A beautifully written and enthralling story based on Norse mythology.



4.5 Stars

I went into this story knowing next to nothing about Norse mythology. Let's just say that Genevieve Gornichec completely captured me within just a few pages.

I will start off by saying that I did almost put this book down and decide not to read it within the first few pages. The prose started off beautifully, however, the first taste of dialogue between characters was jarring. The dialogue is very modern and seemed (at first) out of place with the setting and subject. It had the effect of taking me out of the story. Despite that, I ultimately decided to push on and I am oh so glad I did. Within the first quarter of the book I became used to the characters' dialogue and was able to stay immersed in this lush story of Angrboda Iron-Witch.

Angrboda's story is epic, heartbreaking, empowering, and just plain captivating. Angrboda is a witch (of course), a healer, a wife, a lover, and a friend. But she is also a mother. My heart went out to her as mother who is determined to anything and everything within her power to protect her children. Reading about Angrboda's life, her powers, her relationships, and her resolve was enthralling. I was completely enchanted by this story.

The Witch's Heart will appeal to fans of mythology and fantasy, and strong women.

I loved this! If you loved Circe and Achilles by Madeline, this is like that. I am so fascinated by ancient mythology, but the only way I can learn about it is through these novelizations. It’s the richest, most fun and most realistically these stories come to life. This book made me cry more than once. It made me angry more than once. It’s full of magic and prophesy and love and betrayal and stories and motherhood. The writing manages to be both appropriate to the time (in my imagination) but also modern. It’s super readable but also rich and descriptive and layered. Just so good.

Oh I love a mythology retelling, especially one as well written as this one. The Witch's Heart is a reimagining of the story of Angrboda, who is in the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda. Angrboda is known in Norse mythology as the mother of monsters. Genevieve Gornichec gives Angrboda an identity and story beyond her children's legends. She does this by pulling from other Norse mythologies involving women including Gullveig, the jotunn Hyndla, Hyrrokkin and the giantess in the Ironwood. The combination of these mythologies feels realistic and it is easy to imagine that all these legends did come from the same woman.

While this book covers a large span of time and has a lot of time jumps, it feels organic and you really understand Angrboda and her relationship with Loki. As Gullveig, Angrboda was burned three times at the stake by the Aesir and Odin. Each time she was revived and on the third time, the Aesir took her heart on a stake. She escapes to the edge of Jotunheim to the Ironwood, where she remade herself. She focused on healing and blocking her powers so that Odin cannot find her again. She hides in a cave in the Ironwood and meets Loki, Skadi & Gerd, who all help her survive and thrive in thier own way in her new world. As the story progresses, Loki and Angrboda's relationship is explored and so is the Ragnarok legend regarding Hel, Fenrir, & Jormungand.

This retelling has all the feels in it. I had moments of joy, hope, sadness and sorrow . Genevieve Gornichec does a wonderful job portraying a mother's love as Angrboda does not even think of her children's nature or fate, but only of her unconditional love for them. This book is definitely a must read for fantasy romance readers and for fans who love mythology retellings.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3683247021?book_show_action=falseWhere are my Marvel fans at?
That may be the main reason I was excited to read this book, because Thor & Loki have stolen my heart over the years, BUT I mostly was excited to get a story woven with Norse mythology that gave characters I already enjoy a backstory, mixed with incredible new ones.

It was a bit of a slow burn, but I really enjoyed this authors writing style, and thought it was a fantastic debut!

Thank you to Berkley + NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my personal review, I really enjoyed being able to read this one as part of the #BerkleyBuddyReads

always down for a retelling that isn't just greek mythology or beauty and the beast! not that i'm not reading those too, but it's nice for a shift. not my favorite structure or dialogue but a super engaging story!

***5 STARS***
REVIEW GOES LIVE ON LAIROFBOOKS ON 3/6/2021 @ 8AM EST

THE 411...

“𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡, 𝑖𝑛 𝐼𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑛. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝐴𝑠𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑝𝑦𝑟𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑑“

I’m happiest with a slower paced read that pulls me in with lush storytelling and characters I can’t help but get invested in. The Witch’s Heart will appeal to fans of Madeline Miller, Katherine Arden and Rin Chupeco. We follow Angrboda a Giantess who has lived many times over in the Ironwood. She’s been burned by Odin three times and has had her heart cut out, yet she lives. Angrboda is gifted with the magic of Seid, the ability to see the future and essentially the end of the world as the Gods know it. She lives protected and in hiding until the God of mischief Loki stumbles across her cave. This is the story of their complicated love, offspring, and revenge on the Gods who constantly play with the lives of those they consider beneath them. Angrboda is bi-sexual and there’s a beautiful relationship that develops later on in the book, slow burn *𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑓𝑠 𝐾𝑖𝑠𝑠* worth the wait! I went into this story not knowing much other than it was centered on Norse Mythology which is a subject of interest for me. I allowed myself to get swept away by Angrboda's story and quickly found myself absorbed by these characters lives. There's a prophecy and there are Gods behaving badly, it just doesn't get better than that!

WRITING & FINAL THOUGHTS...

There is a fair amount of dialogue in this story which is something I personally enjoy. I’ve seen some reviewers say they were a little thrown off by the dialogue being a bit more modern in comparison to the world it’s set in...honestly, the witty banter between all of the characters is what made this book super entertaining and endearing. Angrboda herself is someone who has lived a few times over and as such she is NOT in any way old fashioned. As a matter of fact she's quite the opposite! Angrboda is all accepting, she loves who she wants to love and is quick to look you in the eye and ask why you'd assume she preferred one gender over another for her lovers. She's simply a character I hope to never forget! now, I didn't think we'd get much from Loki but I was pleasantly surprised by how Gornichec wrote this character. Loki is a multi-faceted character who is very comfortable with his sexuality and wishes only to never be controlled and/or know what the future has in store. We also got an amazing line-up of side characters in Angrboda & Loki's children but I won't speak on the why's since that would be spoilery. Overall, a new favorite for me this year and a mood changer. I'd say this is a medium paced book with lots of character development, witty banter and YES! ROMANCE for the WIN! 🤗

This book was imaginative, haunting, and a treat to read. A darkly feminist tale that could have come from the pages of a Brothers Grimm anthology, The Witch's Heart is a must-read for anyone who enjoyed The Year of the Witching, The Witching Hour, or the works of Anne Rice in general.

This book surprised me with its touching and pragmatic portrayal of a witch who is just trying to stay out of trouble. She is living in a cave, minding her own business, when a visitor changes things. The ensuing years bring both joys and heartbreak. Her relationships are complicated, but her willingness to give of herself to improve the life of others is shown in a favourable light even when it seems to hurt her.

This book had some very clear similarities to Madeline Miller's Circe, except the end felt inescapable. I enjoyed this story and would recommend to people who love reading both women's fiction and fantasy novels.

Rating: 3/5 unique children

Format: ebook. I’d like to thank the author and Berkley Publishing Group for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

To sum up:
This is a story with familiar characters and events from Norse mythology seen in a new way. Angrboda is a very old witch who has been cast out of the world of Norse Gods after being burned for displeasing Odin. Although she somehow survives the burning, she goes into hiding in a remote forest where none other than Loki brings her back her unburned heart. Thus begins an unlikely romance between the witch and Loki. While Angrboda and Loki try to find some happiness together in their secluded home, Angrboda can help but feel a mounting wariness about the future that Odin wanted her to prophesize for him, a looming disaster called Ragnarok. Will Angrboda be able to survive the Gods and protect her family from Ragnarok? is the looming question throughout the book, and you’ll have to read it to find out!

What I enjoyed:
I really enjoyed the world of the Norse Gods. I have always been fascinated with their myths and legends and I enjoyed Gornichec’s imagining of these well-known characters. I thought that she used them and well-known events around Ragnarok in interesting ways that felt both epic and personal to the story and characters. In general, I liked Angrboda's personality, but I had some trouble connecting emotionally to her.

What was meh:
Unfortunately, I had some issues with the overall plot and storytelling style. I just felt that there wasn’t really enough meat to the story to keep me engaged for most of the book. It was really difficult to tell where the story was going until Ragnarok is mentioned, which isn’t until quite a ways into the book. Most of the book is told in a sort of meandering, journal entry style, spanning many years Angrboda's life. During this part of the book, I had a hard time staying engaged because I really didn't know where the story was going and what the stakes were. When the threat of Ragnarok becomes part of the plot, the story felt rushed and a little anticlimactic. I wanted to grow attached to the characters introduced but never really was able to because I couldn’t tell whether they were good or bad, and had a hard time forming an emotional connection to them. Ultimately, I didn’t feel a real strong narrative thread to tie all the pieces of the story together, it felt more like a series of events that happened until the final scenes could take place.

Overall, this story reminded me a bit of Circe in its story-telling style, so if you liked that one you might give this one a try! I love the Norse aspects of the book but had difficulty with the plot. I think the prose itself isn’t bad, I just had a hard time becoming emotionally invested which is pretty crucial for me, so just giving this one three stars.

Wow - I absolutely adored this book. While it uses Norse mythology strongly through the book the author does an amazing job of adding flesh and depth to characters that are often overlooked or not as developed in the lore. The book was heartbreaking at times and really grabbed you. This is not only a love story, but also one of self discovery and battling your own beliefs. It was super realistic considering the time and setting of the book in terms of gender roles. Her acceptance of her fate and fight for her children was admirable and believable. Angrboda is a complex character with well developed depth. Her relationship with Loki was well detailed and unlike other lore you understand his nature a lot more based on the various aspects of his character that the author presents us with. Skadi was a beautiful character but I feel like we didn't get enough depth to her and to see her inside her motives and needs however i greatly enjoyed the ending. Highly recommend this read to everyone who loves mythology and fantasy as its beautifully woven in this story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for an advanced copy of this book! For fan’s of Madeline Miller and mythology, this book will take you on a searing ride through the life of a nameless witch reborn repeatedly in the flames of her enemies. With plenty of love, heartache, and fire, Gornichec weaves a tale you won’t easily forget.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

What a stunning debut THE WITCH'S HEART is. And this pronouncement comes from someone whose knowledge of Norse mythology is limited to the Marvel movies. Despite my lack of familiarity with the subject matter, I loved the story, the settings, and the characters.

Gornichec seems to have taken many of the barely-mentioned women of the Norse myths and fleshed out their stories. She has woven them together rather seamlessly, making for quite a satisfying tale. Angrboda is the witch of the title, and she is a fierce magician who has been wronged by the gods time and time again. In what almost seems like her mind's protective instinct, she doesn't remember much of her past lives as she sets out anew, alone in a forbidding landscape. She isn't alone for long, though, and her capacity for love and compassion bring a few needy souls to her cave's threshold. As she forges ahead in her new life, she finds herself once again linked to the gods by her unlikely relationship with Loki (yes, that Loki). Even more surprising to her, she soon finds herself a mother to three children, all of whom flout convention. As her vision of the future comes to pass, she strives to protect her family the only way she knows how.

I liked many things about this novel. Angrboda: her fierce protectiveness, her common-sense practicality, her touching vulnerability. The banter between Angrboda and Loki, the banter between Angrboda and Skadi. Hel's DGAF weirdness and obsessive knitting. The story moved along at a good clip, and I was always eager to pick up the book.

THE WITCH'S HEART is satisfying tale of women's empowerment and motherhood. Highly recommended!

3.5 Stars

Not a lot happened in the 1st half of the book and while that's usually a negative, it was my favorite part of the book. The 2nd half felt all over the place and really dragged on. The <i>Circe</i> comparison is accurate for me as I was also underwhelmed by it. I love mythology and retellings so both should have been right up my alley and in the beginning, I loved them but by the end I was struggling to stay interested. The portrayal of Loki was great and Marvel has clearly ruined me because I couldn't not picture Tom Hiddleston.

That being said, the cover is absolutely gorgeous and the author's writing is enjoyable.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc.

This is a Norse mythology retelling in the same vain as Madeline Miller's Greek mythology retelling of Circe. It is an approachable and humanistic view of a lesser-known mythic witch, Angrboda. She is only known as the mother of monsters Fenrir, Jörmungand, and Hel, who are involved in Ragnarök. She doesn't always get the spotlight in Norse retellings, so here we are presented with her life as she would have lived it. It begins with her retreat to an old forest, the Ironwood, after refusing to teach Odin what he wanted to know. Here she is quickly found by Loki, the Trickster God who returns the heart that Odin and the Aesir tore from her body. Loki keeps returning to the Ironwood, and overtime they fall in love with one another. Through Angroboda's eyes, you feel what it's like to be in a relationship with the trickster and to birth and raise their children. Angrboda turns into a very devoted mother who struggles with a father who seems much less so. And as a seer-witch, Angrboda's struggles with the future that her children are destined to bring.

I definitely recommend if you enjoy modern myth retellings, especially if you enjoy Madeline Miller's books. If I have on qualm in my comparison to Miller, it's that Miller's writing is a little bit more poetic, but Gornichec here makes a strong debut nonetheless.

Thanks to the publisher for providing a free eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A witch from the edge of the Ironwood forest refuses to teach Odin "seid", a magic that allows one to travel out of the body and divine the future. Odin offers to impart knowledge about runes, but she still turns him down. In retaliation Odin spears her heart and burns her three times. Loki finds her heart and tracks her to Jotunheim, the land of the giants since he is easily bored and finds her interesting. Her memory is mostly gone, but she remembers how to make remedies and she names herself Angrboda meaning, proclaimer of sorrows. She and Loki develop a friendship and she meets the huntress Skadi and they become trading partners. Eventually Loki and Angrboda become lovers and have three children: Hel who becomes the ruler of the Norse underworld, Fenrir a giant wolf , and Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent. Loki has to divide his time in Asgard with the Norse Gods and his other wife. Angrboda has to fight Odin and the other Gods and Goddesses to protect her children with the unreliable Loki torn between worlds. Angrboda is a strong, sympathetic woman who has a very minor role in Norse literature, but is larger than life here thanks to the author. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review. I raise a glass of mead.

The witch, Angrboda, has been speared and burned three times then reborn each time. This third time, she cannot remember much and runs into a forest to heal. There, a man approaches her and calls himself Loki. She falls in love, becomes his wife, and gives birth to three children. With her eldest a girl, she uses magic to bring her back from death. The two boys aren't human. They stay safe in the woods out of sight of Odin’s all-seeing eye, in a cave she had made into a comfortable abode. Her prophetic powers are returning, and Angrboda begins to realize the dangers to her life and her family.

I really enjoyed this retelling/reworking of a part of Norse mythology connected to Loki and Angrboda and their children, reworking other bits of the myths from the Prose Edda and others to flesh out the story and the characters. I sympathized with Angrboda, her children: Hel, Fenrir, Jormungand, and yes, even for Loki. If you've read the myth and about Ragnarök, then you know how it ends, but there is more to this story than what the mythology gives us, with an ending I did not expect.

If you enjoy Norse mythology, the Marvel Comic version and the movie, and good high fantasy, you will enjoy this novel.

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec, an interesting read. A story of the Aesir, of Loki and Thor and all your other favorites told from a slightly outside perspective.

In this reimagining of Norse mythology, we follow Angrboda, a giantess who has run away from the gods after being killed by them three times before reviving herself. When Loki comes to return her heart to her, they begin a difficult relationship that lasts for centuries. We follow Angrboda's relationships, her experience with motherhood, her discovering her past, and how far she will go to protect the ones she loves.

I think the first thing one should know before going into this is that Gornichec takes some liberties as to Angrboda's identity when it comes to Norse canon. Angrboda is Loki's jotun mate that mothers three of his children, yes, but her also being Gullveig (the witch that is credited with beginning the war between the Aesir and Vanir) is a very unpopular theory. There are a couple of other minor figures in Norse mythology who are credited with being Angrboda. This is interesting because she's a mostly forgotten figure (basically just a footnote in a poem) and that is explored in the novel, but it's good to know the context.

Personally, I was fairly unattached to this book. It reminded me of Circe by Madeline Miller, which I had also felt detached from, but not as focused or purposeful. As to what I did like, I thought it was a really interesting take on Norse myth to combine the identities of the characters I mentioned before. I really loved the parts that were about Angrboda's children with Loki and I was emotionally attached to them, particularly the eldest, and wanted everything to work out for them. However, I felt that there were some issues with this that took away from the whole. For one, the time scale of this was so large that things pass by too quickly. It's written as if it is a myth, the way a short story would be written where events happen one sentence after the other rather than us being shown it, but for an entire novel. Years pass without warning and there's a large number of plot points that are told to us or our protagonist instead of experiencing it. I also thought that for the most part, maybe until the last section of the book Angrboda is a very passive protagonist. Things happen to those around her until the very end. I also thought that this book does not treat heterosexual and homosexual relationships equally, the latter being much less explored and almost feeling forced. Overall, I found that this was easy to get through, but I didn't feel much either way for the main character who is very much the central piece of this rather than any plot. I think that if this was told from multiple character's points of view, stakes/tensions/relationships/etc. might have been heightened.

I loved this re-telling of Norse mythology. The story drew me in and I hung on to every word, which is rare for me since I tend to be a fast reader. I enjoyed the way the author gave her own life to the characters that are well-known.

I'm always a fan of mythology, so that was my initial interest, but I have to say I'm not as familiar with Norse mythology so I don't know if I got as much out of the story as I could have. Don't get me wring, I don't think a working knowledge of Norse mythology is needed to enjoy this book - as I said, I'm very much a novice, but I had a fun time - but I do think it would have enhanced the story for me. Though I did connect with the hopeful core of the story and that was more than enough to carry me through.