Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

7 reviews

tifftastic87's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

1.25

The main character of this story is as close to wet cardboard as a main character in any book I've ever read. She has just about as much agency too. I'm extremely disappointed because I was so hyped for it. 

The book has this premise of "everyone always forgets that Angrboda wasn't just a monster mommy and Loki's wife" and then went the extra mile to make her nothing but a monster mommy who pines for Loki. She is described as this badass witch, but acts like a naive woman who can't do anything on her own. Loki is very much an angsty teen emo kid from 2008. This is supposed to be more based on the poems (Poetic Edda and Prose Edda) but you cannot convince me this isn't a fanfic of "what if MCU Loki was dropped into the actual myths?"

There is literally no reason given why Loki and Angrboda end up together or why she "loves" him before they hookup. He only comes to complain to her and get her help and then she's like "omg he smiled crooked and his hair is so curly" and marries him. She forgives him living a double life with a whole ass other family, which again I understand is the myth, but she could have had emotions over it other than the brief flashes of jealousy that she then feels guilty for. When Loki is present in her life he has the energy of a 90s sitcom dad. He brags about how much more the kids like him, gets them riled up before bed and then complains to "Boda" about things. So, then she feels like she's not good enough. 

It isn't until Loki calls the children monsters that she is ever outwardly angry at him. This kind of kicks off everything, but then after she bans him she lets him back! So the kids get taken and then she vows to not forgive him... and then forgives him! 

She works forever to be able to contact Hel and when she finally does Hel rejects her. Which is fair honestly, but not done in a way that makes sense. However, when she can finally contact Fenrir and Jornumgand they are excited to see her, because "boy mom." She then convinces them not to eat Loki. For some reason, she just keeps forgiving him. They could have finished the myth out with each of them playing their parts without her forgiving him and having an emotional goodbye with him.

I will give it that the end wasn't predictable until at least the last 30 pages-ish. But that could also be that I wasn't paying much attention because I was so irritated. 

I wasn't a fan of the writing style it was overly narrative with no prose. To the point it felt like reading the poems sometimes instead of a novel. So many sections (there are no chapters) started with "then one day" or a variation of and it was grating to me. A lot of the world building was done in weird asides. Example being when the raven's of Odin are introduced it says: 

"I didn't know that Odin sent his ravens out to disperse information," Angrboda said to the birds, who were named Hugin and Munin, Thought and Memory. They flew around the Nine Worlds each day before returning to tell their master all they'd seen. 

Most world building was done in this way, a lot of telling and little showing. 

Things I liked, Thor is played as dumb and angry and reactive and that kind of feels on brand with the poems I am most familiar with. 

I gave it a couple of points for making me laugh at a couple of places, but I took a lot away for the disturbing (bigoted) way that it talked about Loki's gender fluidity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Animal death, Gore, Grief, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Infidelity, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Alcohol, Ableism, and Bullying

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Body shaming, Vomit, and Cannibalism

ibjilln's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Child death, Confinement, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Misogyny, and Miscarriage

zghutcheson01's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This is a wonderful interpretation of Norse mythology and I was obsessed from the first few pages. The title felt a little too cheesy for me at first but by the end it was so beautiful and emotional that the title made absolute sense. While there is a good bit of romance, this isn't a romance book but instead centers on a woman who constantly has her happiness taken away from her and expands on Norse myths that are more footnotes than stories, giving them their due.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, War, Chronic illness, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Violence

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

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

dearb's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

By the end of the book I was sobbing my heart out, and that's saying a lot for someone whose favourite book is The Song of Achilles. 

Very interesting interpretation of the characters, very intelligent plot (that somehow managed to link the most infamous anecdotes from Norse Mythology) and overall a great book. 

I would definitely recommend if you love mythology and drama, and I will surely reread next year!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

queenofthelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.0

A cool walk through Norse mythology but stumbles into a lot problematic things that are probably native to the mythology but still disquieting. Not the best writing and their relationship has (likely intentionally) an unaddressed undercurrent of gaslighting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Violence, Xenophobia, Transphobia, and Body shaming

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship