Loki: WICKED, VISCERAL, TRANSGRESSIVE: Norse gods as you´ve never seen them before – Burgess Melvin (2023)

The first adult novel by Carnegie Prize-winning author Melvin Burgess reimagines Norse mythology with wit, energy and lyrical intensity. Set among the ancient fir forests of Scandinavia, it follows the trickster god Loki from the Norse creation myths through the founding of Asgard, the defeat of monstrous races, Odin’s hanging on the World Tree, the theft of the corrupting gold ring and the murder of Baldr, god of love and the Sun. Born in a fire within a hollow tree trunk, Loki enters Asgard as an outsider: an unreliable narrator and god of intelligence and politics who struggles to find his place among the old patriarchal gods of supernatural power. His sharp wit brings him into constant conflict with Thor, while the politics of Asgard unfold alongside his many loves and family relationships, including his bond with Odin’s famous horse and his intense, turbulent and ultimately fatal relationship with Baldr the Beautiful. Contemporary in tone, this retelling explores love, jealousy and forbidden transformation while calling for the old structures of power and authority to be replaced by an era ruled by love and intelligence.