ARC Review: Why Odin Drinks or Odin as you have never seen him!

Hello people! And happy Monday! I hope that this week has started in the best possible way! Today I am finally here with my review for a really entertaining book! So… let’s begin!

Thanks to the Author. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Title: Why Odin Drinks
Author: Bjorn Larssen
Publication Date: April 1st, 2022
Where to Find it: https://books2read.com/whyodindrinks

Ever woken up being a God, but not knowing how to God properly?
Poor Odin must restrain his brothers, who create offensive weapons such as mosquitoes and celery; placate his future-telling wife, Frigg, who demands sweatpants with pockets; listen to Loki’s Helpful Questions; hang himself from Yggdrasil for nine days with a spear through his side (as you do); teach everyone about nutritional values of kale (but NOT celery); meet a Wise Dom, Sir Daddy Mímir, in order to outwit those who outwit him; and, most importantly, prove he is The All-Father, while his brothers are, at best, Those-Uncles-We-Don’t-Talk-About.
This nearly (except in Vanaheim) universally acclaimed retelling of the Gods’ first millennium answers way too many questions, including ones on Freyr’s entendre, horse designing… and why Odin drinks.

I don’t know why, but this is the title I most misspelled. Ever. And it is not a complicated title, but I am constantly writing “Why Odin’s drink”, it does not make sense. At all. And yet here I am… But my idiot difficulties aside with the title, this book is a little jewel! It is funny, it is queer, it has some amazing scenes and characters (Sir Mimir is just too good to be true!) and it also made you think. So, really, you can’t ask for more!

After reading this I have to admit, at least to myself, that being a God is not really so easy. There are no user manuals for that, and it is hard work! Someone should write a “how-to God properly for Dummies” or I have to change my life goals. I wanted to be a Queen once upon a time, but that’s hard work and you have to listen to people complain all the time, so I said Empress it is! It sounds better and it is more impressive. But again, people everywhere. So not my thing! So Goddes it is! At least you don’t have people complaining to you. Because really “off with their head” would be my preferred solution, but you can’t overuse it or you soon face a lot of problems. Beheaded people can’t work. And can’t pay tax. Just too bad. So yeah, Goddess sounded pretty good. Until now. Now I am not really convinced this is the way, either. Sigh!
But, jokes aside, being a God is really hard work! And it is also a trial and errors thing, with some interesting results, that’s for sure.

And it is not only about the hardship of being a God, but we have some really interesting thoughts in there, some sadly actuals, too. Maybe a bit too much for comfort. But I am not saying it as a bad thing, really. Since we are talking about greed and wars here, or at least, I am talking about them, you just have to read the book to know what I am referring to (sorry, not sorry, you should read the book!) they just sound more ominous since the political situation (a fucking war in 2022). But it is not an ominous book, sure, it makes you think, and it makes you think about not really pleasant things, that’s true, but it is also funny. And irreverent.

And we have also some interesting characters. Odin and Loki are there, and usually, they are the ones who dominated the scene, but I really enjoyed Frigg and Sir Mimir. They are really worth meeting. And I really felt Frigg!! Let me tell you, that I really really empathized with her! Also, I don’t think I have mentioned it before, but this is a collection of four short stories, but it can be read as a whole. But you can take pauses with every story if you feel the need, or if you have to attend to boring real-life stuff!

And that’s all for today! Have you read this book? Or something else by this author?? Let me know!!!

Happy reading!
S.