Over a God's Dead Body

Wrong Gods, Book 1

By: Joel Spriggs

Narrated by: Daniel Vuillaume

Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Esmy is singularly frustrated by the lack of pockets in women's clothing. Living in a small Indiana college town with her librarian brother, Jake, Esmy is stuck in a rut with fixing the same crappy WiFi issues day in and day out. But meeting Loki, the mischievous trickster god of Norse legend, ignites her life like a powder-keg. This simple, seemingly innocuous encounter leads her and Jake to discover the college campus's mysterious depths, involving voodoo priestesses, Sasquatches, vampires, a Canadian with a vendetta against the girl scouts, and much more. Soon, she learns a magical ability to have a pocket bigger than a closet, while Jake takes up some novice necromancy with ducks from a local poultry farm.

While learning their new trades and new environment, Jake and Esmy learn Loki had his own agenda in owing his freedom to an Egyptian chaos god hellbent on finding the corpse of Horus. In a crudely hilarious high-stakes game of maneuvering, Loki's freedom, and Esmy and Jake's survival come down to a fight over a God's dead body.

©2018 Joel Spriggs (P)2019 Joel Spriggs

Definitely worth reading!

Over a God's Dead Body is an enjoyable book with a solid premise. The story kept me entertained throughout and Joel Spriggs' characters were well fleshed out and relatable. I look forward to any more books in this series.

One issue I did struggle with is that the narrator was slightly inconsistent. Early in the book, there were times his narration pulled me out of the story, but I don't think it detracts from the overall enjoyment of the tale.

Funny, riotous story

I really did enjoy this book. Narration was fine, no complaints there, my only issue was that I do wish the book was sorted a bit more. I didn't have a hard time keeping up with it necessarily, but with all the characters featured, I did have to think a bit harder to keep everyone in order. That is an issue with books that have a larger ensemble so I get it.

The best thing about this book is that I actually bought it a long time ago and I still remember everything about it! My favorite characters and the situations were so funny and crazy that it's hard to forget. This book is great for a laugh and the characters are really fun and dynamic.

I would recommend this title.

Crass, light comedy

The low brow humor is the star of the show here, which is generally amusing. Tidbits of lore and a few fun character moments round out the entertainment value. I really wish the climatic battle and Loki’s scheming had been stretched out and more complicated. As is, this is a fun, juvenilely humorous romp, well delivered by its narrator.

Unusual Plot/Humor that did not interest me

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book (via audible), which allowed me to explore other genres I seldom read. The book itself was not poorly written; however, the main plot (including the humor) did not appeal to me.

*** Loki is under captivity of Seth and is sent to a boring midwest town as a quest. In the process, Loki discover his granddaughter. They partake on an adventure together and meet other mythical beings, including necromancer who has duck zombies to bigfoot. What must they do to regain Loki's freedom and for Esmy (granddaughter) to survive?

Here are the positives I noticed in the book:
1. The narrator did a phenomenal job narrating the book.
2. Appropriate humor is applied depending on the mythical being, such as the five duck zombies/necromancer.

To simply state, the urban fantasy book on "supernatural humor" was not meant for me.
*** If you are into urban fantasy books and Loki, this may be the book for you!

Really enjoyed it

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. likeable characters, interesting plot. can't wait for the next one!

A funny book but not for everyone

First of all, the narrators did a really great job with this book. The book itself are very well written, but the humor probably not for everyone. I personally didn’t like all of it, but know that some people would love it.

Fantastic humorous urban fantasy.

With the trend of urban fantasy diversifying from the wizard PI trope, Over a God's Dead Body takes it even further. With a mixture of humor, various mythological pantheons and magic, it is a true treat for any fan of the genre.

When the male gym professor at Baldur College is caught in a compromising position on the 50 yard line of the college football field with a creature that shouldn't exist, in this case a young sasquatch, things at the college just start to go haywire. Soon after, Esme, one of the college's IT techs, discovers the college has a department of paranormal studies. Asking her twin brother Jake, the schools librarian, about it, she finds he doesn't know anything about it either. This is the start of the crazy twists this story takes, as the twins find out exactly what the school is all about.

Meanwhile, we meet Loki, Norse god of mischief, who it turns out has been working for Seth, the Egyptian god of chaos, for centuries, ever since he freed Loki from his imprisonment. Loki has acted as his "problem solver", and it turns out, he is not as big a jerk as the myths make him out to be. It also turns out, he has an unusual connection to Esme and Jake, and that connection will have long term effects for them all. That's because Seth is after something that will allow him world domination (at least he thinks so) and he thinks its at Baldur College, and he has sent Loki to locate it.

What follows is one of the craziest, most hilarious set of events I have ever read. I mean, spit coffee through your nose laughing moments throughout. From magic flying brooms, zombie ducks, a dwarf punk drummer, a giant purple dinosaur and magically controlled wasps to the Voodoo soccer mom looking to get some payback on Kyle, the laughs never cease. Oh my lord, Kyle. What an amazingly funny character, who so much coincidence swirls around, and who's backstory, as it is revealed, is both horrifying an brilliantly funny. So much of the story spins around Kyle, even in subtle ways, that just end hilariously. This all leads up to a fateful confrontation with the various power groups at the college, which could have tragic consequences for the rest of the world, which is much more important to the multiverse than you'd expect.

As a huge fan of comedic fantasy, this was a real treat. The characters, especially Loki, Esme, Jake and Kyle, are really engaging, and their character arcs are a lot of fun, especially as more secrets are revealed. The secondary characters are given a lot to work with as well, and the villain, such as he is, has a realistic rationale behind his actions. The setting and worldbuilding are really well done, with Baldur College and the surrounding town being well thought out and brought to life. Definitely not the usual grimy Chicago, New York or LA setting. All in all, its a very satisfying mashup of urban fantasy with ancient mythology, one I'd recommend you check out for yourself.

As far as audiobook narration, Daniel Vuillaume handles those duties admirably. I had never heard his work before, but I must say I was impressed. He really brought the characters to life. His use of tone, pitch, accent and speech pacing was excellent, really differentiating the various characters. His Kyle voice had me laughing throughout, as did his voices for the Loa and various other gods. Just excellent work I'd highly recommend.

One of the funniest supernatural books I've read

This book is about… Gods. Mythological gods. Think, American Gods meets Harry Potter. Our main god (and one of the protagonists, among some mortal people) is Loki. The book follows him as he meets up with some ‘relatives’, and try to find Seth, the Egyptian god of chaos, on a university campus. Because shit is going down. Shit Loki wants to stop. And it’s absolutely hilarious.

Its not often I laugh out loud from reading (which is weird, because I laugh a lot), but this had me spit-laughing more than twice, which made working out really weird at times. But it’s such a well-written, funny book. It’s light, it’s fun, it’s entertaining. Spriggs has a way with words that pulled me in instantly, kept me invested, and made me want to keep reading. Maybe a few characters seemed a bit too quick on the uptake at times, (they seem awfully chill with the whole there-being-gods-and-magic in the world), but it’s still damn good fun.

And the production of this audiobook is really good as well, I have to say, the narrator did a great job (though I can imagine maybe a few Irish people will disagree with me). Makes me want to look into making audiobooks of my own stuff.

I can see this being a new big thing. In a few years I imagine this is a hilarious Netflix series, a mix between Community and Supernatural. Or like I said, American Gods meets Harry Potter. However you want to look at it, it’s awesome.

If you’re interested in finding out what kind of hell Loki and other gods from various mythologies could get up to at a college, you should definitely check this out.

good book

I really liked this one. Loki has always been my favorite Norse God. I look forward to the next book

Not Quite a Godlike Start, but very solid!

There was a lot going on in this book. I thought that the premise of the story was exciting and I was happy to see how the mythology was included to craft a good story. With the Avengers movies, Loki is a more popular subject these days. I was glad to see that he has his own identity in this story. What's more, when he's intertwined in this story with all the other characters the whole things becomes a fun and enjoyable original. There are hints of some tropes or clichés, but they aren't stale or overdone. Joel Spriggs crafted his own story very nicely and I would be happy to read on in this series, and even will look forward to it. There were a few details that disagreed with me, and there were moments I lost track of what was going on or who was talking. It had a few flaws, but not many. I felt engaged with the story and I really enjoyed the accents performed by Daniel Vuillaume. Ultimately, a very solid performance by both author and narrator.

This audiobook was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an -->unbiased<-- review. I enjoyed this story enough that I'll probably pester my source for the next one when it comes out, too!