Loki's Wolves

Loki's Wolves is a truly fantastical, middle grade novel that focuses on Norse mythology.

I love Kelley Armstrong and I've been dying to get my hands on a novel by Marissa Marr for YEARS. So, when I heard that the two of them were writing a novel together I had to get my hands on it! On top of it all, I love a good, middle grade novel that I can sink my teeth into and not think *too* hard when reading.

Loki's Wolves has Percy Jackson vibes, but for a little younger base. Matt Thorsen is, you guessed it, a descendant of Thor, and of course he's the chosen one! He has been chosen to defeat a mythical serpent that will aid in the destruction of Ragnarok. Laurie and Fen are descendants of Loki, and they will join Matt on his epic quest. show more Along the way, they must find the children and descendants of the other Norse gods and try not to make their corresponding tales come true.

This book leaves itself on a WILD cliffhanger. I NEED to know what happens, and unfortunately for me I don't have the next novel in my hands yet. The story does not stand alone, which is a real shame. I totally get leaving a cliffhanger so your audience wants to keep reading, but MAN I AM FRUSTRATED. The story just stopped, it didn't end!

These 13 year old leads were shockingly like 13 year olds! Sometimes when you read a book like this, the leads act like adults. Lucky for us, Kelley and Marissa are amazing writers and were able to craft characters that felt like their age. They make silly mistakes, they trust people they shouldn't and sometimes they are down right goofy. What more can you expect from a pre-teen cast? Especially when said pre-teens are the chosen ones who need to save the planet.

The plot itself is fast paced, full of fun surprises, and has lots of literal fun. This is a fantasy novel, so it's not going to be some Oscar winning, realistic drama. It has monsters and amulets and silly tricks (I mean, you've got Loki in the title... what did you expect?). To me, I think it's the perfect way to introduce the middle grade audience into Norse mythology. It's a fun story with just enough mythology to make it interesting! Also, I totally binged it in a few hours. It was THAT good.

I'd highly recommend this book. Seriously, whether it's for your middle grade readers or adults who just want to sink into a good, fun book! I loved it and I'll definitely be continuing this series if I can ever find the sequels.

Five out of five stars! show less

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy.
allthingsuf.com

I’ve read quite a lot of popular, YA fantasy over the years. Anything my younger sister likes, I pick up and read along. Some of these collaborations have been great (she gets credit for Harry Potter, to be sure). Some have been disappointments… either too juvenile or too derivative to hold my attention. I approached LOKI’S WOLVES holding my breath, hoping not to find a Norse Percy Jackson, and within one chapter, all my fears were allayed.

Wonderfully written, this book has a whole host of great characters sharing the spot light. It’s rare for me not to have a favorite (ok, ok, and I do kind of love Laurie a little bit extra), but Matt and Fen totally won me over as show more well. LOKI’S WOLVES is that rare book that was interesting as an adult while remaining completely appropriate for kids. Outside the villains and some bad parenting (though at least Armstrong and Marr didn’t kill off all the moms, Disney style), LOKI’S WOLVES is filled with relatable, admirable characters. In keeping with a younger audience, LOKI’S WOLVES focuses on friendships, not romance. It talks about insecurities and longing, disappointments and finding a place where you belong.

The morals of this book are a little heavy handed and repetitions, but I liked these characters so much I tended to cheer their growth towards security and teamwork rather than get tired of it. LOKI’S WOLVES is bit younger than my usual urban fantasy fare, but I’ll definitely be back for book two. In the meantime, the review copy of LOKI’S WOLVES I received had tantalizing blanks where full page artwork will be inserted, which means I can’t wait to order my own copy to enjoy the full effect. And you can bet that I’ll be passing it on to my little sister to read along.

Sexual Content: None. show less

Originally Reviewed At: Mother/Gamer/Writer
Rating: 5 Controllers
Review Source: Publisher
Reviewer: Me



Norse Mythology is not dead! And thanks to Marr and Armstrong, kids can be reintroduced to some amazing gods and fascinating characters in Loki’s Wolves. This novel is perfect for Middle Graders and Teen readers who love to explore unique worlds and can’t get enough of non-stop action.

In the small town of Blackwell, South Dakota, where news travels fast because everyone knows the ins and outs of everyone else, lives a young Matt Thorsen. Youngest brother in the Thorsen bunch, son of a sheriff, and direct descendent of Thor himself. Because of who he is and his famous ancestor, Matt struggles everyday to find an identity all his own. show more He’s not interested in being a carbon copy of his brothers nor does he like living in the shadow of his father. Yet he isn’t quite so sure he wants to be entirely different either. After the Seer names him as the Blackwell Champion to fight during Ragnarok, Matt must soon decide if he truly is a leader and if he can create his own destiny by staying alive.

Loki’s Wolves is something FIERCE. I would have never dreamed a Middle Grade read would fascinate me so much or keep me up into the wee hours of the night scouring pages. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book like this (as I try not to compare books to other books). With its fresh original take on gods often overlooked, I enjoyed every minute of the chaotic action. I’m pretty sure I’ll never look at Mount Rushmore the same way again.


Matt is a complicated character. Heck each character is a complicated character. Layered beneath what they present on the outside, is a lot of inner struggle to find themselves and not be hindered – good or bad – by their respective families stigmas. Fen is one of my favorite in the book. As bull-headed as he comes across, he really is a gentle soul with a heart of gold – most of the time. His cousin Laurie is an awesome chick. She’s tough, doesn’t take any crap from the boys, and usually has a way of saving them when they get into trouble. These three misfits make the ultimate ragtag combo. After the others eventually join the group, and not without challenge, they all light up the pages with their varied personalities, qualms, quirks, and eager tenacity.

Overall, if you love a quick action-filled read then I definitely recommend Loki’s Wolves. Parents, if you’re looking for a fun read for your children then make sure you add this to their reading pile. The author’s stated that they wrote it for their sons, well don’t be discouraged because girls will fall in love with its charm too, frantically flipping pages and desperate for more! show less

Wow. I was amazingly disappointed by this book. I downloaded it to listen to on a long drive and managed almost to the half way point before I couldn't stand it any longer. Since then I have tried 3 separate times to finish it.

I will try to sum this story up without falling asleep. Matt is a descendant of Thor, destined to act in his place at Ragnarok where Thor dies preventing the apocalypse. Finn is an essentially orphaned descendant of Loki who for some reason is allowed to wander around homeless. Lori is his cousin, whose father (also a descendant of Loki) is basically missing, so she doesn't know much about what being a descendant of Loki means.

*Fake Spoiler* Finn is destined to play Loki's role in Ragnarok - e.g. leader of the show more monsters. *Real Spoiler* Loki is actually Lori, as indicated by about a million things. I felt honestly insulted at how poorly this was hidden. I get that it's a kid's book but I'm pretty sure 12 year old me would have spotted this just as fast. Oh P.S. Finn = Fenrir. Could the names at least be a little less obvious. I get your punch line. It's just so terrible I didn't laugh.

A shield gets stolen, Lost Boys: The Werewolf Version attacks, Matt finds out he's a sacrifice, whine, whine, they finally leave town in search of others. 3/4's of the book is them wandering around looking for the rest of the gang. They need to find magical items. They find some. Someone dies. Sadness. Oh my gods. Written like this it looks like lots of chances for something interesting. Instead we get a lot of the three main characters ruminating, because guess what, they all rehash the same scenes every time they switch views. Yes, you might have gotten to figure out that Matt was horrified by trolls, but now you really need to hear how Lori is just as freaked out. I could have edited this book down to 1/3 of it's actual size and gotten a much better experience. The redundancy is boring beyond belief. Everytime the tempo picks up in the story line you get someone else's long, meandering, philosophical view of the events to date. There are great moments throughout the book, but it's a little like a road trip through the midwest -- 3 million miles of corn between Balls of Yarn makes it a little hard to enjoy.

I love YA. I love Norse mythology. I love a good book on tape (my first was actually an Armstrong YA that I recommend to people all the time). I wanted this to be the next Rick Riordan, gone European. Instead it completely lacked the wit, the character building and pace that made the Percy Jackson books outstanding. Maybe that's why I hate it so much - it is literally that disappointing in comparison. show less

I don't remember how I found out about this series (probably through Goodreads), but I immediately knew I had to get my hands on it. Because it's about Norse Mythology, in the style of Percy Jackson. Yes, it sounded super perfect, but was it? I can wholeheartedly say, yes. Yes, it was.

Loki's Wolves tells the story of Matt, Fen and Laurie, who are the descendants of the Norse Gods (Thor and Loki), who are supposed to be the substitutes for these gods during Ragnarök, the apocalypse that will destroy everything if the gods don't act. As a direct descendant of Thor, Matt is chosen as the one who needs to kill the sea serpent Jormungand, but to do that he must find all the descendants in time, convince them to fight along with him, and show more find some very special items as well.

When I first started reading it, I had been expecting it to only be about Thor and Loki, because they are the best known gods of the mythology, and of course with Marvel having movies and comics about them I had been very afraid. But this book has more gods (and goddesses) in it than I had expected, and I loved it. I won't spoil it for you, of course, but one of the descendants they tracked down was really one of my favourite gods (though I think that may have been caused by the Almighty Johnsons, in which this god is just amazing). In the end, I liked all the descendants, and I really hope we'll get to meet more of them in the next two books. Please give me Heimdall or Hodr or Frigg or Bragi or just any of them please.

The story was very simply written, seeing as it's a book for teenagers (from I think the age of twelve to sixteen maybe), but that didn't really bother me too much. I was too busy enjoying the story and noticing all the references to the actual mythology (like the Valkyries and the Mare/Mara, and yes yes yes I loved it). The characters were so like their God-ancestors, and that made me really happy. The Blackwell Pages is a great way to learn about Norse Mythology, if you're not into reading 'adult' books like Runemarks and The Gospel of Loki. And yes, I am still also looking forward to Rick Riordan's take on the myths, yay!

There were multiple POV's in this book, but they didn't bother me too much. That was probably because the story was written from a third-person narrative, rather than first-person. And also because the names of the character whose turn it was was above the chapter title. The three POV's were Matt, Fen and Laurie (obviously) and they were all pleasant characters to read from. Honestly I didn't really find that much difference between their characters, but that might have just been me.

Another amazing thing about this book? It has illustrations. Yes, illustrations! In between the pages of this book, there are some scenes that have been drawn, and wow honestly these images look really cool! It really adds something to the story, it makes you able to imagine the characters better and just wow, look at them:


I probably spend way too much time looking at these images, but honestly they look so cool! I really hope there's more of these images in the other two books in this series.

So yes, in the end, I loved Loki's Wolves, even though I was afraid it might be too much about Thor and Loki (okay the three main characters who have POV's in this story are descendants of these gods, but other than that it wasn't that much actually). If you are looking for a nice bookseries about Norse Gods while waiting for Rick Riordan's series, go and read The Blackwell Pages (Loki's Wolves, Odin's Ravens and Thor's Serpents).

My opinion on this book in one gif: show less

Matt Thorsen knows that his ancestor was Thor, literally. His family are left with some abilities. Fen and Laurie Brekke are the descendents of Loki, a seer sees that Matt will be pivotal in Ragnarok and maybe it might be a good idea, from his family's point of view, for him to fail, they're not the only ones who want him to fail. He goes on the run and starts gathering more gods descendents around him.

The others are reflections of their god ancestor but also themselves and they make choices with the available strengths and weaknesses available. It's interesting and well done. I like how the aspects of the gods influence people and how they try to cope with the powers.

It's an interesting story, I'm left wanting more. The illustrations show more really add to the story show less

I thought this was a super fun start to middle grade series, featuring norse myths. I really liked how the story was structures and enjoyed the pacing. I also liked the characters. I thought with so many characters it was hard to feel connected to all of them and felt the plot was a tad dis jointed in the middle and wish it was clearer. I loved the norse elements that made the story and world built. I will de check out book 2!