Runed by Kendall Grey is fantastically funny and fabulously fantastic. I was smirking by the end of the first page, smiling by the end of the first chapter, and giggling aloud often enough that people in the airport were giving me strange looks. What a delightful read!

There are three things going on with this book that you need to be aware of. First, there is a meta-textual bit of mythological appropriation, which is wonderfully done. Grey has a lot of fun with Norse mythology, updating it for the twenty-first century, and inviting us to view both past and present through Loki’s eyes – which is twice as much fun as you might expect, owing to a Game of Thrones/Vikings style TV drama about Odin and family that leaves Loki rather unsettled.

Second is the fish-out-of-water theme that, despite having been exhaustively explored is comedies both literary and cinematic, works wonderfully here because of Grey’s deft touch. Loki is lost in a new body . . . a new world . . . and a new time. Everything – language, transportation, communication, entertainment, culture – is either foreign or alien. All the misunderstandings you might expect are exploited, but it is those that you do not see coming that are the most fun. Forget cell phones and airplanes, if you really want to overwhelm an ancient Norse deity, drop a vibrator in their lap. I laughed out loud!

Last is the very element that hooked me from the start – the gender-swap, which goes far beyond trickster shapeshifting, leaving Loki a “full-blown, V-card sporting lady” with “two no-need-to-stock-up-on-sheep’s-milk-I’ve-got-you-and-the-rest-of-the-village-covered breasts” and “a great arse.” The initial gender discovery is a lot of fun, and the little details along the way keep that aspect from getting tired or stale. Even when the story is being laugh-out-loud humorous, though, Grey still manages to sneak in some wonderful observations about how women – both transgender and cisgender – are treated. There is a simple bathroom scene that surprised me with how tasteful and triumphant it played out.

Short enough to be read in one sitting, and entertaining enough to make the time fly by, Runed was so much more than I had hoped it might be!

I requested this book by accident not realizing clicking 'Read Now' on a title that has already been published would mean I'd be requesting it. I decided to give this book a shot anyway since the premise seemed interesting/amusing.

As someone who has only seen the first Thor movie, my knowledge of Loki and Norse mythology is limited but I loved the idea of a villainous trickster god being reincarnated into a human woman and falling in love with a man. The book was okay for the most part. I found the book pretty hilarious but the plot is what you'd expect from a typical comedy movie filled with gags and hi-jinks and convenient occurrences to move along the plot. To be honest, I was a little turned off by how many men were blatantly sexualizing Loki in her female form and the way Loki decides to take advantage of her(his) femininity. It's really easy to forget at times that Loki is actually a man rather than a woman.

I recommend this title for anyone who's a fan of Loki looking for a light read but don't expect it to get too in-depth with the Loki universe.