The Witch’s Heart By Genevieve Gornichec | Book Review

Hello everyone! My name is Max and I will be manufacturing a review for a book christened The Witch’s Heart By Genevieve Gornichec today! I would like to thank Times Reads for sending a copy of this novel to me!

So, without further ado, let us get into the review section of this article!

Genre: Mythological Fantasy, Retelling, Fiction

Synopsis:

Angrboda’s story begins where most witches’ tales end: with a burning. 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. 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.

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. But as Angrboda slowly recovers her prophetic powers, she learns that her blissful life—and possibly all of existence—is in danger.

With help from the fierce huntress Skadi, with whom she shares a growing bond, Angrboda must choose whether she’ll accept the fate that she’s foreseen for her beloved family…or rise to remake their future.

Review:

This story’s primary focus is on a mother’s love for her children and the length that they will go to protect their children from harm. The protagonist of the novel is christened Angrboda and the book follows her life from the moment she was burned in Asgard to the end of times. I thought the mother’s love for her children element of the novel was portrayed extremely well in the book because the author uses these resplendent words to describe Angrboda’s affections for her children and the author writes with so much emotional depth that you can feel the weight of it while you are reading it.

“There is a difference between understanding and forgiveness. It’s possible to have one without the other.” – The Witch’s Heart, Genevieve Gornichec.

The writing style of this novel is splendid. It is lyrical, crisp and poetic and it is hard to believe that this is a debut novel because of how beautifully written this book is. I enjoyed the fact that the author did not take the point of view away from Angrboda when Loki or Skadi or anyone else is narrating their adventures and instead, the author uses dialogues to narrate their adventures for Angrboda and the readers to understand the situation in Aesir because this is Angrboda’s story, not theirs. However, I wish the author would split the book by chapters instead of parts but that is just a minor complaint and it does not degrade the story in any way, it is just my personal preference.

The pacing is slow at the beginning of the novel because the author is building up character relationships between Angrboda and Loki, Skadi and Gerd and she is also building up a budding romance between Angrboda and Loki. When the author has successfully built up the relationships and the romance, she eases the readers into the plot flawlessly and from that point onwards, it goes at a normal pace; never too fast and never too slow, just right.

“My heart is so much more than it once was, even if it now beats outside my chest.” – The Witch’s Heart, Genevieve Gornichec.

The characters have so much depth and growth throughout the novel, Angrboda in particular has the biggest growth throughout the novel. Her thinking evolves and matures through a series of betrayals, hardships and love and when the story comes to an end, you can tell this is the best and most poignant version of herself through the sacrifices she has inevitably made for her children. Loki’s desperation to fit in with the other Gods in Asgard, Skadi’s bargain with the Gods due to the killing of her father and Gerd’s ultimate betrayal are tied deeply into the story and those elements leave room for the characters to grow in their own way – be it for the worse or for the better.

The ending of this novel is spectacular! It has a well-rounded closure and it almost made me cry. I did not expect the ending to make me this emotional because I did not envision it to end that way but it did and the rest is history.

“Am I still a prophetess if I lack the skill of foresight? Am I still a mother if my children are gone? He has taken everything from me. He and Loki both.” – The Witch’s Heart, Genevieve Gornichec.

With all the positives bestowed at the beginning of this review, I would like to discuss the negatives now. I wish the author would explore more on the life Angrboda had before she fled to Ironwood because we only have an inkling of that in the novel and that inkling includes the first 2 pages of the novel and when she goes about discovering about her past life. Yes, she did not remember anything before fleeing to Ironwood except for the burning. The author did give us some information of her past but it is not enough to sate a reader’s curiosity and therefore, I wish the author would tell us more about it and expand on the information that she has given in the book.

In conclusion, I am proffering this novel with a verdict of 89% (A). Although it does have some minor flaws, I really enjoyed the experience that this book had bequeathed upon me.

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This is the end of my review for The Witch’s Heart By Genevieve Gornichec! I hope you all enjoyed it and follow me with your email/Wordpress account to get notifications when I post a new article! Bye!