Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Ruling the World

by Louie Stowell, Louie Stowell (Illustrator)

Overview

The spotlight is on trickster god Loki, still stuck as a peevish eleven-year-old, as he grapples with whether he will play the part of the hero or the villain in the school play—and in his mortal life.

Norse god Loki’s been able to avoid eternity in a pit of angry snakes, but living on Earth as an eleven-year-old is still a drag. When Thor and Loki’s “parents” abandon them to go on holiday, Odin sends Balder—Thor’s half brother and god of making Loki look bad—to babysit. Then there’s the school play. Despite Loki’s acting genius (it’s lying, after all), Thor is cast as the wonderful prince, while Loki is the villain. What?! At least Loki’s found a cool ring to wear with his costume. One that looks suspiciously like the cursed ring of Andvari. It’s probably a coincidence that when Loki wears it, everyone gives him the same adoring look they give Balder. And that new voice telling Loki to give in to his deepest, darkest desires is just his conscience, right? Loki starts to wonder: What’s the point of being good if everyone’s already decided you’re bad? Drama and hilarity ensue in this third doodle-packed diary that will have readers giving Loki a standing ovation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536237535
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	05/07/2024
Series:	Loki: A Bad God's Guide , #3
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	78 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Louie Stowell started her career writing carefully researched books about space, ancient Egypt, politics, and science, but eventually lapsed into just making stuff up. The author of the Kit the Wizard series, she was inspired by her research into Norse myths to write Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Being Good, which became a number-one UK bestseller, and its sequel, Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Taking the Blame. Louie Stowell writes full-time in London, where she lives with her wife, Karen; their dog, Buffy; and a creepy puppet that is probably cursed.

Read an Excerpt

About This Book
   This is a magical diary, which should be a wondrous thing, but in reality it is a living nightmare. Every time I, Loki, god of mischief, record my deeds inside its pages, the diary calculates my so-called virtue score. This calculation rarely goes in my favor.
   And to make matters worse, if I stray ever so slightly from the truth, it corrects me. I have to put up with such nonsense because this diary is programmed with the so-called wisdom of smelly bum-bum Odin.
   Correction: Odin does not have a smelly bum-bum.
   HA! Victory! I made the diary say “smelly bum-bum”!
   Anyway. I have been sent to Midgard, which you peasants call Earth, as punishment for cutting off the goddess Sif’s hair. The conditions of my punishment are that I must take the form of a mortal child and refrain from displaying my amazing godly powers. Luckily, I’ve discovered a loophole: as long as mortals don’t SEE me transforming into various animals and beings, I can do it as often as I like.
   This is, irritatingly, true.
   Accompanying me are my fake family: Thor, Hyrrokkin, and Heimdall.
 
This is what I have done on Earth so far . . .
 
Discovered the horrors of mortal school.
Made two mortal friends.
Valerie
Georgina
Defeated many Frost Giants!
(Well, the same ones twice.)
Woo-hoo!
Oh no!
Woo-hoo!
Oh no!
And received magical gifts . . .

BECAUSE I AM AWESOME and a Good God™ now.
   A GIANT'S GUIDE TO MAGIC SPELLS FOR BEGINNERS Wand
   Lie detected. You were NOT given the book (and by extension the wand) because you are “awesome” and a Good God™ now. Hyrrokkin said that you “still have far to go and a lot to learn.”
   Harrumph. I guess that’s why I’m still stuck here . . .

Editorial Reviews

A magic ring threatens to derail the efforts of the god of mischief to mend his ways and so be allowed to return to Asgard. . . . More hilarious mythological tweaks and narrow squeaks.
—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2024-02-17
A magic ring threatens to derail the efforts of the god of mischief to mend his ways and so be allowed to return to Asgard.

Exiled to Midgard (Earth) in the guise of a human middle schooler by (as he puts it with characteristic maturity) “smelly bum-bum Odin,” Loki finds his progress grinding to a halt in this third series entry. He steals a ring that turns out to bear a legendary curse that feeds on his vanity and lingering resentment, bespelling his nascent conscience and egging him on to kill Thor, who’s come along for the quest in the role of pesky older brother. In the ramp-up to the climax, the laughable boasts and comeuppances of this most unreliable of narrators give way to some scary moments as the two disguised gods confront one another as hero and villain in a school play. Thanks to some timely onstage intervention by Loki’s human friends Valerie and Georgina—and with his own better judgment making a tardy but welcome entrance—violence is narrowly averted. By the end, Loki has a lot of apologizing to do, but he’s at least inched closer to making good on his highly aspirational claim to be a “Good God™ now.” Ample illustrations and a varied visual layout add to the humor and reader appeal. Central characters present white; Georgina is Black.

More hilarious mythological tweaks and narrow squeaks. (Graphic adventure. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews