The Witch’s Heart is a marvelous retelling of Norse myths centered around Angrboda, a giantess, Loki’s first wife, and the mother of multiple monsters. Should sit beside Madeline Miller’s Circe and The Song of Achilles for majestic retellings of mythology from the female gaze.
Angrboda is burned at the stake three times for refusing to give Odin knowledge of the future. She survives, though she’s left injured and powerless. The giantess (‘“Giant” was a misnomer: a name, not a descriptor, for giants were often no larger than the average person’) flees to a remote forest. Angrboda is eventually found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki. Because of her ill treatment, she distrusts everyone, including Loki. Despite his promise to “let you know up front that I shall not, under any circumstances, make you a promise I can’t talk my way out of,” he breaks through her resistance. She eventually falls in love with him, a love that survives even his harshest tricks and failings. He comes and goes at odd intervals, but their union produces three children, monsters all: the wolf Fenrir, the serpent Jormungand, and the female Hel. Angrboda foresees their fate and prefers to raise them in her isolated forest. As she recovers and her prophetic powers return, she learns that not just her children but all of existence may be in danger.
Aided by a huntress, Skadi, Angrboda must choose whether to accept the fate she’s foreseen for her children or build a new future for them. She slowly realizes how dastardly Loki is, and entertains her growing feelings for Skadi.
This is a book about enduring love, loss, and hope.
People who enjoyed this will also enjoy Odin’s Child. You can see my review of it here.
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The Witch’s Heart is available here:
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