SO this was the book i actually wanted to read!! i got it out the library, found out that it was the fourth book in the series and so dutifully read the other three. except OH MY GOD i didn't even need to!! The gospel of Loki maybe yeah, but not the other two, which happen chronologically after this one and were barely mentioned.

ANYWAY... this one was good in all the ways the others weren't.

pros:
- overall, i just liked the set-up! bringing the old gods into the modern world could've been a bit cringy, but it was really well done and i enjoyed it a lot!!
- the main characters were diverse and interesting!! Jumps had flaws, as did Evan, making them more interesting than Maddie. I loved Meg and and Jumps' interactions with her and it was generally much more inclusive. actually, there was generally less shitiness. Loki tries to help Jumps with her eating disorder rather than making snide comments about Freya's weight, there was much more diversity, and it was pro-LGBTQ. 
- Odin and Thor were the same people they were in the other books but their characters weren't shown as much so I didn't get sick of them.
- the writing didn't have loads of exposition! It was much much more action and feelings based. There was much less navel gazing and the writing was snappy and engaging the whole time. There was tension throughout and even though I could guess where it was going, i was still engaged! there was none of the feeling of dreaded inevitability.
- Loki did seem more sympathetic in this one. He was more human, more caught up in his feelings, and that was good.
- i did like how the end linked up neatly with the start of Runemarks, with Old Nan, the hill, Loki as the Captain, etc. it was clever.
- this one was definitely darker in themes than the others and i liked that. it felt solidly like an adult book, despite Jumps' age and I thought that worked best.


cons:
- i did think that Jumps' eating disorder, self-harm and suicidal ideation was dealt with a bit too easily. The attitude wasn't exactly dismissive, but there was a sense that Jumps had been "fixed" somehow over a very short space of time.
- i did lose the plot around the 3/4 mark.

it did some kind of tricksy thing about Odin having planned it all, anticipating everyone's moves from the start... and then i got confused in the Dream part, with everyone hopping in and out of bodies. and i didn't get why the memory Loki sent to Evan of the eye would make him think to pick up the head??
- though a clever ending, i did feel sorry for the child Loki inhabits. he'll never get his own life and from i remember of Runemarks, i don't think he ever pops up, it's just 100% Loki. so really, that child gets killed.
- this Asgard video game kept popping up and i thought it was a bit silly, and didn't seem to have much wider relevance. 
- oh, a petty point, i thought the bits that Loki did or didn't know were pretty odd? like he didn't know what yogurt was?? after all his time spent in Dream, really? and yogurt is ancient, why wouldn't he have tried it already? and he seemed to know other things immediately, like what an eating disorder was, though he'd never have had that term in Asgard.

So, i was a bit miffed that i read the other books (which i didn't like nearly as much) when i could've got away with not doing that!! or only reading the gospel of loki. Runemarks and Runelight really only gives some extra depth to the ending, but that's all *shrug*. Anyway, overall this was excellent and clearly Harris has grown as an author, or settled into her element because this was very well done.