Genre: Dark Fantasy
Length: 430 Pages
Goodreads | Amazon
Summary
Perhaps you know the myths.
Furious, benevolent Gods.
A tree that binds nine realms.
A hammer stronger than any weapon.
And someday, the end of everything.
But few have heard of me.
Looking back, it’s easy to know what choices I might have made differently. At least it feels that way. I might have given up on my title. Told my father he was useless, king of Gods or no, and left Asgard. Made a life somewhere else.
Maybe I would never have let Loki cross my path. Never have fallen in love.
But there’s no going back.
We were happy once.
And the price for that happiness was the end of everything.
Review
We follow Sigyn, one of the lesser known characters in Norse mythology, and we meet her before she meets Loki. I immediately identified with her as she struggled to get her father’s approval, something I know very well. No matter what she does, nothing is enough. She’s not getting a title. Things change once she meets Loki. Her purpose in life changes. Life happens, priorities changes, and Loki’s bad decisions get them into trouble often enough. Sigyn’s character arc is tragic, this is a warning. But she’s also a strong woman who, despite everything, keeps fighting for what she believes in. This is one of those strong female leads who isn’t a physical fighter, but who’s strong because of love and conviction.
The author has neatly woven in a few of the familiar Norse mythology stories into Sigyn’s life, including my favourite story, Thor in drag. With retellings, there’s already so much you can borrow from for the worldbuilding but there’s a fine line too. It can become too much, or too little. I believe this story was a great take by using a different perspective, but also use the words like ‘skit’ and ‘seidr’ with modern language. It makes it readable, easy to understand, and doesn’t require too much effort.
I loved this book even though it left me heartbroken and made me relive some past trauma. It not just about the story of the Aesir, it’s very much about one character’s experience and the author did a wonderful job in making this about her, not about her more famous peers.
The Goddess of Nothing At All is an emotional rollercoaster, sharing stories from Norse mythology from a different perspective. I highly recommend it to people who are looking for queer dark fantasy retellings, or heavy emotional books.
About the Author
Cat Rector grew up in a small Nova Scotian town and could often be found simultaneously reading a book and fighting off muskrats while walking home from school. She devours stories in all their forms, loves messy, morally grey characters, and writes about the horrors that we inflict on each other. After spending nearly a decade living abroad, she returned to Canada with her spouse to resume her war against the muskrats. When she’s not writing, you can find her playing video games, spending time with loved ones, or staring at her To Be Read pile like it’s going to read itself.
Epilogues for Lost Gods is the sequel to her debut novel, The Goddess of Nothing At All.
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