The Chronicles of Loki: Book Three: Ragnarok (The Chronicles of Loki): 3

The Chronicles of Loki Book Three: Ragnarok is the third book in a trilogy centered on the life of the Norse trickster, Loki. Essentially, this is a reworking of the Norse myths in which the character commonly identified as the god of mischief and wickedness gets to tell the story from his point of view. The twist with this treatment of Loki, however, is that he, Odin, Frey, and company are presented as if they were real human beings who lived ages ago on a lost island continent they called Igdrasil, which, as in the myths, was also divided into nine realms inhabited by distinctly different peoples and cultures. Perhaps the most challenging (and fun) part of this book has been reimagining Loki's various adventures and misadventures as they might have actually happened without the benefit of magic and sorcery (though a Lovecraftian dimension is at work in this book and its predecessor). The book moves on two time axes. One takes place in the present. In this timeline, Loki, his family, and allies are setting in motion what will be a war of vengeance against Odin and the Aesir. Readers are introduced to the machinations of key characters in the myths―Odin of Asgard, Frey of Vanaheim, Surt, High King of the Muspelhim, the rulers of the wee folk of the West, i.e., Ivaldi, the principal ruler of the Dwarves, and Mama Cori, Lokane of Alfheim, as well as Loki's children, Fenrir (aka the Wolf), Fafnir (ruler of Jormundheim), and Hela, Queen of Nifleheim. The second timeline is a memoir of Loki's life, which in this book encompasses the theft and recovery of Thor's weapon, Mjollnir, Odin and Loki's encounter with an evil brigand, Odin's vision quest and madness, Sif's golden hair, Balder's death, and Loki's imprisonment.

M. Gregory Kendrick is a retired professor of modern European history at he University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), and the author of The Heroic Ideal: Western Archetypes from the Greeks to the Present, and Villainy in Western Culture: Historical Archetypes of Danger, Disorder, and Death.