The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

But as Angrboda slowly recovers her prophetic powers, she learns that her blissful life-and possibly all of existence-is in danger. Their union produces three unusual children, each with a secret destiny, who Angrboda is keen to raise at the edge of the world, safely hidden from Odin's all-seeing eye. There she is found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into a deep and abiding love. A punishment from Odin for refusing to provide him with knowledge of the future, the fire leaves Angrboda injured and powerless, and she flees into the farthest reaches of a remote forest. When a banished witch falls in love with the legendary trickster Loki, she risks the wrath of the gods in this moving, subversive debut novel that reimagines Norse mythology.Īngrboda's story begins where most witches' tales end: with a burning. It is definitely an interesting perspective considering Odin, Thor, and Loki usually take the lime light.Hello everyone! This month we are reading The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec for our Trick or Treat theme. It is also refreshing that the novel is exploring someone who is not part of the main group of Æsir.

There are lots of little snippets of well-known myths interspersed in this story that is dedicated to understanding and experiencing a lesser known person in the mythology (at least from my knowledge of the mythology). I think anyone who is interested in mythology or knows anything about Norse mythology will find this book a fun read.

The fact that this book does revolve around Norse mythology is one of its biggest draws. So, readers who might worry about not knowing enough about the mythology to enjoy this book will have no problems. Despite my lack of background knowledge, this book educated me and never lost me. Though, I do like Norse mythology and am familiar with many of the main myths, I was not overly familiar with Angrboda’s role.

The organization of the large sections instead of traditional chapters works very well for the plot and adds definition to the long tale. She has a great smooth and simple writing style that is easy to follow and carries the reader along large spans of time without being dull or leaving unaddressed gaps of time. In fact, I think Gornichec did an excellent job with the setup and telling of this story. The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec is an account of the Norse giantess, Angrboda’s life. Maybe, something happened for both of them the day he brought her back her heart. Loki, the most mischievous god of them all, visits Angrboda now and again. Only a precious few know where she currently resides, another giantess who helps her market her potions for supplies and the giant who brought her lost heart back to her. Now she spends her time living in a cave at the edge of Jotunheim. She survived being burned not once, not twice, but three times.