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ruckystarnes's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Death, Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
Minor: Violence, Vomit, and War
literarydumpling's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A wonderful retelling of Norse mythology, focusing largely on Angrboda.
The book is written in a way that reads like traditional myths, flowing from one story to the next without going too heavy into the description of the world and accepting that this is the lore.
Had plenty of hooks to keep you interested and characters were introduced at a logical rate — if you did get confused, there is an appendix towards the end of the book, but use at your own risk if you aren't familiar with the particular myths in The Witch's Heart as there may be spoilers.
Also very much enjoyed the focus switching to a female narrator for this retelling, whereas the traditional myths only treats them as a "side character" even though they have an important part to play. It gives a lot more character and life to Angrboda beyond her just being the witch.
The book is written in a way that reads like traditional myths, flowing from one story to the next without going too heavy into the description of the world and accepting that this is the lore.
Had plenty of hooks to keep you interested and characters were introduced at a logical rate — if you did get confused, there is an appendix towards the end of the book, but use at your own risk if you aren't familiar with the particular myths in The Witch's Heart as there may be spoilers.
Also very much enjoyed the focus switching to a female narrator for this retelling, whereas the traditional myths only treats them as a "side character" even though they have an important part to play. It gives a lot more character and life to Angrboda beyond her just being the witch.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Violence and War
possiblyamyrie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, and Grief
Moderate: Violence and War
flyingryndeer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Violence, Xenophobia, and War
savshanae's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book is an absolute MASTERPIECE. Hands down one of my favorite standalone books. I tore through it and nearly started it over again as soon as I finished!
As the story continued I felt more and more attached to Angrboda and invested in her story, whatever form she took. The way Gornichec weaves together so many myths (and has notes to back it up at the end!) and draws the characters in a new light is nothing short of stunning. The portrayal of motherhood is raw and heartfelt, all while subtly highlighting the strengths (and weaknesses) of women.
10/10, no notes, just praise for this book!
As the story continued I felt more and more attached to Angrboda and invested in her story, whatever form she took. The way Gornichec weaves together so many myths (and has notes to back it up at the end!) and draws the characters in a new light is nothing short of stunning. The portrayal of motherhood is raw and heartfelt, all while subtly highlighting the strengths (and weaknesses) of women.
10/10, no notes, just praise for this book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Mental illness, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Alcohol
ruthmoog's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.75
I loved this, the eddas and mythology are so strange and bat-shit but quite difficult. This retelling takes all the bizarreness of the mythology and makes it feel real and gives context to the interactions between the realms.
I have especially found Loki a hard one to understand, and Angrboda's perspective made him come to life as a character, it's brilliantly told.
My knowledge of the sagas and eddas isn't enough to know if anything is "creatively authored", but I understand there is Viking age ideas included as well, but from what I was familiar with it all clicked. (I do not know about the Marvel universe portrayals).
I have especially found Loki a hard one to understand, and Angrboda's perspective made him come to life as a character, it's brilliantly told.
My knowledge of the sagas and eddas isn't enough to know if anything is "creatively authored", but I understand there is Viking age ideas included as well, but from what I was familiar with it all clicked. (I do not know about the Marvel universe portrayals).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and War
cwerber's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and War
braveprincess11's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I am stunned, I am shattered… this book is absolutely brilliant.
I had only passing knowledge of Norse mythology and the events of Ragnarok - enough to recognize some names, but little enough that the entire story was new to me.
Genevieve Gornichec has put so much heart and personality and humanity into names of mythology that it’s left me absolutely speechless. I got sucked right into the world of Ironwood & Asgard, and every single moment necessitates it’s being there. There’s nothing extra or distracting; it all adds to the overall tale. It’s brilliant & I can’t wait to see what Gornichec does next
The parallels of Hel & Baldur to Angrboda & Loki at the end absolutely shattered my heart - even the dialogue upon his return was a near perfect mimic. And them telling their children the tales of the gods & the worlds beforehand, where Angrboda could not tell Hel and her brothers about the Jarnvidur, since she couldn’t remember her previous lives…
I’m shattered. It’s beautiful, brilliant, stunning…
I had only passing knowledge of Norse mythology and the events of Ragnarok - enough to recognize some names, but little enough that the entire story was new to me.
Genevieve Gornichec has put so much heart and personality and humanity into names of mythology that it’s left me absolutely speechless. I got sucked right into the world of Ironwood & Asgard, and every single moment necessitates it’s being there. There’s nothing extra or distracting; it all adds to the overall tale. It’s brilliant & I can’t wait to see what Gornichec does next
I’m shattered. It’s beautiful, brilliant, stunning…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and War
singalana's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I got very strong fanfiction-vibes from the start of this book, but in my opinion, this story lacks the best aspects of a good fanfiction: deep understanding of the characters and compelling interaction between them.
The Witch’s Heart is based on Norse mythology, perhaps a little bit too faithfully, because the different elements in this book create a jarring dichotomy. For example, the banter in this book feels modern and clashes with the mythological aspects of the story. No matter how horrific or bizarre the events get, the characters shrug them off without feeling any deeper emotions. (But Loki wearing a dress, that’s considered weird.)
I found the writing to be average, and at times I disagreed with the word choices the author chose to use. For example the word ‘snivel’ was used in many cases, for example: “(daughter) snivelled, sensing his (her father’s) distress”. And "she chewed dismally". Sometimes the words used paint a different picture than the author had perhaps intended.
The characters don’t feel well-rounded. And the interactions between the characters feel juvenile, especially since the world appears black and white in this book. Angrboda (the main character) is depicted by an innocent and peaceful woman, who is wrongfully persecuted by the evil Aesir. Her relationship with Loki lacks attraction, and because of the fanfiction-vibes, I was expecting there to be more steamy scenes in this book, but the relationship between Loki and Angrboda is lukewarm at best. (Warning, mild spoilers ahead!) Instead we get a sapphic romance that feels forced with zero attraction between the characters until they suddenly realise that they’ve been in love with each other all this time.
In the back cover it says that “Angrboda is an unforgettable heroine”, and I must say that I disagree with this completely. In the beginning of the book she is extremely passive, things just happen to her without much reaction from her. Around the middle of the book she has an overscaled and unjust (in my opinion) reaction and sets in motion a chain of events. If there is an unforgettable heroine in this story, it should have been Sigyn. What she endured was just as bad, and in fact, even worse than what Angrboda did.
The ending, which was meant to be profound and emotional achieved some of what it was trying to do, but still felt somewhat clichéd and so did parts of the dialogue.
The ending, which was meant to be profound and emotional achieved some of what it was trying to do, but still felt somewhat clichéd and so did parts of the dialogue.
And finally, things that I liked about this book (warning, spoilers ahead):
-
The banter in the beginning of the book. -
The reunion of Loki, Angrboda, Fenrir and Jormungand. -
Baldur -
Some scenes with Loki.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
tifftastic87's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
The main character of this story is as close to wet cardboard as a main character in any book I've ever read. She has just about as much agency too. I'm extremely disappointed because I was so hyped for it.
The book has this premise of "everyone always forgets that Angrboda wasn't just a monster mommy and Loki's wife" and then went the extra mile to make her nothing but a monster mommy who pines for Loki. She is described as this badass witch, but acts like a naive woman who can't do anything on her own. Loki is very much an angsty teen emo kid from 2008. This is supposed to be more based on the poems (Poetic Edda and Prose Edda) but you cannot convince me this isn't a fanfic of "what if MCU Loki was dropped into the actual myths?"
There is literally no reason given why Loki and Angrboda end up together or why she "loves" him before they hookup. He only comes to complain to her and get her help and then she's like "omg he smiled crooked and his hair is so curly" and marries him. She forgives him living a double life with a whole ass other family, which again I understand is the myth, but she could have had emotions over it other than the brief flashes of jealousy that she then feels guilty for. When Loki is present in her life he has the energy of a 90s sitcom dad. He brags about how much more the kids like him, gets them riled up before bed and then complains to "Boda" about things. So, then she feels like she's not good enough. It isn't until Loki calls the children monsters that she is ever outwardly angry at him. This kind of kicks off everything, but then after she bans him she lets him back! So the kids get taken and then she vows to not forgive him... and then forgives him!
She works forever to be able to contact Hel and when she finally does Hel rejects her. Which is fair honestly, but not done in a way that makes sense. However, when she can finally contact Fenrir and Jornumgand they are excited to see her, because "boy mom." She then convinces them not to eat Loki. For some reason, she just keeps forgiving him. They could have finished the myth out with each of them playing their parts without her forgiving him and having an emotional goodbye with him.
I will give it that the end wasn't predictable until at least the last 30 pages-ish. But that could also be that I wasn't paying much attention because I was so irritated.
I wasn't a fan of the writing style it was overly narrative with no prose. To the point it felt like reading the poems sometimes instead of a novel. So many sections (there are no chapters) started with "then one day" or a variation of and it was grating to me. A lot of the world building was done in weird asides. Example being when the raven's of Odin are introduced it says:
The book has this premise of "everyone always forgets that Angrboda wasn't just a monster mommy and Loki's wife" and then went the extra mile to make her nothing but a monster mommy who pines for Loki. She is described as this badass witch, but acts like a naive woman who can't do anything on her own. Loki is very much an angsty teen emo kid from 2008. This is supposed to be more based on the poems (Poetic Edda and Prose Edda) but you cannot convince me this isn't a fanfic of "what if MCU Loki was dropped into the actual myths?"
There is literally no reason given why Loki and Angrboda end up together or why she "loves" him before they hookup. He only comes to complain to her and get her help and then she's like "omg he smiled crooked and his hair is so curly" and marries him. She forgives him living a double life with a whole ass other family, which again I understand is the myth, but she could have had emotions over it other than the brief flashes of jealousy that she then feels guilty for. When Loki is present in her life he has the energy of a 90s sitcom dad. He brags about how much more the kids like him, gets them riled up before bed and then complains to "Boda" about things. So, then she feels like she's not good enough.
She works forever to be able to contact Hel and when she finally does Hel rejects her. Which is fair honestly, but not done in a way that makes sense. However, when she can finally contact Fenrir and Jornumgand they are excited to see her, because "boy mom." She then convinces them not to eat Loki. For some reason, she just keeps forgiving him. They could have finished the myth out with each of them playing their parts without her forgiving him and having an emotional goodbye with him.
I will give it that the end wasn't predictable until at least the last 30 pages-ish. But that could also be that I wasn't paying much attention because I was so irritated.
I wasn't a fan of the writing style it was overly narrative with no prose. To the point it felt like reading the poems sometimes instead of a novel. So many sections (there are no chapters) started with "then one day" or a variation of and it was grating to me. A lot of the world building was done in weird asides. Example being when the raven's of Odin are introduced it says:
"I didn't know that Odin sent his ravens out to disperse information," Angrboda said to the birds, who were named Hugin and Munin, Thought and Memory. They flew around the Nine Worlds each day before returning to tell their master all they'd seen.
Most world building was done in this way, a lot of telling and little showing.
Things I liked, Thor is played as dumb and angry and reactive and that kind of feels on brand with the poems I am most familiar with.
I gave it a couple of points for making me laugh at a couple of places, but I took a lot away for the disturbing (bigoted) way that it talked about Loki's gender fluidity.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Confinement, and Alcohol
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Body shaming, Vomit, and Cannibalism