Ragnorks 7: The Search Begins (Ragnorks 7 Book 1)

The Nine Worlds are as realistic as can be. The wonderful rendition of Thor's trials in the Hall of the Giant King, one of the most well-known myths about the Thunderer, is one of the best moments in the book. As much as I liked the way the stories are told, there were a few things I had major problems with. The ''Yours Truly'' code name became too tiring rather quickly. In addition, the pseudo-funny, aloof, semi-modernized interactions and descriptions alienated me from the narration in a significant degree.

There were a few parts that lost their beauty and their impact because, to my ears, they sounded like a silly Nickelodeon teen-movie. I'm not suggesting that I would have preferred a translated Old Norse text, but between that and the ''I Was A Teenage Loki'' style, there could have been a balanced mixture of both.

Still, this is my personal pet-peeve, I am sure many readers will find this kind of language satisfying and entertaining. Easier to understand, most probably. Here, I will agree with a reviewer on GR who stated that, perhaps, this is the kind of book that would engage the younger generation, but not the adults of my age. My biggest problem has to do with the characters, and this one I can't easily forgive. The gods and goddesses are strangely represented, portrayed as rather simplified versions of themselves.

I don't care whether they represent archetypes, the Norse myths never treated them as such. Poor Heimdallr as is his proper name and Baldr are ridiculed to no end,as is Sigyn whose legendary loyalty is portrayed as the infatuation of a plain old-maid I hated that with a vengeance! I admit that all these didn't sit well with me, the complexity of the deities is vanished and we steer too much away from the myths. I tried to have in mind that we witness everything from Loki's perspective, and it made sense, but still, it bothered me deeply.

I don't know how these legendary, larger than life, mythical figures are portrayed in some recent popular action movies. I couldn't care less, I haven't watched them, I never will. My guess is their luck can't be much better than here.

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But the Thor I have in mind, the Thunderer of the myths, isn't a dim-witted brute, gentle Baldr isn't vain and silly, Freyja isn't a shrew with no presence at all. In the hands of any other writer, this issue would have made me abandon the book shortly after I started it. Joanne Harris is a writer I love and trust. Her books have a certain something, her writing a distinct kind of beauty. When you choose to present such beautiful stories out of the Pantheon of Norse Mythology, the responsibility must be quite heavy.

The Gospel of Loki is well-written, and adequately respectful to the original material which has brought up generations and generations.

I am certain that if Loki ever had the chance to read it, he would love it. And I, for once, was satisfied with this book, even though there were some issues that prevented me from granting it four stars. Would I read it again? However,I was told there is a sequel to it, I checked in the synopsis, and my answer was a big, fat NO.

Let us respect some things, let us not turn everything into cartoon super-heroes View all 15 comments. Nov 21, Blair rated it it was amazing Shelves: The first fantasy novel from Joanne Harris, The Gospel of Loki is a brilliantly entertaining retelling of Norse mythology. As the title suggests, it's all seen through the eyes of the god of mischief, Loki, who relates his own version of events in a wonderfully unpredictable, unreliable and humorous voice.

It's part 21st-century update - Loki's narration is very modern - and part faithful reconstruction - the book presents the world of these myths as it was originally told, and as a very real ex The first fantasy novel from Joanne Harris, The Gospel of Loki is a brilliantly entertaining retelling of Norse mythology. It's part 21st-century update - Loki's narration is very modern - and part faithful reconstruction - the book presents the world of these myths as it was originally told, and as a very real experience, or at least as real as Loki wants you to think it is.

I'm not going to pretend that my reasons for reading this book and my reasons for loving it have nothing to do with the Marvel Avengers films. Or that I wasn't reading the whole thing in Tom Hiddleston's voice. Yes, I am pretty enamoured with the character of Loki I'm not quite of the obsessed Tumblr-fangirl variety yet, but I do own a Loki figurine Still, I'm sure the same will apply to a lot of the potential audience for this book, and this alone is not what makes it good, it's just an added bonus. I only had the vaguest familiarity with these myths before I started the book, and it's a perfect introduction for the uninitiated.

Unfortunately, my lack of knowledge of the source material means I can't assess how faithful it is to the original stories, but it feels fresh, interesting and even relatable while packing a lot of fantastical detail into the narrative.

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Loki's mischievous personality and sense of humour are useful tools for explaining away some of the more out-there elements of the plot Sometimes the stuff that happens in the Nine Worlds makes Adventure Time look like an episode of Springwatch. I bet that scene won't be featuring in Avengers 2. I'd never read anything by Joanne Harris before, I think because I had viewed her oeuvre as somewhat cosy and slightly twee. I'm now reassessing this opinion and have found that I was very wrong: I'm particularly interested in checking out her debut novel The Evil Seed , described as a reworking of the classic vampire myth, and the recent collection of short stories A Cat, a Hat and a Piece of String.

Apart from being original, funny and engaging, The Gospel of Loki is also brilliantly written. It must have been so hard to write about these complex fantasy worlds with such a light and accessible tone, but Harris pulls it off without the end result seeming in any way flimsy. It's a delight to read, enormous fun, and even makes you feel like you've learned something. To be honest, I'm crossing my fingers for a sequel. View all 8 comments. Jan 30, Lucy Hounsom rated it it was ok. The Gospel of Loki is a retelling of some of the stories that comprise Old Norse mythology.

But here comes a niggle: Although I was able to overlook that in itself, I struggled to warm wholly to the narrative. On one hand, Harris has achieved a level of authenticity by maintaining the structure of the original texts. The clue is in the title: This is reiterated frequently at the end of chapters, where Loki says something along the lines of 'but if I thought that was bad, worse was yet to come. I actually enjoyed the story, and was reluctant to put the book down. Once I was in the midst of the narrative, great. Possibly the story was not compelling enough, or the characters too unreachable.

The gods, after all, are fairly stereotypical. Although I liked the concept, it did make for some one-dimensional characterisation, especially of Thor and Heimdall. Odin was better, perhaps because Harris gave him more air-time. That is the danger of working with archetypes.

An archetype is black and white. When someone is possessed by one, they are unable to be anything else. Loki is the Trickster, and reacts to every situation in the only way he understands. There is no capacity for traditional character development because everyone is an archetype. Indeed, this accessible book may well tempt a few into reading the original Eddur, which is all to the good. Has Harris missed a trick here to tell a less…vast story in a more inclusive narrative structure? There are some who might appreciate a less orthodox approach to these myths.

I would have liked to see more depth, more time spent on memorable scenes of which there are many , and a greater sense of intimacy with Loki himself. I haven't read Harris' Rune series, but to fans of said series, this new novel could act as a prequel, and in that capacity, it's a solid, engaging introduction to the author's take on Norse Myth. Thanks to Orion Books for this review copy.

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View all 7 comments. I couldn't do it, y'all. I made it through pages of this shit show before I decided I'd rather deal with a yeast infection than subject myself to more of this travesty. Not only does Harris change a lot of details in confusing ways Loki's a demon, not a Jotun, and comes from Pandaemonium, not Muspelheim? I realize Harris was trying to emulate the feeling of Loki telling the story directly, but you can do that and still give you story depth.

Instead, it's "this happened, here's what the gods did, here's what I did, some scant description, everyone is one-dimensional and stupid, annnnd scene. The fact that this is going to be many people's introductions to the mythology is about as upsetting as Snorri Sturluson rewriting the myths to better fit his Christian ideology. Not that Harris is innocent of that, either.

Everything from the title gospel to the changes made to Loki's origins he's a demon now seems very deliberately made in order to further the Christian allusions Snorri inserted into the myths so long ago. Overall, I'm sorry I wasted my time. I'm a big old Pagan, of the Asatru variety. And not of the Neo-Nazi variety. This means that I happen to worship the Norse gods and goddesses and do actually believe that they are real, because I've dealt with them.

Who, in particular, is the goddess I'm most devoted to? She found me first. I'm used to people maligning my Goddess and getting Her completely wrong. Marvel, so far, has been the biggest offender with their portrayal of her in the 60s and 70s. It's pretty much old hat to me. This is the first time I was actually heavily offended by a portrayal of my Goddess. Is it stupid for me to be offended, considering most of the population doesn't believe the Norse gods are real?

I don't really care. What this shows is a basic lack of research on Harris' part. The Viking culture actually had divorce , for something as little as a spouse being unhappy with their partner. What this shows is a basic lack of logic in story. You know what Odin did in order to punish Loki when he killed Baldr? Odin killed his sons in return. This is meant to be the worst punishment because Odin knew how much it would pain Loki.

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Why, then, would Harris portray him as barely tolerating them? Why would Odin kill Narvi and Vali if it wouldn't cause Loki the most agony possible? He loves His wife. Losing His sons and seeing Sigyn being put through torture in order to protect Him the Ordeal in the Cave actually traumatizes Him. So yes, excuse me if I'm pissed. I don't ask for a whole lot out of my Norse mythology books.

All I ask, at minimum, is that Sigyn be treated with the respect She deserves. Maybe I'll read this book one day in order to tear apart everything Harris got wrong about Norse culture and society. Books like this aren't worth my time or effort. View all 36 comments. May 28, Liz rated it really liked it Shelves: What do we have here? A whole lot of sarcasm , the most unreliable narrator of all time, an alternative view on the Norse mythology and a quite a lot of epicness in addition.

As somebody who has to do a presentation on the "Prophecy of the Oracle" next week I couldn't have chosen a better book for this month. One of my majors is Scandinavian Studies so I can't rate this book objectively. I have always been enamored with the Norse myths, the legends, the gods and the most popular trickster of all What do we have here? I have always been enamored with the Norse myths, the legends, the gods and the most popular trickster of all time - Loki.

What is even more important - I can proudly say that I was interested in Norse mythology before Marvel's Loki was created! Thus, before the Tom Hiddleston hype! This is basically the retelling of the Older Edda from the POV of Loki, written in prose form instead of epic poetry, with a lot of dark and cruel humour and some interesting interpretations and additions to the original Edda. To those who expect something entirely new, Loki's life-story or something, don't expect too much. Seriously, this is the Older Edda retold from a biased perspective, a very intriguing and highly amusing perspective though.

He indeed brings the party! And it's not that he is evil, on the contrary, he tries to play by the gods rules at the beginning but after the attempt fails he just repays for all their "kindness". In one of my lectures when we discussed mythology our professor mentioned that historians found some evidence that Loki, the trickster, used to be a folk-hero before an unexplained shift occured which turned him into the traitor and the villian of Asgard.

Perhaps it was due his two-faced nature some think that he used to be both a fire and a water god or maybe because he was born from pure Chaos. This is unknown, but apparently Loki wasn't always evil, even in myths. Anyway, I enjoyed reading a book from the perspective of a truly unreliable narrator whom you can't help but doubt and question and I enjoyed Loki's sarcastic and dark humour, I enjoyed reading about the sharpness of his mind and the creation of the world which he described differently from what I am used to.

Believe me, it was described vividly, beautifully even. Often I found myself closing my eyes and sinking into the world that was created, following the small steps of the gods in the shaping of the world and laughing at them with Loki. And of course, of course my favourite chapter was when Thor and Loki had to dress up to get Thor's hammer back. Damn, that was hilarious! Whenever the gods messed up again or couldn't find their way out of the situation he appeared saving their arrogant Caught up in a never-ending battle, they depend on each other, one cannot exist without the opposite, a cycle that will never end.

Consequently, I highly recommend this retelling to everybody who wants something epic, or something about Norse mythology, or something about Loki and without a trace of romance. I think this book is a good read for the general education, and definitely one that is worth reading. I am sure I will come back to this book at least one more time before the end of View all 5 comments. Highly entertaining and original, this novel chronicles the epic rise of the Norse gods all the way through to the coming of Ragnarok, completely retold from the point of view of none other than the trickiest trickster of them all — Loki.

First thing you should kn 4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http: Be sure to read everything, including the character list. Chuckling to myself, I went back and read everything more carefully. Aside from being absolutely hilarious, the forward material sets the tone of the novel perfectly, and I knew right away that I was going to enjoy this. None of the events described in this novel deviate all that much from the traditional versions, but the one major difference is the voice that tells us those tales. Overall, The Gospel of Loki succeeds in giving readers both something old and something new, and manages to be a lot of fun while doing it.

A fantastic way to experience the major Norse myths, those with an interest in the topic are sure to delight in the engaging new way Harris has presented them in this novel. Jan 10, Phrynne rated it really liked it Shelves: I think it added to my reading pleasure! I really liked Ms Harris's original take on the story of the Norse gods and especially Loki. He lied to the international community What type of businesses benefit from falling oil prices? The airline industry is benefitting today from the oil price drop from last month.

Let's not pay for calls anymore. Now anchoring at Al Jazeera English again: Europe is in dire straits at the moment. Biggest cause is the debt crisis that has taken hold of Greece. Let's all pull together and help sort this mess out. Then the markets will go up, share prices and investments will climb and people will be better off.

One way I can think of is to book your next holiday to Greece. Let's all go to Greece. Let's spend our money there and bring the economy to where it was.

We can do it. Greece has history, culture, fine beaches, modern cities. Eventually, they made it to Privet Drive and as the night came, Ginny called him mentally. And Percy is starting to really creep me out with his body language and expression. Get over here now! Harry said a quick goodbye to the Dursleys before calling for the Knight Bus. He told the driver to go to the Burrow and it shot off into the darkness.

It took a while to get to the Burrow, but once the Bus stopped, Harry jumped out and ran towards the crooked house. As he got to the door, he found it locked, which was not a good sign. He used the unlocking spell, but it didn't do anything, which meant that the door was warded from magic too. Someone didn't want anyone interfering with whatever was happening inside. Realising that spells would be useless here, Harry had to go with plan B. He took a few steps back and charged forward, shoulder-barging the door off of its hinges. As soon as he entered, he heard Ginny's screams and ran towards where he heard the sound coming from.

That's when he saw Percy looming over Ginny as she tried to crawl away on the lounge floor. Now I'm going to have to knock some sense into you. If that fails, then Mother has given me permission to call Dumbledore over and Harry's not going to save you this time and no-one will save him when he has to die," Percy explained with an evil grin. Because I'm not going to let you have the chance to bring Dumbledore into this," Harry growled. You can't be here! What you need to remember is that no-one is to lay a hand on my Ginny, unless you want to end up with a worse fate.

I have uses for you Whether you like it or not You see, Lockhart's skill in memory charms got me thinking about how useful the spell is when mixed with compulsion charms. The effect isn't exactly the same as the Imperius curse, but it's the same principle. I make you do what I want you to do, but you'll act as you normally would without anyone suspecting a thing. I've decided that you can be my test subject," Harry explained as he circled Percy with his hands behind his back, almost like how a predator stalks its prey. I'll stop you and take you in before-!

Harry merely sidestepped the lunge and elbowed Percy's back, knocking him to the floor. Harry then kneeled down and pointed his wand at the older boy's head. It's time to see whether this really works. Percy's face then went blank as Harry removed the memory of the confrontation from his head. Once this was done and the after effects were still happening, Harry cast a compulsion charm over Percy and began to tell him what to do. You surely have work to do, so you will do it as you would do without Ginny here.

You will keep the house tidy for your family's return and when they do return, you will say that Ginny has been well behaved and is in the back garden with me as I was brought over by the Dursleys when I asked them to. You will not call Dumbledore over and you will not stop me from bringing Ginny with me to spend the summer with me until your parents return. Harry nodded and got up, grinning at his success. He then walked over to Ginny and helped her up. Once he did, she hugged him tightly, not wanting to let him go.

I was so scared! I can only imagine what would happen if the entire family were still here when Percy attacked me! Thank you for saving me again, Harry," Ginny cried. He's nothing more than a puppet. It may not be ethical, but it's necessary for the 'Greater Good'. Oh, I would love to see the old fool's face now for using his famous line for myself," Harry explained, rubbing Ginny's back to comfort her.

I wish that it wouldn't have come to this, but my family are giving us no choice. Just don't get too heavy-handed with this technique of persuasion. You don't want to end up like Dumbledore," Ginny commented. This was a necessary usage. I won't just use manipulation all of the time unlike he does for such trivial things. Anyway, let's get you out of here. Come on, it's time to go to Diagon Alley and claim my inheritance and finally cut Dumbledore out for good," Harry explained as he led Ginny out of the Burrow.

Fortunately, there wasn't anyone around at this time, so they weren't stopped on their way to Gringotts. When they entered, they noticed that there were fewer goblins working than there normally is in the day, which is expected, but the receptionist was still there, which is who they needed to see. The manager has been awaiting your arrival after the events of your second year at Hogwarts. There are things that you, he and your bond-mate need to discuss," the goblin explained, leaving before Harry could ask what the goblin meant.

At least this will save time explaining about the bond if the goblins already know of its existence. It looks like we'll get our answers after all," Harry mused. From what I've heard, rumours have stated that the Potters were also descended from Gryffindor, so you may even have some control over Hogwarts," Ginny explained.

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That could be useful if that's true. Dumbledore wouldn't know what hit him, but I'll keep that information to myself for a while if it comes to light," Harry decided. After a few minutes, the goblin returned and led the couple to the manager's office. The couple entered and saw an imposing figure sitting at the desk at the end of the room whom they assumed was the manager. My name is Ragnork and I am the manager of the British branch of Gringotts.

Now, we have much to discuss, and time is money," Ragnork said. You and Mr Potter formed a soul bond this year, which effectively means that you are now married," Ragnork explained. Could you tells us more about what the bond entails? Only we haven't heard of it before so we are unsure of what to expect," Harry asked.

A soul bond can only form between two people who are soul mates where one of the two saves the other from death at the peril of their own life. The bond ties your souls together permanently, meaning that if one of you die, the other will die shortly after as you will not be able to live without each other. Those in a soul bond will find that they will have a greater affinity for using magic at all levels. This is because the bond strengthens your magical cores and combines their powers to allow you to defend yourselves more efficiently to avoid premature death.

The bond also protects you from anything that may affect your love for each other. This includes having immunity to any love potions and invulnerability to physical, regular or sexual, assault among other things. Unfortunately, that is the extent to which we goblins know of a soul bond. There should be books around that may give more information to you, so check in Flourish and Blotts when you leave," Ragnork explained. I don't mean to sound rude, but why are you being so Most of what we have learned at Hogwarts, and what some wizards, like Dumbledore, have told us is that you don't exactly like wizards and that we should tread carefully around your kind.

Again, I meant no disrespect, but I am merely curious to this contradictory behaviour," Harry asked hesitantly. Your parents and ancestors being some of them.

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The Potters have been good friends of the goblins and have made many appreciated attempts to give us more rights in this world. Some succeeded, some failed, but the fact that they still tried meant a lot to us. We hope to have the same relationship with you and your new wife as we had with your parents, Mr Potter," Ragnork answered. Just please call me Harry. Calling me Mr Potter makes me feel old," Harry said. And call me Ragnork, not sir, for the same reasons.