The Witch's Heart Book Review

Mothers and Their Monsters

★★★★

I have never been one to read much Norse mythology, but I knew enough of it to understand characters like Loki and Odin, Ragnarok, etc. But mostly in a vague way of knowing that it has existed for centuries. After reading The Witch's Heart, however, I think I have some catching up to do.

As this was my introduction to Norse mythology, what fascinated me the most was not the mythology itself, but how human it felt.

When I think of great myths, I think of tales of gods, monsters, giants, witches, prophecies, wars, and powers. And yet, for all their power and mysticism, I found them to be so utterly human. In this retelling, Loki is not only a trickster god, but a husband, a lover, and a father. Odin is not simply the all-knowing All-Father, but a father willing to do anything to protect his children. And most of all, our Angrboda, the witch remembered in myth as "the Mother of Monsters," is a survivor, healer, friend, wife, woman, and above all else, a mother.

I listened to the audiobook version of The Witch's Heart, read by Jayne Entwistle, and honestly, I think that may have been the best way for me to experience this story. There was something about listening to it that felt appropriate for a myth so old. This book was meant to be listened to because it gave the feeling of a story told thousands of times that was simply being passed down once more.

And underneath the story, The Witch's Heart is deeply concerned with familial relationships. Especially mothers and their daughters.

Angrboda is called the Mother of Monsters. Her children are feared because of what they are and what they are prophesied to become: creatures destined to play their part in the end of the world. But Angrboda never sees her children as such, even when she sees it with her own eyes, because they are her children.

However, Angrboda cannot protect her children from what has been prophesied. And this is where we see the human side of the Mother of Monsters. She makes mistakes, and there are things she cannot change. No matter how much she wants to rewrite the ending, she can't. But she loves her children, and like any mother, she does everything she can to protect them.

By the end of the book, I was in tears.

I kept thinking about my own mother. Sometimes she tells me that she wishes she had done things differently. I find her apologizing for the way things were growing up. There are decisions and regrets she carries with her, and just like Angrboda, there are things she wishes she could change.

And maybe that's why Angrboda affected me so much. She isn't the perfect mother. She can't rewrite the story. She can't spare her children from every terrible thing waiting for them. She can only love them and do the best she can with what she knows.

One of the scenes that really stuck with me was when Hel, the daughter of Angrboda, is bathing in the river. She catches a glimpse of her reflection in the water, and for a moment, she thinks that it is her mother. It's such a small moment in a story filled with gods and prophecies and the end of the world, but this moment felt the most human to me. Because I think a lot of women will eventually experience some version of it.

You look in the mirror and suddenly recognize your mother's face. You say something and hear her voice come out of your mouth. You make a gesture you've seen her make thousands of times. And there is this strange familiarity passed from mother to daughter, sometimes without even noticing it.

And as daughters, we spend years insisting that we will never become our mothers, only to grow older and discover pieces of them inside ourselves anyway. And I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing.

It's part of a cyclical nature that runs through The Witch's Heart. Daughters become their mothers and carry the pieces of their mothers with them. Children inherit the worlds that their parents leave behind. Old worlds die and new worlds take shape. Even Ragnarok itself is not the end.

The old world has to die in order for the new one to begin. But something from the old must survive that end. Maybe it's a person. Maybe it's a daughter looking into the water and seeing her mother's face reflected back at her. Maybe it's a myth.

There is something especially beautiful about reading a modern retelling of mythology through that lens. These stories have already survived generations. They have been told, forgotten, rediscovered, translated, changed, rewritten, and told again. The Witch's Heart takes archetypes that have existed in myths for centuries and asks us to look at them again, not as gods or monsters or symbols, but as people who have loved, hurt, lost, and tried so desperately to hold on to each other through the end.

For a book about the end of the world, The Witch's Heart left me thinking less about endings and more about the stories and the humanity that survive them.

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A Few Side Notes:

While looking into The Witch’s Heart, I found this beautiful fan art by Svetla Radivoeva, a Bulgarian illustrator and animator who previously worked as a character animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios. I absolutely love the way she brought these characters to life and had to share her work here!

Art by Svetla Radivoeva — View her work!

And while looking for treasures at the Friends of the Public Library Book Sale, I came across Tales of the Norse Gods and Heroes. Perfect timing considering The Witch’s Heart left me wanting to learn so much more about Norse mythology. Now I can finally catch up on my learning :]

Tales of Norse Gods and Heros by Edward Thomas — View on Goodreads!