This gorgeous cover caught my eye, and I am a sucker for an immortality tale, so I was thrilled to get my hands on this one. The Winter Goddess delivers. Cailleach, the Celtic goddess of winter, is sentenced to live a mortal life over and over until she learns what it is to be human. I enjoyed this so much that I will be adding Megan Barnard's previous work, Jezebel, to my TBR list.

The Cailleach interests me and I appreciate the opportunity to read this book. It kept me involved and thinking. The winter goddess was selfish and stubborn, and I did hope for a more uplifting ending, but I would recommend the book to those interested in mythic tales.

One of my favorite goddess story retellings in a while! This is a favorite genre of mine, and The Winter Goddess did not disappoint. The true folklore was masterfully woven into a whole new story in such a way that felt like I really got to know Cailleach. As she became more mortal, the better I felt I knew her. I felt torn right alongside her with the lessons she was meant to be learning, and felt so caught in suspense with how it all turned out in the best kind of way!

This was absolutely fantastic. A retelling of Gaelic mythology, "The Winter Goddess" follow Cailleach after she is cursed to live through mortal lives by Danu, the queen of the gods and her mother. Cailleach struggles through a learning curve, trying to figure out how to survive without her powers as the goddess of winter. Barnard explores how humans grieve, mourn, celebrate, and survive by writing how Callieach learns each of these things. Barnard has a gift with words, and her writing here sucks you in to each character introduced. I loved Callieach and each little family she found in her many lives.

Confusion Between the Creator of Winter, and a Representation of Winter

Megan Barnard is a professional author, who lives in Maryland. This is her second novel with Viking. The two are similarly in the fantasy magic genre, but are not tied together as a series. The first, Jezebel, was released in 2023. Neither has won any awards or the like before, which is unusual for this list of highly-promoted pop novels. The quality artistry in the design of the cover indicates Penguin invested some money into pitching this one to buyers.
“A goddess is cursed to endlessly live and die as a mortal until she understands the value of human life, in this inventive, moving reimagining of Irish mythology. Cailleach, goddess of winter, was not born to be a blight on humanity, but she became one.” Cailleach is a character that appears in Celtic mythology as a one-eyed hag who created winter and storms. Given this antique character, it is puzzling why Barnard made her beautiful, and turned her vengeful, instead of creative. I tend to borrow from mythology whenever I write fantasy, but I usually have to stay within the original rules of a mythological character’s elements. Why refer to a character as Thor, if there is going to be no thunder in a story? “She would say with scorn that it was their own fault: mortals were selfish, thoughtless, and destructive, bringing harm to each other and the earth without cause or qualms. One day, Cailleach goes too far. Thousands die, lost to her brutal winter. In punishment, her mother Danu, queen of the gods, strips the goddess of her powers and sends Cailleach to earth, to live and die as the mortals she so despises, until she understands what it is to be one of them. Though determined to live in solitude, Cailleach finds that she cannot help but reach for the people she once held in such disdain. She loves and mourns in equal measure, and in opening herself to humanity, hears tales not meant for immortal ears—including a long-buried secret that will redefine what it means to be a god… Story of a goddess punished—and a goddess reborn, as she discovers the importance of a life ephemeral… and what it means to truly be alive.” The answer in such stories is usually that the meaning of life is sex, which tends to be framed as “love”, sexual and friendly. This is a very low bar for meaning: animals love their family. Though obviously this is a common trope because of this universality: if everybody (or almost everybody) wants to love somebody; then, setting love as the goal for the rollercoaster plot is likely to satisfy most readers. In contrast, if wisdom turned out to be life’s meaning, this would lose some who are against the rigors of educational attainment.
The first chapter opens in the first-person of Cailleach. There is a pretty description of snow, but it is dampened for me by the realization that the author is confusing her mythology. Cailleach created winter, as opposed to merely being a representation of winter. This opening scene shows her observing already existing snow and wind, and then turning her body to match their characteristics. And this is followed by Danu declaring that she is now the “goddess of winter”. There are some Celts who still worship Celtic gods as a religion. For them, this would probably be a bit offensive. Like describing Jesus as the god of crosses… Maybe the problem is that this author has taken a formula of the punished-daughter who loses royal power for wickedness and has overlayed it by just adding the names of these gods without any research? This is not a good start for a novel I would want to read. But it would be fine enough for the author to edit a mythology, if it was executed with vivid details. Instead, most of this novel is filled with vague phrases such as, “I held that feeling winter close”. What? She has turned into winter? Then, she is that thing, and can’t hold herself close? Then, without a rational cause, a rift is presented between this mother and daughter to generate some sort of tension between the only two characters in this world. This is very artificial, and forced, and is unreadable.
Then, in the middle of this novel, Cailleach describes herself struggling with helping a drowning child by instinct, despite not wanting to interact with humans. Some human called Aine is screaming at her over this. This generates a conflict where Aine is threatening to leave because Cailleach is unfeeling, when this is her primary characteristic (so she should have known this before this point, when the saving of a child proves the opposite). I just can’t keep reading this. I’ve done some research into Wicca, and Celtic theology, and this butchery of magical history and theory is kind of… offensive… I’m not personally offended by this butchery, but the emptiness of the content in combination with the former is just unreadable.
—Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Fall 2024: https://anaphoraliterary.com/journals/plj/plj-excerpts/book-reviews-fall-2024

*The Winter Goddess* by Megan Barnard is a captivating fantasy novel that blends mythology with rich storytelling. The book follows a powerful protagonist who must navigate her identity as the Winter Goddess while facing complex challenges and threats. Barnard’s writing is lush and immersive, bringing the mystical world and its characters to life with vivid detail. Themes of power, responsibility, and self-discovery are explored with depth, and the pacing keeps the reader hooked throughout. With its strong character development and enchanting world-building, *The Winter Goddess* is a must-read for fans of fantasy, magic, and epic journeys.

This book was a little too simple for me. I really liked the premise and thought that since it involved gods and goddesses it would be a bit more exciting, but it was very repetitive. There also wasn’t a ton of character development, most of the characters felt pretty flat and didn’t have qualities that made you want to know more about them. I also think it took Cailleach too long to see the value and the lesson of living a mortal life, especially after living so many. She came off very selfish and childish most of the book and when she would start to see the errors in her actions and words, it was time for a new life. I wish there was more depth to the story, the idea is good, but this book was monotonous. Despite all of that, I still kind of enjoyed it, and it was a very quick read,

Thank you to Viking Penguin and NetGalley for the ARC!

4 stars

Well, this book made me cry more than once. I will always cry over animals, but Barnard was able to wring tears from me at multiple points in this book. I've been enjoying mythological retellings, and this one was a good one. I know nothing of Gaelic mythology, however, so I do not know if this accurately depicts the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Cailleach, the goddess of winter, is cursed to live and die as a human as punishment for killing thousands of them after her grief caused a harsh winter. Part of her punishment is that after she dies, those who meet her again in the next life have forgotten her. She becomes a vague memory with no name. At first, she despises everything and has to learn to live as mortals do without her power. Then, she begins to learn and build relationships throughout her lives and begins to cherish those bonds.

The story has moments of joy and then moments of heartbreak. I enjoyed that Cailleach was bisexual and that she wasn't an outcast for her relationships with women. I liked how each time Cailleach died, she was brought back to different times. The writing is really good and doesn't lean too heavily on "humanity is good". In fact, it shows how sometimes humanity is truly evil. I did do some research into Cailleach and Danu which helped me understand the ending. I think that could have been made clearer somehow for those who are not familiar with Gaelic mythos.

I really enjoyed this book and Barnard's writing style. I think I'll check out her other book, Jezebel, when I get a chance.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

If you are a lover of powerful women, mythology, and Gaelic culture, you are in for a ride. I LOVE THIS BOOK! This will take you through the ups and downs of a princess who brings thoughtless distruction to the winter season. This is pure chaos and passion!

The Winter Goddess by Megan Barnard is a beautifully reimagined tale of Gaelic mythology that follows Cailleach, the goddess of winter, cursed to live and die as a mortal after causing countless deaths. Stripped of her powers, she is forced to experience humanity's fragility and learn the value of life. Barnard’s writing is both lyrical and immersive, bringing the cold, harsh beauty of winter to life as Cailleach’s journey unfolds. The goddess’s emotional transformation, from scornful detachment to loving vulnerability, is compelling and poignant. With rich world-building and a captivating plot, this novel explores redemption, empathy, and the true meaning of divinity. A must-read for fans of myth-inspired fantasy!

The premise of this book seemed really promising, and I love anything with mythology, lore, and gods, but I was disappointed with this one. It wasn't a bad book; I finished it, but it was so repetitive. A goddess is being punished and has to live with mortals until she "learns a lesson," but she doesn't seem to really learn it, the "bad thing" she did isn't really discussed much, and the ending didn't make a lot of sense.

This book is definitely successful in what it promises; it has an ephemeral yet infinite quality that’s very reminiscent of Circe. I was “nervous” that the book’s messaging would be too saccharine in its *humanity is good* and *life is worth living* themes but Barnard strikes a really impressive balance of being touching while still pragmatic.

I love Celtic mythology, and this book reminded me of some of my other favorites, like Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier, as well as following the same tropes as other "goddess autobiographies" like Circe by Madeline Miller. Cailleach was a great main character, and I loved seeing her grow and change from a cold, remote goddess who dislikes humans, to gaining her own humanity.

I read this in less than a day because I was physically unable to put it down. I enjoyed the author's first novel, JEZEBEL, but it didn't have the same compulsive readability as this one. "One more chapter" became "one more life" became "oh my god I just read this whole book in one sitting." Granted - I know next to nothing about Irish mythology so I can't speak to how "accurate" the portrayals of the Tuatha Dé Danann are, but a novel also has to work on its own apart from the source material, and I think this one does. Megan Barnard is an auto-read author for me from here on out.

Holy shit, I could not put this down. I read it in like three hours, it was so freaking great.

I sobbed way too much while reading this but this is a beautiful, heartbreakingly good story and I need this to be on my shelf pronto.