The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
| The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec | |
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| Category: Fantasy | |
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Reviewer: Amber Wells
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| Summary: An incredibly entertaining and heartfelt reimagining of the Norse myths. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 400 | Date: May 2021 |
| Publisher: Titan Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1789097061 | |
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A modern and approachable reimagining of the Norse myths that centres around a witch named Angrboda. She hides in a forest at the edge of the nine worlds, remembering nothing of her past life but that fact that she was survived burnt at the stake three times because of Odin's wrath. Her attempts to live in peace, however, are quickly thwarted when Loki shows up with her literal heart—the one that was cut from her chest before she was tied to the stake—and refuses to leave her alone. After an initial period of mistrust, Angrboda begins to fall for Loki's charms, and the two start an unusual family made of up a half-dead daughter, a son that's a wolf, and another son that's a snake.
Despite their curious nature, Angrboda is determined to love her children as wholly and fiercely as any mother would. But when she starts having dreams where her children have key roles in bringing down the Gods and starting Ragnarok, she starts to worry that she won't be able to protect them against all the cruelties in the world.
Gornichec's writing style is so easy to slip into; the world and characters are incredibly vivid and everything is so fun to read about! This is also the first time a book has done the insta-love trope correctly in my opinion. Because before this, I didn't think the insta-love trope could ever be done correctly since it usually stands out as a major flaw in the plot and character development of a book. However, Loki and Angrboda's connection was instantly palpable through their quick banter and easy flirting. I couldn't believe how attached I felt to them within the first few pages, and most importantly, how eager I was to see their relationship blossom.
I've got to admit, my main reason for wanting to pick this book up was because Loki was advertised to be one of the main characters. And if this is something you can relate to — even if you're just slightly curious about the book because you liked Loki in the Marvel movies — then I would highly recommend that you pick this up right now because it is so worth it. Not only is his quick wit and mischievous charm portrayed excellently from the opening pages, but there is also nuance and depth explored within his character as he becomes a father.
As a big fan of Norse mythology, it was lovely to see how Gornichec interwove the original tales with her own narrative to try and explain how certain things came to be. The only issue I had with this - which was very minor - was that it sometimes threw the characterisation off; I found this most obvious with Loki's character, as although a lot of things he did could be explained by saying it was because of his "mischievous nature", there are some things he does in the original myths that cannot be rationalised.
For example, there would be moments of wonderful character development from Loki, where he would be settling down and becoming a well-rounded fatherly figure, but then he would go off for a few months and return with a wacky tale of how he got into trouble with the gods —and an even wackier explanation for why he put himself in that scenario in the first place. His actions didn't line up with the fatherly type figure that Gornichec was trying to portray, and this is because Loki's actions in the original myths were never intended to be rationalised. They were for entertainment purposes only, and his character was never meant to be seen as sympathetic. Therefore adding these original myths into this particular story only works to undo any development that Loki's character would have made. So although I loved the inclusion of them, they did have a small weakness.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The Witch's Heart and look forward to anything else Genevieve Gornichec publishes in future! If you want similar recommendations, then I would highly suggest checking out Hall of Smoke by H M Long and Ariadne by Jennifer Saint.
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