I was approved for an e-arc of The Goddess of Nothing At All by Cat Rector in trade for an honest review of the book.
"The price of happiness was the end of everything."
The Goddess of Nothing At All is a complex and heart-wrenching story spinning decades. It aims to give an explanation to Sigyn's erasure in Norse Mythology, and tell her story. In the tales, she's remembered as the wife of Loki and little more. How this came to be, and what happened to her life before and after is not preserved.
Sigyn has pursued the title of a goddess all her life. Yet her father, Odin, The Allfather, refuses her one. No amount of work or study seems to satisfy him, pushing Sigyn further away from him as the decades' pass. In a desperate attempt to obtain her title, Sigyn seeks out Loki and brings him back to Gladsheim. As her relationship with the gods keeps her unhappy, she grows closer to Loki, and her tale starts spinning. Blessed and cursed by their fates, Sigyn is an admirable character showing great strength and endurance, a will to love, and be true to her feelings as she faces the consequences of prioritizing her own happiness in Asgard, and becoming the wife of the trickster god.
One of my favorite parts about this book is how fully it seems to wrap up Sigyns life and tell her story. We meet her as a relatively young goddess in everything but title. However, as you get closer to the end, it feels as if you've stayed with her entire lifetimes (which we just might have.) The good and the bad that happens in her life, how fates and prophecies come into play, and the spectacular use of known stories from the lore makes the universe and Sigyn's lifestory a fresh and believable reading experience. Not to forget, emotional.
Loki's character is the second most interesting one as it shows a rebellion against the status quo, but also an incredibly diverse character dealing with trauma, bad fate, and his own nature. Before I move on, it has to be said, while not everything he does is redeemable in my opinion, the fault of the cruelty he causes on others, and endures can't solely be blamed on Loki. The Asir does have a strict agenda against him and has abused him earlier, especially Odin who knows his role in Ragnarok. Thus, one has to wonder if the gods did not choose to belch and attack the people they feared, they could have changed the fates enough to prevent Ragnarok. In that way, the book offers an interesting dialogue on how to meet what we fear: if it so is through hatred or love, and the toll of choosing hate may put on others and oneself.
The book is an adult fantasy that does not shy away from the ugly, and thus requires its trigger warnings. Obtained from the author's site, the goddess of nothing at all features scenes with or of: "vulgar language, gratuitous violence and torture, mental, emotional, and verbal abuse, unhappy situations for LGBTQA+ characters, mentions of sexual coercion and rape, death and violence towards animals, discrimination and fantasy slurs, and death." More details can be found here.
In The Goddess of Nothing At All, Cat Rector spins a surprising, heart-wrenching, and complex story of what it takes to choose your own happiness in a society set on alienating anything going against their own preferences. It does not shy away from the ugly of the Old Norse culture, nor critique of what is right or accepted simply because it is decided by the people in power. I loved Sigyn's character, and the gray aspects of Loki, and their life together. The way known tales are vowed into Sigyn's story creates a believable universe. I would not be mad if this was the real story of Sigyn Odindotter.
4\5 stars.
The Goddess of Nothing At All releases October 1st, 2021.
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