The Gospel of Loki

by Joanne M. Harris Narrated by Allan Corduner

Overview

“A surprise from the author of Chocolat,” New York Times bestselling author Joanne M. Harris, “this pacy adult fantasy is narrated by Loki, the Norse god of fire and mischief” (Vogue).

This novel is a brilliant first-person narrative of the rise and fall of the Norse gods-retold from the point of view of the world's ultimate trickster, Loki. A #1 bestseller in the UK, The Gospel of Loki tells the story of Loki's recruitment from the underworld of Chaos, his many exploits on behalf of his one-eyed master, Odin, through to his eventual betrayal of the gods and the fall of Asgard itself.

Using her lifelong passion for the Norse myths, New York Times bestseller Joanne M. Harris has created a vibrant and powerful fantasy novel that the Sunday Sun recommends “to her long-standing audience with wit, style, and obvious enjoyment;” The Sunday Times claims it “lively and fun;” and The Metro adds that “Harris has enormous fun with her antihero...this mythical bad boy should beguile fans of Neil Gaiman.”

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

04/06/2015
Harris (Chocolat) reinterprets the Norse Völuspá (which she incorporates into her story as “The Prophecy of the Oracle”) from the point of view of Loki, evoking the voice of a narcissistic celebrity memoir while retaining a timeless folktale aesthetic. Loki emerges as Wildfire from the realm of Chaos to rescue, trick, and infuriate Odin and the inhabitants of Asgard. The troublemaker antihero narrates the personality flaws of the gods, gives post-facto justifications for his own actions, and admonishes the reader to “never trust anyone.” But underneath the braggadocio and wit runs a story with psychological meat, that of the permanent outsider craving the comfort of approval, seeking revenge on those who disrespect him, and trying to save his own skin as he ponders the relationships among free will, forced obligations, and the inevitable. Those familiar with the traditional stories will find Harris’s approach knowledgeable and respectful but fresh enough to be much more than a modernized retelling, while readers without the background will find this version of Loki an easy enough storyteller to follow for the first time. (May)

Tor.com - Rob Bedford

"The Gospel of Loki is a charming novel, told with snark, wit and familiarity. Harris’s voice of Loki is an addictive thing, a pleasure to consume. While some may be most familiar with the Norse gods from the Marvel films, Harris draws the characters magnificently from their original inspirations and makes them her own."

Library Journal - Audio

07/01/2015
Thanks to Marvel's movie franchises, Loki, the Norse trickster god, is known near and far. Narrator Allan Corduner's dry wit, underhanded genius, and depth of feeling give Harris's (Chocolat) Loki even greater dimension. This work takes listeners through the fall of the Norse gods from Loki's perspective, a demon seduced out of Chaos into joining Odin's entourage only to discover that despite his sacrifices, he will never be truly one of them. And if he can't join them, he might as well destroy them. Loki, the perfect unreliable narrator, replays various tales in betrayal. Loki is like a child, craving acceptance but constantly crossing the line from funny into mean. Corduner walks with Loki through his triumphs and humiliations and allows his genuine hurt to build until all that is left is his true aspect, Chaos. VERDICT The self-deprecating humor, the vocal variety in keeping with Loki's view of the characters, and the repeated lessons hammered in about trust make this audio eminently approachable for fans of both the comics and Norse mythology. ["Loki's sly charm, devious nature, and conflicted character shine through": LJ Xpress Reviews 5/8/15 review of the Saga hc.]—Jodi L. Israel, Miami, FL

Kirkus Reviews

2015-04-13
If everything you know about Loki begins and ends with the actor Tom Hiddleston, this book is for you. Harris (Peaches for Father Francis, 2012, etc.) collects the ancient Norse myths about the trickster god—Loki's origin in Chaos; his sworn oath of brotherhood with Odin; his endless, nasty pranks on the gods of Asgard; his torturous imprisonment; the end of the world, etc.—into a single, quippy novel in contemporary (indeed, anachronistic) speech. All Loki wants, or so he says, is to be liked, but most of the gods are against him from the very first, and so he does his best (his worst?) to live up to their expectations. The way Harris writes him, you can't help but like him, even as he confesses to the most absurd and/or horrific deeds; well, you like him, but you wouldn't really want to be acquainted with him—being his enemy or his friend seems equally dicey. Readers who are surprised that Harris has it in her to be so cynical and snarky are probably the same people who think the charming-veering-toward-sentimental film Chocolat was faithful to the 1999 novel, which was actually considerably darker. One has to admire the author for imposing her own take on the character: the Marvel films' portrayal is fairly pervasive, and bestselling fantasist Neil Gaiman has had a crack at it twice (in his Sandman comic-book series and the novel American Gods). If not exactly fresh, certainly a rich, in-depth addition to the modern mythic canon.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171147570
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	05/05/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

The Gospel of Loki



LESSON 1

Fire and Ice

Never trust a ruminant.

— Lokabrenna

All of us came from fire and ice. Chaos and Order. Light and dark. In the beginning — or back in the day — there was fire coming out of a hole in the ice, bringing disruption, turmoil, and change. Change isn’t always comfortable, but it is a fact of life. And that’s where life as we know it began, as the fires of World Below pierced the ice of World Above.

Before that, there were no Middle Worlds. No gods, no Folk, no wildlife. There was only Order and Chaos then, pure and uncorrupted.

But neither Order nor Chaos is very hospitable. Perfect Order is immovable — frozen, unchanging, and sterile. Total Chaos is uncontrolled — volatile and destructive. The middle ground — basically, lukewarm water — created the perfect environment for another kind of life to emerge among the frozen Wilderlands and volcanoes erupting under the ice.

The Authorized Version goes like this, supported by the Oracle. From the meeting of Order and Chaos there came a giant being called Ymir, the father of the Ice Folk, and a cow, Audhumla, which licked at the salt that was in the ice and brought out the first man, Buri. From this I think we can all conclude that the cow was the primary instigator of everything that followed — War, Tribulation, the End of the Worlds. Lesson One: Never trust a ruminant.

Now the sons of Buri and those of Ymir hated each other from the start, and it didn’t take long for them to go to war. Buri’s three grandsons, the sons of Bór — their names were Odin, Vili, and Ve — finally killed old Ymir and made the Middle Worlds from what was left of him: the rocks from his bones, the earth from his flesh, the rivers from his steaming blood. His skull became the Firmament; his brains, the clouds; his eyebrows, the division between Inland and the Outlands.

Of course, there’s no way of proving this — let’s face it — rather unlikely hypothesis. All of the possible witnesses have disappeared, except for Odin, the Old Man, the only survivor of that war, architect and chronicler of what we now call the Elder Age and, as it happens, the only one (except for me) to have heard the fateful prophecy, delivered to him by Mimir’s Head when the Worlds were fresh and new.

Call me cynical if you like. But it all sounds a bit too convenient. The Authorized Version of events leaves out a number of details, which Creationists seem content to ignore. I personally have my doubts — not least about the giant cow — although even now you have to beware of how you express these sentiments. At one time, even to suggest that Odin’s account of things might have been metaphorical instead of literal would have resulted in cries of heresy and a good deal of personal discomfort for Yours Truly, which is why, even then, I was always careful to keep my scepticism to myself.

But that’s how religions and histories make their way into the world, not through battles and conquests, but through poems and kennings and songs, passed through generations and written down by scholars and scribes. And that’s how, five hundred years later or so, a new religion with its new god came to supplant us — not through war, but through books and stories and words.

After all, words are what remain when all the deeds have been done. 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.

Not that there was much of that when Odin was fighting the Ice Folk. There were no runes to write with then, and nothing but rock to write upon. But metaphor or otherwise, this is as much as I believe: that the world came into being through Change, which is the servant of Chaos, and only through Change has it endured. Much like Your Humble Narrator, in fact, adapting to suit the circumstance.

The snow hare changes its coat to white to go unseen in winter. The ash tree drops its leaves in the fall, better to survive the cold. All of life does the same — even gods — turning their coats to suit the turning seasons of the world. There should be a name for that kind of thing — in fact, it should be one of my names. Let’s call it Revolution.

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