Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

19 reviews

booksthatburn's review against another edition

I love everything about this except that it centers around a triggering topic for me and I had to stop.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Medical content

Moderate: Pregnancy, Blood, Murder, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: War, Ableism, and Fire/Fire injury

r_a_bell's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Somewhat slow, and there are man at moments where I found the main characters to be absolutely infuriating. However, the storyline was compelling and I still wasn’t able to put it down. There is a sapphic storyline, but it isn’t even really acknowledge until the book was almost over, though I was relieved that it was actually addressed in a satisfying way instead of just being dangled in front of us the whole time. Definitely feel like some of the characters didn’t get as much time in the storyline as I felt they deserved. There should also be some trigger warnings as I found a lot of the material to be sensitive, but it’s hard to put into words why, exactly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Abandonment, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Gaslighting, Animal death, Blood, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and War

ashleycmms's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Animal death, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, War, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Body horror, Violence, Grief, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Child death, Death of parent, and Child abuse

leahrosiee's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, War, Pregnancy, Murder, Violence, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Grief, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Chronic illness, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, and Terminal illness

caseythereader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

 - I fully expected to have to slog through THE WITCH'S HEART, as I have little interest in Norse mythology. However, I read the entire thing in one day and one sitting, completely drawn in to Angrboda's story.
- The writing reads like oral tradition, flowing on and on.
- While many of the plot developments were telegraphed in advance, taking Angrboda longer to catch on that it probably should have, I still found myself quite immersed in the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Animal death, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Torture, War, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Confinement

innastholiel's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Stalking, War, Death, Animal death, and Infidelity

Minor: Sexual content, Alcohol, and Grief

morganlaufeyson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Minor: Violence

kanisaja's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Death of parent

samusc's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The Witch's Heart provides agency to an overlooked character of myth, one of Loki's wives Angrboda.
This book revisited some classic tales, including Loki's brutal stitches and the time Thor was poorly disguised as Freya.
This work is undoubtedly well researched, and the scenes as presented got emotional at times (I teared up towards the end!).
I loved the voices given to Fenrir and Hel, and how emotive Jormungand was. I felt as though the beginning of the book was a little slow, but once Boda's children were born, the pace picked up. I was hooked at the end of Part 1 for obvious reasons.
Boda's trauma surrounding her death, forgetting her past, and at times forgetting how to use magic, was a real strength of this story. She's incredibly powerful, but has been through some terrible things and has to access parts of herself that were sealed off. Despite all she's faced, her drive to help people with medicine provided depth to her character.
My favorite character is of course Skadi. Her loyalty and determination was well balanced against Loki's mistakes and punishments from the Aesir. This quote form her will stick with me for awhile: 
"I loved you then. I love you now. I will love you until the day I die. And even after, whatever comes then, I will love you still..."
I'd recommend anyone that enjoyed this to keep an eye out for The Goddess of Nothing At All by Cat Rector, in October 2021, which focuses on Sigyn, who we caught some glimpses of here as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death of parent, and Violence