I recently read the Marvel young adult novel, Loki: Where Mischief Lies by Mackenzi Lee. I received this book as an uncorrected review copy from Disney in exchange for an honest and fair review. The novel stars a younger teenage version of Loki. It also features Thor, Odin, and all of the other regular mix of Asgard. But for most of the book, Loki is on Earth in 19th century London investigating some very suspicious murders. The book takes place in a version of the Marvel universe, where some major events we know to have happened to these characters and environments have occurred, but they are just unspecific or slightly different. That is to fit the needs of this story and to keep it out of any other continuity for the needs of other stories. There are some major references and Easter eggs to the greater Marvel universe in the book that I won't spoil here, but they are rather interesting.
The only comic that I've read with Loki as the protagonist is Loki: Agent of Asgard by Al Ewing, which is very different from this, but also similar in that they both focus on a young version of Loki. Although as prose novels go this read a lot like Rick Riordan's books including Magnus Chase. All of his books are very similar since they are mythological fiction, but Magnus Chase, especially because those books, are about Norse Mythology. This also made me more excited for the 2021 Loki Disney Plus series, because it really reinvigorated my interest in the character. This novel really got into Loki's psyche, while also keeping him mysterious, which very hard to do and for that, I applaud Mackenzi Lee. There is also a lot of diversity in the characters and relationships within the book, which is always great. This is the first novel of Mackenzi Lee's that I have read and it is also the first book of a trilogy of books by her about marvel antiheroes. I've speculated on who those characters could be and thought possibly, Namor, Gambit, and Nebula are great options. There are also a few characters from this book, that I don't think we've seen the last of in this trilogy. So, I hope that whatever the next books are, that they are connected to Loki and each other. As young adult (YA) novels go, I thought that Loki is one of the better books I've read in the genre. I don't really seek out YA novels unless they're science fiction or fantasy or connected to some franchise I like such as Star Wars or Marvel. But I thought that this book, handled it very well and all of the relationships felt real and entertaining. Since I'm not into YA, I haven't read Mackenzi Lee's other YA books, but I know that they are very popular. I will definitely be reading her next two marvel books, though.
While Loki was overall a good book, I must say that there were some choices made in the plot and by the characters that I just didn't like, but there were many other things that I did like, so it was up and down in that way. There were some plot threads that were confusing or very abruptly wrapped up, I feel like those aspects could have been handled better. And there were several parts that I found a tad bit predictable, but also there were a couple of things near the end that had me surprised. In the end Loki: Where Mischief Lies is a very entertaining novel of page-turning rollicking fun and I would recommend it. Thank you for reading my review and stay connected.
Good review!
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