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A review by cat_rector
The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
5.0
I stayed up past my bedtime to finish this and had the very best time.
The Witch’s Heart is a masterpiece of exploration into Norse Myth. Having dabbled in making a linear timeline out of these myths myself, it was an absolute joy to watch Gornichec weave the myths into the story in unexpected ways. There were moments where I stopped reading to appreciate the craft of how she put the pieces together in ways that had never before occurred to me.
This book is written in a very particular style that, to me, calls back to older types of storytelling. It might be a challenge for readers who are used to fast-paced, high stakes books that start with a deadly car chase at chapter one, but it’s a mistake to confuse the calm, steady pacing (and soothing audiobook narration) with a slow book. Angrboda spends part one creating a life for herself, only to have part two destroy so much of what she’s built. And the domesticity of part one is what makes this book as impactful as it is.
Something that’s desperately important to this book is its portrayal of the lives of women, and in general, how the lives and wellbeing of these characters revolve around a cast of male Gods who continue to affect the character’s lives despite these Gods rarely being on stage. Each of the women, as well as Loki (who is canonically genderfluid, fight me), find themselves manipulated and pitted against each other time after time, creating enemies out of allies. This might sound familiar to some women out there.
Gornichec makes no move to belittle or minimize Angrboda’s more traditional women’s roles as wife, witch, mother, and practitioner of seidr. To me, it’s a statement of bravery to spend so much time focused on a set of roles that some would claim unworthy of the spotlight. Being a mom isn’t important or exciting enough to be the theme of a book, everyone is a mom, get off the stage./s But by focusing so intimately and for a large part of the book on these roles, Gornichec creates a book that can be enjoyed by many, but that feels like it’s written as a testament to the women who hold up the world.
It also has to be said that I don’t cry over many books these days, but that ending had me leaking from my eyes.
TL;DR? Buy it.
The Witch’s Heart is a masterpiece of exploration into Norse Myth. Having dabbled in making a linear timeline out of these myths myself, it was an absolute joy to watch Gornichec weave the myths into the story in unexpected ways. There were moments where I stopped reading to appreciate the craft of how she put the pieces together in ways that had never before occurred to me.
This book is written in a very particular style that, to me, calls back to older types of storytelling. It might be a challenge for readers who are used to fast-paced, high stakes books that start with a deadly car chase at chapter one, but it’s a mistake to confuse the calm, steady pacing (and soothing audiobook narration) with a slow book. Angrboda spends part one creating a life for herself, only to have part two destroy so much of what she’s built. And the domesticity of part one is what makes this book as impactful as it is.
Something that’s desperately important to this book is its portrayal of the lives of women, and in general, how the lives and wellbeing of these characters revolve around a cast of male Gods who continue to affect the character’s lives despite these Gods rarely being on stage. Each of the women, as well as Loki (who is canonically genderfluid, fight me), find themselves manipulated and pitted against each other time after time, creating enemies out of allies. This might sound familiar to some women out there.
Gornichec makes no move to belittle or minimize Angrboda’s more traditional women’s roles as wife, witch, mother, and practitioner of seidr. To me, it’s a statement of bravery to spend so much time focused on a set of roles that some would claim unworthy of the spotlight. Being a mom isn’t important or exciting enough to be the theme of a book, everyone is a mom, get off the stage./s But by focusing so intimately and for a large part of the book on these roles, Gornichec creates a book that can be enjoyed by many, but that feels like it’s written as a testament to the women who hold up the world.
It also has to be said that I don’t cry over many books these days, but that ending had me leaking from my eyes.
TL;DR? Buy it.