The Witch's Heart

By: Genevieve Gornichec

Narrated by: Jayne Entwistle

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.

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. From the most ancient of tales this novel forges a story of love, loss, and hope for the modern age.

*This audiobook includes a PDF that contains the Acknowledgments and the Appendix—a listing of people and places that appear in the story, and recommendations for further reading.

Different and captivating

Here is a book that I absolutely did not want to stop listening to! I've never read anything about Nordic Gods before and it's so refreshing to do so now. This book is on my list of favorites. I also like the choice of the narrator, I think it's a good fit for the voice of a wise witch.

Fenrir <3

I found the beginning of this story hard to read because I absolutely could not stand the manipulative, narcissistic, selfish slimy little puke that is Loki. I also was not much interested in the mother role and the domestic chores either - it dragged on and on. I felt trapped reading it. I literally spent a day deciding if I should give up listening and find another book. But with such good reviews, I decided to finish it and I am glad I did. When Angrboða gave birth to Fenrir, my attitude towards the book changed. I felt attached to him like I wanted to hold him. I was involved in her life and couldn't stop reading. Angrboða is fierce and strong and I fell in love with her selflessness and determination. It was an exciting and involved depiction of magic and Seiðr (which I didn't know about before) It was fun to hear the Norse tales from this perspective too. Not from the Gods, but from the Giants. I think this book is a beautiful unique read and it will stick with me.

If you loved Circe by M. Miller, you will love this book

I just finished listening to this book and it was really amazing. I didn’t know a lot about Nordic mythology before, so it was a nice lesson as well as story. I fell in love with how the author brings the characters to life and the end is PERFECT and also epic. It has a similar flavor to Circe by Madeline Miller, a book I also enjoyed....although I must say, the ending of this book is far more epic ;)

It took me a while to get into the narration of this book but by the end I got used to it and ended up liking it. There were a few things that felt a bit off with the narrators voice and the text in the first 3rd of the book, but I stopped noticing it by the middle/end. It is a lovely story. I recommend it.

wonderful

a great listening experience. the story, writing, and reader are uniformly excellent. touching, ambient, and bittersweet.

wonderful in every way!

I left everything about it! the characters the story, the different perspective on the gods versus the Giants everything

A compelling and very human story

When I started this off I was worried it was going to be too much simplistic mythology that would soon get boring… but the author really brought the characters to life and made me care about them. I cried halfway through this book when certain events passed and felt silly being so emotionally involved in a story that so frequently uses the names Thor, Odin and Loki. This book reminded me a lot of Circe, the author uses a historical time and mythological setting as a foundation then builds up the novel by exploring the less known figures and weaving their stories in with more mainstream folklore. I would definitely recommend!

Different take on an old tale.

Has become one of my favorites. The writing is impeccable and the narration is wonderful. Highly recommend to lovers of Norse mythology.

This book should become a classic

This is such a well woven, well articulated story that it should easily rate with the classics. I'm surprised to find it is still relatively obscure. it's so well tied in to Norse mythology, seamlessly knitting this obscure goddess into the storyline. All the norse gods and goddesses become more real through her eyes, and you get a stronger sense of their personalities. I was sorry it ended, I would have loved it to become a series.

Haven’t finished but stuck on this review screen

Hoping to escape this review and resume listening. Hoping hoping to hoping hoping a a a a a Nope still stuck will uninstall app and try again

Like Circe but Norse Mythology

This was an interesting look at a little known figure in Norse Mythology. My only complaint is that the main character felt un-relatable at times because her responses lacked emotion. Otherwise it was a great book and a fun read.