Chaos and is essentially a demon with no physical form (or Aspect) living in the realm of Pandaemoniem under the evil Lord Surt. But Loki was curious about the worlds where Order and Chaos co-existed so he left Chaos and traveled to the worlds above where he gained a physical Aspect, met Odin and was invited back to Asgard where he became the 25th God.
He did not receive a warm welcome from the other Gods, however, and soon lived up to his names of Wildfire and the Trickster. This book, which I would imagine takes place over a number of years, tells the story of many of Loki’s exploits in the nine realms including when he tricked a builder into fortifying Asgard’s walls without paying him, cut off Sif’s golden hair (to Thor’s outrage), got Thor to dress up as a bride to infiltrate the Ice Folk and kill their enemies, met the giants of Utgard and their own Trickster Utgard-Loki, all the way up to Ragnarok and the final battle between Order and Chaos.
Okay, I’ve just tried to describe the plot fairly simply above and I don’t know how much sense it will have made if you’re not familiar with the Norse Gods, but hopefully it wasn’t too bad!
I’ve always found Norse Mythology very interesting, mainly, I think, because of the diverse characters and fanciful stories. We get to meet all those characters in this book; Odin, Thor, Frey, Freyja, Balder, Frigg, Sigyn, Skadi, Gullvieg-Heid & many more. And as this book is written in first person from Loki, we see them all from his point of view. I also loved Loki’s illegitimate children, particularly Hel, the ruler of the Underworld and Fenris the werewolf.
I know a fair bit about Loki from things I’ve read online and books about mythology so I was a bit wary going in about how historically accurate Joanne had written her character, but I have to say that I found her version of Loki spot on! She voiced him perfectly and I also found the other characters to be very close to what I’ve read about them.
I really enjoyed the author’s writing style and the story flowed so well that I found it really difficult to put down. Loki’s storytelling was both informative and engaging and each of his stories flowed into each other very well.
This book is very heavy on the Norse Mythology (obviously) and I think it’s probably best to go into it with a little bit of knowledge beforehand. I think that if I knew nothing of the subject before, I might have found it a bit overwhelming mainly due to the amount of characters and worlds. But saying that, it is so well written and well explained that I think anyone could read it, I just think you’d get more enjoyment out of it if you knew a bit about some of the characters first. There is a very useful character list at the beginning that you can go back to.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves Norse Mythology, especially Loki and Odin but I think anyone who likes a good fantasy novel would enjoy it :)
Awix (3310 KP) rated Gods Of Egypt (2016) in Movies
Feb 10, 2018 (Updated Feb 10, 2018)
Set Piece Defence
Not-quite-as-bad-as-its-reputation knockabout fantasy that does a serious number on the wonders of Egyptian mythology. Evil god Set (Gerard Butler in shouty mode) takes over the kingdom and sets about harvesting the signature body-parts of his fellow immortals; hapless mortal Brenton Thwaites must persuade wronged heir-to-the-throne Horus (Nicolaj Coster-Waldau) to help get rid of him.
Well, the plot is nothing special and the film often seems to be on the verge of sending itself up, but on the other hand it's visually interesting and the choice to treat the weirder bits of Egyptian mythology as being literally true (boss-god Ra is obliged to drag the sun around the Earth every day, on a length of chain attached to the back of his flying boat) means the story is at least a bit different.
You can, I suppose, complain that none of the people playing Egyptians in this film are actually Egyptian; many did, and I suppose I must have missed them complaining in a similar vein when Japanese and coloured actors were cast as inhabitants of Scandinavian fantasyland in the Thor movies. But c'mon, guys, it's a film about Gerard Butler in a flying space chariot pulled by giant beetles - it is possible to take this sort of thing a bit too seriously. (I look forward to retiring to my bunker and listening to the flaming-torch-wielding mob as they mill around outside.)
Anyway, not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but hardly terrible, either, and at least it is pleasing to the eye and has a certain novelty.
Well, the plot is nothing special and the film often seems to be on the verge of sending itself up, but on the other hand it's visually interesting and the choice to treat the weirder bits of Egyptian mythology as being literally true (boss-god Ra is obliged to drag the sun around the Earth every day, on a length of chain attached to the back of his flying boat) means the story is at least a bit different.
You can, I suppose, complain that none of the people playing Egyptians in this film are actually Egyptian; many did, and I suppose I must have missed them complaining in a similar vein when Japanese and coloured actors were cast as inhabitants of Scandinavian fantasyland in the Thor movies. But c'mon, guys, it's a film about Gerard Butler in a flying space chariot pulled by giant beetles - it is possible to take this sort of thing a bit too seriously. (I look forward to retiring to my bunker and listening to the flaming-torch-wielding mob as they mill around outside.)
Anyway, not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but hardly terrible, either, and at least it is pleasing to the eye and has a certain novelty.
Kristin (149 KP) rated 'Til Death Do Us Part (Fearless, #1) in Books
Dec 7, 2018
Disclaimer: I received an e-book copy of this book from the editor in exchange for an honest review.
When I read the synopsis for this book, I was intrigued by the prospect of "modernized mythology." The idea that the Greek gods and goddesses are around right now, during our time, working to change humans into immortals through a competition was extremely interesting, and I couldn't wait to see how it played out.
I wasn't disappointed, as the story held my interest throughout, and I found myself trying to figure out which character was which Green god/goddess before it was actually stated. I've always been a fan of mythology, and this brought it to a new level, especially with the competition for immortality. Mary Jane's backstory is extremely sad, but her and Lucas seem to make a great couple, and I look forward to reading more of their story as they move on at the end of the book.
The only criticism I have is I wish it was longer. I thought it was over 280 pages, according to the count on my Kindle app, but the story actually ended around 220, with chapters from two future works at the end. Although the plot is thoroughly developed, I wanted more of it, whether it was more of Lucas and Mary Jane, or information about her parents, or even more with her and her aunt, Eden. However, I know this is only the first in a series, so I'm sure those things will be carried into the next book, which I hope comes out soon. =)
When I read the synopsis for this book, I was intrigued by the prospect of "modernized mythology." The idea that the Greek gods and goddesses are around right now, during our time, working to change humans into immortals through a competition was extremely interesting, and I couldn't wait to see how it played out.
I wasn't disappointed, as the story held my interest throughout, and I found myself trying to figure out which character was which Green god/goddess before it was actually stated. I've always been a fan of mythology, and this brought it to a new level, especially with the competition for immortality. Mary Jane's backstory is extremely sad, but her and Lucas seem to make a great couple, and I look forward to reading more of their story as they move on at the end of the book.
The only criticism I have is I wish it was longer. I thought it was over 280 pages, according to the count on my Kindle app, but the story actually ended around 220, with chapters from two future works at the end. Although the plot is thoroughly developed, I wanted more of it, whether it was more of Lucas and Mary Jane, or information about her parents, or even more with her and her aunt, Eden. However, I know this is only the first in a series, so I'm sure those things will be carried into the next book, which I hope comes out soon. =)