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

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What started as an interesting experiment turns out to be one of the most boring retellings of myths I have ever read. a mischievous, unpredictable and clever book that breathes new life into an already fascinating character and godly race.' CULTUREFLY In a recent interview Burgess spoke of how inspired he has been by the immediacy of recent first person narratives of Greek mythology and applied this style to his favourite, the Norse myths. Of course, in Loki’s tale he is always the hero, a Northern Prometheus and champion of humankind, while many of the Norse pantheon are portrayed as baddies or buffoons. However, Odin is treated more kindly as are the Norse goddesses.

There are anachronisms, which work. Canapes are served at Asgard’s many drinks parties. Odin starts to go insane because he has peered into the multiverse, while the traditionally male god Baldr turns out to be a hermaphrodite, with Loki taking Baldr’s “second virginity” in soft-porn fashion on a bearskin rug. One of Loki’s wives, Angrboda, gives birth to enormous monsters, and Burgess gruesomely details their arrivals as if on a contemporary maternity ward. Norse gods were already having quite a moment before Burgess came along, what with Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology and the past decade of Marvel movies. “Norse myths are particularly suitable for the north of Europe, rather than [those Greek gods] and their soft paddling around in the Mediterranean!” Burgess says. “These are our gods; the gods that the days of our week are named after. They fit our psyche a little better, perhaps. They are more wild and hairy and slightly more uncivilised.”Book signing, Forbidden Planet, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London; WC2H 8JR. 4pm Sunday 29th July YALC @ Kensington Olympia This is a retelling that is contemporary in tone, at once amusing and relatable. It is a heartfelt plea to overthrow the old gods of power and authority and instigate a new era ruled by love and intelligence. Alongside the politics of Asgard, it charts the course of Loki's many loves and families, from his mothering of Odin's famous horse to his intense, turbulent, and, eventually, fatal relationship with Baldr the Beautiful - a tender and moving story of love that goes wrong, jealousy and a transitioning that is forbidden by society. Step into the ancient fir-tree forests of Scandinavia and bear witness to legends as epic as those of the Greeks and the Romans. Illustrated by the wonderful Chris Mould, Count is about a boy who boasts that he can count up to ten million. No one believes him – he doesn’t even believe it himself. But once he starts, he falls in love with the numbers and they fall in love with him …. and you just never an tell what numbers are going to do next.

I’m a big fan of Japanese and Korean fiction because it feels fresh whereas so much of the fiction here, you think, Oh God, I kind of know this.” Dystopian Fiction Books Everyone Should Read: Explore The Darker Side of Possible Worlds and Alternative Futures Alongside the politics of Asgard, the novel charts the course of Loki’s many loves and families, from his mothering of Odin’s famous horse to his intense, turbulent, and, eventually fatal relationship with Baldr the Beautiful—a tender and moving story of a love that goes wrong. We are surrounded on the political stage by lying bastards and the thing about this book is the question is how much is Loki telling the truth and how much is he not telling the truth. It’s not exactly Swiftian but I think we live in an age of lies and falsehoods so it’s interesting to look at the father of lies and the way he spins it.”Loki is keen to establish a new “Golden Age… if only the right people could get their hands on the wheels of power”. What does this novel have to say about the politics of power and those who are in charge? 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.. you are)! In an interview with Big Issue North, Madeline Miller, who used Greek mythology as the basis for her first two novels about Achilles and Circe, said she thought myths are “containers to hold all of our big emotions, to give us a sense of catharsis for them”. What can myths offer modern readers and writers today?

That reading was for me a fun and enthralling experience, the Norse myths being dismantled and reassembled with a very modern sensibility. Indeed some of the overtly "religiously" aspects are presented in what was for me, as a Christian, a very suggestive way - clearly, for all his confinement, Loki has a good knowledge of the modern work. Take for example Thor's passion, dying nailed to a tree before descending to the Underworld and arising again, bearing the scars of his experience. This was a very horrifying, but also moving, account, as much so for me as any Easter passion. 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.

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It’s still a book I can imagine teenagers enjoying, either because of or despite the sex scenes. These include Loki and Baldr becoming lovers, problematic in Burgess’s fundamendalist version of the gods’ kingdom of Asgard, which has outlawed same-sex relationships in a reflection of the 69 countries today that criminalise homosexuality. But Burgess does not stop with a gay love affair: he turns Baldr into “an androgyne deity”, in a first for Asgard. This is no help to the lovers but it does enable Burgess to explore a character who transitions from a man to a woman. What a great deal of fun this was! ‘Loki’ is Burgess’ first novel for adult readers having previously written for children and young adults. He is also a winner of the prestigious Carnegie Medal. Take a Look at Our Summary of November Highlights, Whether You're Looking for the Latest Releases or Gift Inspiration First off, I want to make it clear that this is very much a collection of retellings - don't take everything at face value. Loki isn't actually originally included in a lot of the stories he's telling throughout the book, but very fitting to his character, it also makes him come off as an unreliable narrator. Some were given a fun twist, others that aren't so thoroughly told originally were explained further (Norse mythology can be a bit "weird" which leaves a lot of room for interpretation) and overall it was nice to revisit a lot of the stories I've heard throughout my childhood/school years.

a mischievous, unpredictable and clever book that breathes new life into an already fascinating character and godly race.’ CULTUREFLY For me, YA is not so much about writing “for” young adults as writing about being that age. It’s a very exciting period of life to write about, because it’s a period of change – the biggest change of all, from child to adult. It’s all about becoming. But I’ve written many books about that subject now, and I just feel there’s nothing much more for me to say. And when you run out of things to say, what’s the point in saying it? I’d never say never, but for now I’m more interested in writing books for an older readership.

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Burgess’s approach is different. He writes from Loki’s perspective, in the first person, which lends the book the air of a young adult novel. Loki, far from being a liar, wants to inform us that he’s been telling the truth all the time. It’s the other gods who have been defaming him. Loki also shares his experience of love in its many forms including shape-shifting into a mare to distract a stallion resulting in the birth of Odin's famous eight-legged horse, his marriages to Sigyn and Angrboda, his monstrous children by the latter, and his intense, doomed relationship with Baldr the Beautiful. The story does play around with the original myth, taking the blame away from Loki in almost all of the stories, but keeps the stories as accurate to the original source material as possible, which makes it a really interesting read. Finally, this book is so incredibly nastily misogynistic in its portrayal of women almost exclusively as hysterical sex-crazed harpies. It super grossed me out, as did the completely unnecessary aside about Thor raping Angrboda before murdering her.