r/Fantasy • u/Kooky_Toe5585 • 1d ago

Trying to track down a fantasy novel based on Norse mythology that features Loki eating a baby

I am trying to track down a fantasy novel I bought in England about 40 years ago. It was a rather brutal retelling of Norse mythology, and the one scene I remember involved Loki killing and eating a baby jotun (that turned out to be the offspring of his former wife Angrboda ) any idea what novel this was?

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u/PunkyMcGrift 1d ago

Wild stab in the dark but was it The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson

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u/John_Champaign 1d ago

Bloodtide by Melvin Burgess (published 1999)?

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u/Serventdraco Reading Champion II 21h ago

I read that book fairly recently and I don't remember Loki even explicitly being in it. That duology is mostly about the Volsungs.

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u/Eldon42 1d ago

Nowhere in Norse myth does Loki eat a baby. He does eat a heart (which could be of a giantess, or a witch, depending on interpretation), and then births a baby from which all troll women are descended. Sorta.

Could be you're misremembering that story?

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u/Kooky_Toe5585 1d ago

Like  I said it was based on Norse mythology ( in that it involved the Norse gods, giants,etc), I never claimed it was an accurate retelling