Book Review: The Witch's Heart

 Again, I'm not a professional blogger or book reviewer, just a lover of books and writing.

Seeing that I don't have any more Goddess Girls or Thunder Girls books on hand, I decided to read something more for my age and something a little bit closer to Norse Mythology: The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec.

The story is about Angrboda, Gullveig, seidr, her relationships with Loki and Skadi, she and Loki's children, Odin, Ragnarok, and the new world born from Surt's fires and ash.  It's about love and friendship, betrayal and loss, healing, rage, and finding oneself.  I loved how the author weaved the surviving myths together, filling in chunks that we just don't have, as we only have what's survived with her own imagination. I laughed and cried, and really felt Angrboda's pain and strength. I think it's a beautiful story, skillfully written, and one of my favorite retellings of modern mythology so far.

It also highlights the issue of why are the Gods better and to be worship and trusted more than the Jotun?  The Gods came from the Giants, just as the Olympians came from the Titans. The only thing different is the change of names--locations, nationality, class, and so on. The Aesir believe the Jotnar to be dangerous and deserving to be killed--(when he's mentioned, the book really highlights Thor's brutality and bigotry towards the Giants)--but are also friends with some, such as Skadi. Yet the Aesir have done some equally fucked up shit (ditto with the Greek Gods and Titans).

Kind of like the Rich and the Poor. Republicans and Democrats. Conservatives and Liberals. Aside from the names, beliefs, and classes, we're all human. No one's better than the other, and yet there's so much hatred, because of politics and the hunger for control and power.

The Gods and the Titans/Jotnar. They're all the same, yet due to politics and generalizalization/stereotypes/bigotry, we're taught to worship one and hate the other--that the other is dangerous and deserves to be dethroned, raped, forced into marriages, cheated, and destroyed. Just like that meme about the witch burnings--taught to fear and hate the witches and not the ones burning them.

True there are some dangerous and chaotic Titans/Jotnar, but the Gods have also done some fucked up, selfish shit, too. They can royally fuck your life up if They wanted to, whether it's warranted or not. I am not one who believes that all Gods are all good and can be trusted 100% (just as one can't trust all humans). These are ancient individuals with their own agendas, and they're not human. They don't think like us--their moral compass is completely different than our own. They're a whole another species of beings.

And yet one's better than the other...or so the myths teach.  I don't buy it.  I don't treat the entities in my life differently from each other because of stories written by humans, who had their own agendas and perspectives.

Back to one human who's modern retelling I genuinely adore and will be adding to my mythology shelves...

I've read Gornichec's second book, The Weaver and the Witch Queen and loved it!  It was nice to read a book that knew about seidr, be it through thorough research and maybe even actual practice and its rituals, and although a work of fiction, it awoke a lot in my own seidr practice.  It inspired me.  I really love that book!  Genevieve Gornichec's quickly become a favorite author of mine.   I don't know if Gornichec practices seidr, but the way it's written, it kind of feels like it.  There's a vast difference in reading a fictional book where the author has no real clue about witchcraft vs someone who does.  Again, perhaps Gornichec is just passionate about research and is just that good?

I read The Witch's Heart in less than 24 hours. Once I started it, I couldn't put it down, just like the Gornichec's second book.  If it wasn't for the pesky biological need called sleep, I would've finished it sooner!  It took me back to my Harry Potter days (know that I hate the TERF bitch JK Rowling now), of going to Walmart super late at night and diligently waiting for the books to go on sale.  Being one of the first to get my copy and go home and absolutely devour the stories in a sitting (back when I was younger and stronger, more capable of ignoring my biological needs).  I wish there were more retellings by Gornichec!

I really recommend The Witch's Heart and The Weaver and the Witch Queen.

Now if you'd excuse me I'm 44 pages into another retelling.  This one about Medusa, called Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes.