The most recommended books about tricksters

This follow-up to American Gods once again puts ancient gods in the modern world, but you don’t have to have read the first book to jump in. American Gods centers on Shadow, the son of Odin, while Anansi Boys focuses on the children of the trickster god, Anansi. Anansi is a classic storyteller, who fooled the animal god Tiger into giving him ownership of all stories. This book is all things you would expect from Gaiman—clever, humorous, and mythic. And it directly analyzes the power and purpose of storytelling, giving readers a rare glimpse into a storyteller’s toolbox. 

This is less a romance novel and more a high fantasy novel with romantic elements, but the romance subplot is exceedingly strong.

(I can highly recommend a mental fan-casting of either Arhys or Ilvin as Pedro Pascal, because he’d absolutely knock one of those roles out of the park if this was ever made into a miniseries).

Ista is over 40, a queen, a new grandmother, a recovered madwoman, and…wait for it…a living saint. Seeking to get away from the suffocating (yet loving) arms of her family, she goes on a pilgrimage (Road Trip!) with a group of younger people and ends up getting into multiple adventures and a more than near miss with outright war. It’s an absolute romp and one of my all-time favorites.

I picked up a copy of Kill Sequence after chatting to the author via Twitter (Or X or whatever it’s called nowadays). It sounded intriguing so I thought I’d give it a shot, and I’m so glad I did.

I really struggle to define a genre for this book, and this is one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much. If pushed I would call it a thriller with a twist of grounded Sci-Fi. What I didn’t expect is how well-written the book is. It starts with a bang in the middle of a violent fight and the story unfolds itself as you read on.

The main character, Shawn, is a likable, sympathetic man, and I found myself quickly rooting for him as the mystery unfolds around him, taking him from England, to Greece and several other locations. Shawn is accompanied (sort of) by the elegant and charismatic Michael,… show more.

Trickster Drift is Book Two in the Trickster trilogy. (Side Note: I loved the entire trilogy, but Book Two is my favourite.) Trickster Drift is an edgy blend of the supernatural, Indigenous lore, and substance abuse. The characters, particularly Jared’s mother Maggie (who is literally a witch) are memorable, and the dialogue is smart and funny. I have to be careful of spoilers, so I’ll just say that Jared’s conversations in his aunt’s Vancouver apartment with a certain individual wearing a bathrobe are not to be missed. Robinson juggles a number of characters (something I have to contend with in my hockey books), and she does it very well.   

If a racially diverse, gender-bending, often raunchy, always nuanced, new take on an old tale sounds like a good read to you, then pick up this “novel-in-parts.” Both the racial and sexual fullness reflect historical reality, although they’ve ordinarily been left out. Retelling the Trojan War from its early causes to its tragic but still hope-infused end, the authors gave this rendition a compelling depth that will make you savor the old tradition with some new spice on your tongue.

This is a classic Middle Grade book that was first published in 1975 and still holds strong. Neil Gaiman himself endorsed it, so you know it’s going to be a fantastic mythology-based book! This is one of those stories that drops so many clues and hints that when you get to the end, you’ll want to read it again to catch everything you missed.

You've probably heard of the Aesop fables, which were written so that slaves could speak the truth to their masters in disguised terms. The Life of Aesop is an ancient novel length version of the escapades of the slave. Potbellied, snub-nosed and bandy-legged, his openly sexual behaviour broke all the rules of ancient life, which generates much of the humour. He is a trickster who wins small, temporary victories based on an intimate knowledge of how the powerful operate. He works constantly to invert the social order and even though he loses in the end it is only to overwhelming odds. The translation can be found in Daly, L. W. (ed.), Aesop Without Morals: The Famous Fables and a Life of Aesop.

I love children’s series that encourage young readers to keep track of what their favorite character is up to in the next book…and the next. Pixie Tricks is an early chapter book series that does just that. In the first book, the main character finds a portal to the fairy world right in her own backyard. In the following books, she must deal with baffling situations such as mysteriously leaking faucets and figuring out a way to rescue her cousin who is somehow trapped inside a video game. There are 5 books in this series and children ages 6 to 8 love to collect them all.

The entire Nine Worlds Rising series is an exercise in watching Loki get taken down a peg or six. I’m deeply in love with Norse myth material, and Lyra is not afraid to take a deep look at the pain that people inflict on each other. Book One deals with betrayal, ostracization, self-sabotage, and becoming the worst version of yourself. It’s not all doom and gloom, however, because the author has a fantastic sense of humour that really shines in Loki. Many of the characters are queer, including at least one that you won’t expect! 

Kevin Crossley-Holland published excerpts from his Norse Myths as a book for children. But as a child’s first introduction to the tales, it might be too poetic. I’d recommend, instead, Norse Mythology for Kids by Mathias Nordvig.

Nordvig retells the myths as your wise uncle might—if he happened to be Loki, the trickster god. For Nordvig not only blends different versions of a tale, but he also adds bits he thinks our original sources shouldn’t have left out.

Into that “mist world” at time’s beginning, for instance, Nordvig inserts a loon who helps the goddess Jord build the Earth. It’s a tale I’m familiar with from Native American mythology, but as Nordvig asserts, the Norse stories “are still alive.” And to keep them that way, we need to make them our own.