Weaver and the Witch Queen

 

The Weaver and the Witch Queen- Genevieve Gornichec

Ace

Release Date: July 25, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Oddny and Gunnhild meet as children in tenth century Norway, and they could not be more different: Oddny hopes for a quiet life, while Gunnhild burns for power and longs to escape her cruel mother. But after a visiting wisewoman makes an ominous prophecy that involves Oddny, her sister Signy, and Gunnhild, the three girls take a blood oath to help one another always.

When Oddny’s farm is destroyed and Signy is kidnapped by Viking raiders, Oddny is set adrift from the life she imagined—but she's determined to save her sister no matter the cost, even as she finds herself irresistibly drawn to one of the raiders who participated in the attack. And in the far north, Gunnhild, who fled her home years ago to learn the ways of a witch, is surprised to find her destiny seems to be linked with that of the formidable King Eirik, heir apparent to the ruler of all Norway.

But the bonds—both enchanted and emotional—that hold the two women together are strong, and when they find their way back to each other, these bonds will be tested in ways they never could have foreseen in this deeply moving novel of magic, history, and sworn sisterhood.

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 Gunnhild, Oddny, and Signy are the best of friends and sworn sisters- from a young age they know their destinies are tied together. When their farm is burned and Signy taken captive, Oddny goes to Gunnhild's family for help. Gunnhild, who ran away as a young woman to learn magic, returns to help find Signy with King Eirik and his band of raiders as uneasy allies. The connections between Gunnhild, Oddny, and Signy must last through both the mundane and the magical worlds as they fight politics as well as other witches in the battle to reunite.

This is a historical fantasy, so magic is as normal as any other job here, and Gornichec treats it that way. We learn the rules with Gunnhild but never get overwhelmed by anything, And Gornichec voices one of the rules that I've always noticed but no one ever mentions when it comes to prophecies: when you try to avoid them, that's when everything comes true! In an interesting twist that I rather liked, we don't know what the prophecy is, but when Signy and Oddny's farm is attacked we learn that the real attack is meant to be on Gunnhild. Since no one can find her, this is supposed to draw her out. Not for something she's done but for something she might do against a trio of witches she's never met. Clearly not a great plan since what happens? Gunnhild and Oddny join forces to track down Signy, discover their enemies, and defeat them- thus fulfilling the prophecy the other witches wanted to avoid in the first place. 

All three women have the same dream: not to follow the traditional path of a woman of their time. Signy puts it best though, what can you do if you don't want to follow that path? What else is there? This book is, for better and for worse, about answering those questions. In some ways that's the interesting theme of the book: does a person have control over their own fate? Can they choose their own path or do they have to follow the traditional one set out for them by society? What happens if you're different? Many of the characters are, in one way or another, struggling with these questions, even before we realize it. I will probably end up going back and rereading the book with these struggles in mind the second time around to see what I think of them in that light. I think it will be very interesting.  

Genevieve Gornichec (The Witch's Heart) returns with another vivid and enchanting book. You can tell Gornichec has done some research on what life might have been like in this time and place- the homes, the food, the clothes, all come across as very real. Whether entering one of the living halls or walking down the street in Birka, you get the feeling you are walking with the characters. And I'm a bit of a history nerd, so I admit there were times when I was reading this and going "wait, this reminds me of something I read in The Real Valkyrie or Children of Oak and Ash", but I promise you don't actually need to know anything about the true history of the time period to enjoy the book. 

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review