Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 430 Pages
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Date Published: 1 October 2021
Amazon: Canada / USA / UK
Goodreads
Blurb
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
Sigyn, daughter of Odin, has done all she can to gain a title from her father. But when he still refuses to bestow one on her, she seeks out Loki, desperate for whatever help he can provide. And so begins the end of everything, along with a love affair that will make Sigyn whole before it completely rips her apart.
What I expected: a goddess coming into her own, gaining a title and…stuff with Loki.
What I got: a very tortured Tom Hiddleston-Loki, queer rep, a solid second half and a slow, “really we’re doing this again” first half.
What I mean by that last point is that the first half starts getting repetitive, as over and over Loki is asked to do something by the gods, gets angry, Sigyn steps in, heals him, he completes task, rinse and repeat. The first part was also very slow, and very much seemed like it could have done with some tightening up. It gets as frustrating for the reader as it does for Sigyn when Loki holds back key information from her, until it’s almost too late, rather than engaging her help – it’s definitely set up as part of his character, which is fine, but often it felt more like it was serving the plot than anything else.
Once we get over these bumps though, the book really does pick up. It becomes much more interesting when Sigyn and Loki start their small family. The storylines that wrap around them really help build up to what is going to happen, and it becomes heart-breaking as Sigyn forms these bonds we know are going to eventually get broken.
It’s very much character-driven, and I really liked the characters around Sigyn and Loki, though the children of other gods do get mentioned and it’s built up to make it seem like they’ll have more of a key role, we don’t really see much of them.
I’m not overly familiar with Norse Mythology, so I can’t comment massively in those aspects, but I really liked the versions of the gods in this, and it feels fitting that most are unpredictable, stubborn, and very much architects of their own fates. It’s deeply sad in parts, and both Sigyn and Loki face trauma over and over, often at the hands of Odin and the other gods. But there’s light here too, and Rector really shows the contrasts between them, and the love in this small family that Sigyn fights so hard to protect.
Overall, I think if you enjoy longer, more character-heavy reads, and don’t mind a slow pace – and I think there are plenty of readers out there who do prefer that – you’ll get a lot of out of The Goddess of Nothing At All.
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.
Find her on Twitter, Tiktok, and Instagram at Cat_Rector
Or visit her website, CatRector.com
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Unwrapping Words 