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Written in Venom

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_Written in Venom_ is a retelling of the cycle of Norse myths from the viewpoint of Loki. This angle on the stories is refreshing, indeed bracing, and in particular it brings the character of Loki into full view: sometimes to his advantage, sometimes (in biter bit fashion, and whether or not Loki seems to know it) to his disadvantage. It also emphasizes the bitter side of the cycle, the way in which the myths emphasize resignation to certain death and failure, and the way in which all the characters are deeply flawed.

At the same time the book is thoroughly entertaining and fun to read. It's told in shortish chapters, generally one "story" per chapter. Thus we hear of Loki's birth and youth, his meeting with the deceitful Odinn, and then the later part of the cycle, such stories as Odinn's losing his eye, and his trip to Niflheim, and the dwarves being tricked into creating Thorr's hammer and many other wonderful devices; even a bit of the Ring cycle. Eventually, of course, we come to the killing of Baldr, and the subsequent inevitable fall of Asgard.

Among the refreshing aspects of Loki's viewpoint is his cynical view of Baldr, so often regarded as a golden hero; and also Loki's claims for true familial love with his wife Sigyn and his two sons. Loki's voice comes through clearly, and the stories are by turns cynical, broadly humourous, clever, and very lusty. A fine book, and worth reading on its own terms, simply as a fantasy novel; or as an adult introduction to the Norse myths; or as a modern reinterpretation of the familiar stories.

You'd think the Norse legends, as full of grand and familiar stories as they are, would be just about mined out by now. Storytellers know better. The fact is that there are more than two sides to every story; sometimes as many as there are viewpoint characters to tell them. Lois Tilton picks a different point of view for her book.

WRITTEN IN VENOM is Loki's story, and naturally he doesn't see things quite the way that Odin and the skalds do. Yet this is no mere modernist retooling of the Norse Mythos; the dark brooding nature of the legends remain intact and, if anything, intensified. You'll find it all here: Idunn and the Golden Apples, Sif's Golden Hair, how Odin got his eight-legged horse and how Thor got his wonderful magic hammer, the Death of Baldr, all told from the reviled Loki's perspective. The gods don't come off quite so brave and noble as they do in the conventional form of the legends, but that's to be expected. Everyone is the hero of their own story, and Loki is no exception. A story retold is a story made new, and Lois Tilton does a fine job of bringing the Trickster God's version to life.

This seems to be Lois Tilton's only non shared-world novel not dealing with vampires, and she does quite well with it. Written in Venom describes Loki's misadventures from his time in Muspellheim all the way to the time right before Ragnarok. One interesting aspect of the book the author never draws direct attention to is that since Loki is an admittedly dishonest character, he himself may not be telling the entire truth even as he accuses Odin's skalds of rampant mendacity. (See the sections dealing with Freya and Idunn for the most obvious examples of this.) The book is crisply and intelligently written, dragging the reader in and drawing him along to the inevitable conclusion. One major flaw in the story is a significant contradiction with established Norse mythology. I won't say exactly what it is, but it has to do with Loki's relationship with Fenris. This noteworthy contradiction may be intentional and as such may be the reason Tilton does not take the action all the way to Ragnarok. Nonetheless, it is there. It is not, however, enough to cause me not to recommend this book. Thankfully Norse mythology is not something overrepresented in current popular culture, so this novel has room to attract readers without being lost in the shuffle of hundreds of boring, derivative works. It may be in fact the best novel from a hugely underrated author of dark fantasy.

One of the tried and true ways of generating a novel is to take a well known story and simply look at it from a different point of view. IN WRITTEN IN VENOM Lois Tilton has chosen the entire Norse mythos as her playground and the results are first rate.

It is Loki's story that Tilton has chosen to tell. Loki the reviled Trickster, Loki the Troublemaker. But not, as the author says herself, "the way the skalds sing it." Naturally Loki has quite a different version of events as they unfold, from Sif's Hair to Idunn's Apples to Thor's violent(and often comic) adventures against the giants. This is, however, no modernist retelling of classic fable; Tilton keeps the dark brooding nature of the Norse myths very much intact, just told from a different perspective. Those already familiar with the Norse myths will appreciate Tilton's slant; those just discovering them will find very little missing. As the storytellers have long known, a tale properly retold is a story made new again, and a story lasts only so long as there are new voices to carry it on. One particular story cycle has been well served in WRITTEN IN VENOM, and the reader will be too.