‘Over a God’s Dead Body’ by Joel Spriggs —BOOK REVIEW

About ‘Over a God’s Dead Body’ by Joel Spriggs::

Genre: Supernatural; Comedy

In the same style of humor as Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, you’ll find the Norse gods and characters hilarious. If you are looking for a humorous adult version of the Magnus Chase series, you’ll be laughing at how Esmy and Jake deal with Loki.
Esmy is frustrated by a lack of pockets on women’s pants. Living with her librarian brother Jake in a small Indiana town and working at a private college, Esmy feels like she is is stuck in a rut.
Meeting Loki ignites their lives like a powder-keg. This simple, seemingly innocuous encounter leads Esmy and Jake to discover the campus’s mysterious depths, involving sasquatches, vampires, and much more with the supernatural, magical and paranormal.
In a crudely comedic high-stakes game of maneuvering, Loki’s freedom and Esmy’s survival come down to a fight over a God’s dead body.
Will Esmy become a reluctant hero?
Is Jake a lucky novice necromancer?
Will Loki actually become a half-decent mentor?
If you like insane action, hilarious dialogue, and gods behaving badly, then you’ll love the first installment in Joel Spriggs’s series of magical realism and whimsical mythology.

Admittedly, a driving factor for me reading this was to figure out what was up with the duck (which depending on which version you’re looking at, is the cover of the book), though the title drew me in too. I’ve read/viewed both comedic and serious stories centered around gods and their involvement with our modern world so while it is a favored premise, I go in each time unsure how the author can make it any different or better. I was not disappointed in the slightest with ‘Over a God’s Dead Body.’

The humor ranges from crude to clever and overall is pretty unique to itself with likeable characters all around. I saw someone liken part of the plot to Hogwarts, but to be fair, I only saw the similarity in that there was a school where you could learn magic (but only if you knew the right people). That being said, this magic had a loose scientific feel to it in an almost Wonderland type of way. The candor in which both students and teachers approach these studies is humorously relatable. I mean would you follow rules or would you be learning how to wreak fun havoc like the Weasley twins?

A little off the wall in the best of ways. Vampires with body image issues, gods who are little more than very old children, questionable unicorn murals…and don’t forget the ducks. Oh my god, the ducks. If it were a movie, I’d be putting it on frequently. Curious to know what this endearing universe has in store next.

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(Also available on Barnes&Noble and Books-a-Million)

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You can find Joel Spriggs on:
Twitter @joelspriggs
Instagram @joelspriggs
Amazon
Goodreads
Author Website

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~Sahreth ‘Baphy’ Bowden