I’m back with another blog tour with The Storytellers on Tour for Creation (Why Odin Drinks #1) by Bjørn Larssen. Thanks to the SoT for organising and to the author for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review!

Be sure to click on the banner below to check out the rest of the bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: Creation (Why Odin Drinks #1)
Publisher: josephtailor
Publication Date: 18 August 2021
Genre: Humorous Fantasy, Norse Mythology Retelling
CW: Contains the word “ass-thetics”

Panda Rating:

_{(3.5 pandas)}

In the beginning there was confusion.

Ever woken up being a God, but not knowing how to God properly? Your brothers keep creating mosquitoes and celery and other, more threatening weapons. What can your ultimate answer be – the one that will make you THE All-Father and them, at best, the All-Those-Uncles-We-All-Have-But-Don’t-Talk-About?

“FML! The answer’s why I drink!” – Odin

Perfect for fans of Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, and Mrs Brown’s Boys.

Bjørn Larssen is a Norse heathen made in Poland, but mostly located in a Dutch suburb, except for his heart which he lost in Iceland. Born in 1977, he self-published his first graphic novel at the age of seven in a limited edition of one, following this achievement several decades later with his first book containing multiple sentences and winning awards he didn’t design himself. His writing is described as ‘dark’ and ‘literary’, but he remains incapable of taking anything seriously for more than 60 seconds.

Bjørn has a degree in mathematics and has worked as a graphic designer, a model, a bartender, and a blacksmith (not all at the same time). His hobbies include sitting by open fires, dressing like an extra from Vikings, installing operating systems, and dreaming about living in a log cabin in the north of Iceland. He owns one (1) husband and is owned by one (1) neighbourhood cat.

Author Socials:

TL;DR: Creation was a well written Norse myth retelling about the start of it all featuring Odin and his brothers Vili and Ve. Larssen pulls off telling a story in the most humorous way possible while still also asking the big philosophical questions about life and why things are the way they are. It’s a short, fast and extremely fun read (prepare to laugh even when you don’t feel like!) and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys humorous fantasy and Norse mythology, of course! 😉

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I may or may not have chosen to read this book because of the content warning that said this book contains the word “ass-thetics”. Okay, it’s true, I’m easy like that but after seeing that I knew this was going to be a fun read and I wasn’t wrong! Plus, look at that cover and tell me you aren’t at least a little intrigued by it?! Together with the synopsis, it was like the trifecta of piquing curiosity! 😂

I read Larssen’s full-length novel, Children (my review), last year and although it was a pretty big step outside of my comfort zone, I still enjoyed the story and what I took away from it has actually stuck with me ever since! I learned so much about Norse Mythology in that book and this time, I learned a little bit more.

For starters, I had no idea Odin had brothers: Vili and Ve! 😅 Safe to say that you don’t really need to know much about Norse Mythology in order to enjoy the story because it really is the beginning of creation. Larssen has a way of wittily grabbing your attention with sarcastic and humorous dialogue that never failed to make me laugh throughout the read! He does include some cheeky references that almost flew over my head and that gave me a pretty good chuckle when I realised it (that’s what Odin would call foreshadowing) but you don’t need to “get it” for this story to be entertaining. Although it is humorous, Larssen still manages to ask the big philosophical questions as Odin and his brothers continue discovering new things.

“Everything ate something, but people — and Gods, in fact mostly Gods — ate it all. Who ate bears? People did. Who ate wolves? People did. Who ate celery? Wrong example, but still, people could if the were was nothing else around.”

Odin is far from the perfect benevolent and all-powerful deity that we’ve come to know in stories, rather he and his brothers are just really confused God bros doing their best to literally make life on earth. While I’ve never been a huge fan of Odin, I did really love Vili and his butterflies! 🦋 He was the sweetly innocent brother that made everything good. That said, the brothers were kind of a hot mess and I mean, I guess who wouldn’t be when you’ve woken up in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by empty stretches of land with so many words in your head, and you not knowing how you know these things but you just do? It was both amusing and mildly horrifying to watch as the three haphazardly created things (landscapes, elements, weather, animals, humans), and as they became increasingly more competitive, power-hungry and fueled by the need to be the best God-in-charge.

“Perhaps creation and destruction weren’t mutually exclusive; perhaps they needed each other; perhaps they were one and the same.”

At 87 pages in length, this novella was a pretty quick read. I’d say it’s a perfect palette cleanser between a chonky read or if you’re simply feeling like reading something short, easy and most importantly, funny! It’s easily a one-sitting read and I would recommend you give it a try, especially if you like humorous fantasy and Norse myth retellings!

Have you read Creation or is it on your TBR?