Review: The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M. Harris

Title: The Gospel of Loki
Author: Joanne M. Harris
Publication: February 25th 2014 by Hachette Australia
Genre: Adult ~ Fantasy
Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository | Kobo
Cover Rating: 5/5
Overall Rating: 5/5

With his notorious reputation for trickery and deception, and an ability to cause as many problems as he solves, Loki is a Norse god like no other. Demon-born, he is viewed with deepest suspicion by his fellow gods who will never accept him as one of their own and for this he vows to take his revenge.

But while Loki is planning the downfall of Asgard and the humiliation of his tormentors, greater powers are conspiring against the gods and a battle is brewing that will change the fate of the Worlds.

From his recruitment by Odin from the realm of Chaos, through his years as the go-to man of Asgard, to his fall from grace in the build-up to Ragnarok, this is the unofficial history of the world's ultimate trickster.

“Loki, that's me. Loki, the Light-Bringer, the misunderstood, the elusive, the handsome and modest hero of this particular tissue of lies.” 


I don't even know where to begin with my review of The Gospel of Loki. I can genuinely say that it was fantastic, funny, entertaining and I even think this is the best book I've read so far this year. 

So even though I'm a huge mythology fan I didn't know a whole lot about Norse mythology. After this book I must say that I know more than I knew before so yes, this book is pretty informative and it's obvious that Joanne Harris put a lot of effort into this story and did her research. Pretty amazing!

Although I wasn't too well known with Norse mythology, like I said before. I've always liked Loki the most of all the gods. Marvel may have something to do with that but whatever... I loved the way Loki recounted the story, telling his version of events. He was so funny. I laughed my ass off a lot while reading it and I'd definitely recommend reading the character list. But Loki? He was also dramatic, deadly in his own away and just plain fabulous. Yeah, I loved him in this story.

The writing was excellent, too. The descriptions of Asgard and the other worlds made me feel like I was really there. It really was a pleasure to read about all of Loki's adventures. I can't remember the last book I enjoyed this book. It was simply superb! Everyone should absolutely read this book. 

Favorite Quotes:

Words can shatter faith; start a war; change the course of history. A story can make your heart beat faster; topple walls; scale mountains — hey, a story can even raise the dead. And that's why the King of stories ended up being King of the gods; because writing history and making history are only the breadth of a page apart.

Whoever said names can't hurt you was either drunk or stupid. All words have power, of course, but names are the most potent of all, which is why the gods had so many.

here were a few compensations to having corporeal Aspect. Food (jam tarts were my favourites); drink (mostly wine and mead); setting things on fire; sex (although I was still extremely confused by all the taboos surrounding this - no animals, no siblings, no men, no married women, no demons - frankly, it was amazing to me that anyone had sex at all, with so many rules against it).

About the Author:

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Joanne Harris (MBE) was born in Barnsley in 1964, of a French mother and an English father. She studied Modern and Mediaeval Languages at Cambridge and was a teacher for fifteen years, during which time she published three novels, including Chocolat (1999), which was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp.

Since then, she has written 14 more novels, two collections of short stories and three cookbooks. Her books are now published in over 50 countries and have won a number of British and international awards. She is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, has honorary doctorates in literature from the universities of Sheffield and Huddersfield, and has been a judge for the Whitbread Prize, the Orange Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science.