The review contains spoilers!!!

Before starting anything, I would like to clarify two things:

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First, let's take the characters:

 ANGURBODA

The lady with a thousand faces, the bringer of sorrows, the mother of monsters, a powerful witch, Gullveig.  Older than even the gods themselves, more powerful than Odin himself, but still just a witch. Such supernatural beings always have the same fate, without exception; burn at the stake.  Angurboda is burned three times by the gods of Asgard before she escapes and begins a new life. It was really uplifting to read about a female protagonist who acts, feels and thinks like an adult. I really liked that even though she had that certain brokenness, she didn't give up on getting her kids back. She was a wonderful mother, lover, wife and friend, who fearlessly pushed forward and remained the same kind and caring woman despite many adversities.

I especially liked that we got to know the background story, at first, it was all vague, but as the plot progressed, everything became clear. I loved her relationship with her children, that she didn't give up on them, not even at the end, she loved and protected each of them so fiercely until his death.


LOKI

Well, I wouldn't say that he is the evil one in this story, it is true that he did bad things in the heat of the moment, but he is not evil.  We all make mistakes. Even the gods make mistakes. Loki is simply Loki and no one can blame him for that.  I actually liked the character itself, but not nearly as much as Angurboda.  Every book must have a funny character, and here he obviously got this role, after all, he is not only the god of fire but also the god of mischief.

Honestly, he wasn't a good husband, he wasn't a good lover, and he was a terrible father to Fenrir and Jörmundandr, but Hel was the apple of his eye. He really, really loved her, even when he lost everything.

I think deep down in his heart he always loved Angurboda and the witch loved him too, even though in the end they were just friends or at least closer to that, regardless of that anyone can say they were soulmates.  It was the kind of love that wears the label good person, bad time.

His relationship with Sigyn was quite complicated considering that he lied back to her, but more on that later.


SKADI

I loved her character at first, as she basically was the Norse Artemis. Until she got married. Her life story leans quite heavily on mythology, although her father was really killed, she really became Frey and Freya's stepmother, etc. but she never had a relationship with Angurboda.  At least, I don't know about it. This love for me was completely out of thin air, it had no beginning and no end.  Basically, I don't have a problem with LGBTQ relationships in the books in fact, I really support them, but the writer only added this “love” because she needed someone to fill the void left by Loki.

Regardless, I owe her my soul for taking care of Angurboda and her children as long as she could.


SIGYN

Sigyn is the perfect example of what a wife should be (at least for the Scandinavians, since she is the goddess of fidelity).  She had and still has massive potential in the field of books, as she is not the weak wife who is set here, not for sure. She was a Valkyrie before she married Loki, so she knew how to fight.
(I recommend The goddess of nothing at all to everyone if they want to read about Sigyn)
   
In the first half of the book, a part of my soul felt sorry for Loki giving up on her so easily and never really loved her, and then in the other part I resented her for causing Angurboda to lose her children.

In the second part of the book, she doesn't get a real role, but she stays there to watch over Loki until her husband is freed. To be honest, my soul wept because she also had to experience her sons dying in front of her eyes, even though they didn't actually do anything wrong, but as the saying goes, karma came for her too.

We don't get to choose whether she survived Ragnarök or not here, just like in mythology, but for her sake I hope not. She deserves a good life in Vallhala or Hel, just be with her family.  I don't hold a grudge against her, and I have forgiven her. In another life, in another universe, where things happened differently, I think I could have been friends with Angurboda.


CHILDREN OF ANGURBODA

Hel was definitely my favorite, that little girl was my everything and I could have given my life for her if I had to.  I was so angry with her for treating her mother like that, who couldn't do anything about it, but I'm glad that she finally understood and forgave her. She was her father's favorite, these two adored each other - maybe because she was Loki's only daughter - and at the destruction of all worlds, she gave him her people to express her love one last time. I cried so much at the little wolf at the end, so, so much.  The little wolf is the reason why I believe that Loki was driven by goals other than revenge. They really would have been a very strong father-daughter duo if Odin hadn't been so afraid of her and her brothers.

Like Hel, I have my wolf, only mine is bigger and twice as powerful as hers (its Fenrir haha). I would give my life for Fenrir. Although Loki didn't love him that much (or only very minimally), his mother always did. He wasn't a monster.  He never was.

I can't say much about Jörmungand, but I loved him too.  I fell in love with snakes because of him, if I ever have a snake, it will be named after him unquestionably.

At the end, when they meet their parents, I sobbed so much that I couldn't breathe. Angurboda was so damn proud of them, and I think Loki deep down was too.  Maybe he didn't like Váli, Nárfi and the horse, but he definitely felt some kind of love for the three siblings.

I'm so sorry we didn't get more Fenrir&Hel, Jörmungandr&Hel it's unbelievable. I feel completely robbed.

I don't know why or how this fits into the story, but I know that that day when Loki found her, Angurboda got what she was worth living for, what she was worth fighting for and I know everything she did was for them, for her children, her brave sons and her green-eyed daughter

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I liked this book a lot, although the real mythological events happen a little differently  Of course, no matter how many times Loki brought trouble to the gods, he saved them as many times, so he was not a very popular figure, but they were grateful to him. Sometimes.  At times. When it wasn't because of him that they got into waist-deep shit. But that's just icing on the cake. (Just as Neil Gaiman said so haha)

The plot was easy to read, I just devoured the pages, the book really sucked me in, and I couldn't put it down.  This was Circe's story in the Scandinavian edition and I have to say that I can't compare the two books, since the aforementioned book did not sweep me off my feet like this one.

The story of Angurboda is full of betrayal, despair, death, and pain. But she wasn't interested in any of them. The book faithfully reflects that those with the most power - even the gods - are always feared the most.

(The gods were never kind or forgiving, they always wanted power. Odin even better. He's not the only god who ruined himself for greater knowledge and I'm sure he wasn't the last, but compared to how wise he is, he's the stupidest god I've ever known)

Her relationship with Loki is well- built and the time jumps are not disturbing either.  I swear it was refreshing to read a book like this after so many hmm…shit book.

The beginning was so beautiful that I almost didn't even understand why people told me to wait for the end.  I knew that Ragnarök was coming and I also knew what the role of Loki's children would be in it because I had read the Nordic mythology, but I was not prepared for how much it would hurt.

I'll be honest, Loki's betrayal hurt more than Angurboda being left half dead in the forest. I knew that she would survive and I also knew that she would give her up, everyone would have done the same in their place.

Like Odin, she is imprisoned for nine days and nine nights until Skadi rescues her. From there, the events accelerate and everything makes sense to those who are not aware of mythology.

Driven by grief, she goes on a wandering journey in order to save his children.  She visits the big she-wolf, who is an old friend from another life, another world where she was Gullveig. I didn't even know I needed them so much. The two keep their souls together and almost everything is as it was before.  The people of the Iron Forest are either dead or scattered, but Angurboda does not meet any of them, except the wolves.  Anyway, I would have liked to read more about them. About the Iron Forest. They must have been very interesting.

Meanwhile, Loki obviously gets his deserved punishment and Sigyn - poor Sigyn - stays by his side until Ragnarök begins.  In such cases, it is a curse to be the goddess of fidelity and it is almost ironic that her husband cheated on her without her knowledge.

Agurboda travels all over the world and helps where she can. In the meantime, her daughter rules the Scandinavian hell - which is not such a bad place anyway - her husband suffers, one son wades in the sea and the other lies chained with a sword in his disguise. What a wonderful family, isn't it?

Ragnarök begins with Baldur death.  It's tick so far. Then comes a three-year winter. This is also a tick. Loki's release.  It's not tick yet. 

Now is the time to turn the wheel of time for this.

Obviously Angurboda helps with that. With the one reason that if she cannot save her sons in any way, she will do everything for her daughter.  She didn't see Hel in Ragnarök, but she did see Loki getting an army from her.  She knows that she can't save Hel because she won't listen to her, but she will always love Loki, so she gets her ex-husband to talk to her. Her daughter really listen to him. It could be because of the little wolf, it could be because of love or his deteriorating condition, but in the end she listens to him. 

After the release, Ferir and Jörmungandr are also released and immediately go to their parents. Nice little family reunion.  Just at the wrong time. 

I cried so much, so much, when Jörmungandr spoke to Angurboda, even though he didn't say a word before that.  After so many thousands of years, after so much suffering, she loved them just as unbrokenly as before.  I am sure that Loki was also very proud of them and I am also sure that he loved them from the bottom of his heart, even though they were only his sons and only then were  "monsters".

Angurboda's loved ones fall as one in the final battle, so there is only one thing left for her to take care of;  about her daughter.  At this part, I was sobbing so hard that I couldn't breathe.  First Fenrir, then Jödmungandr, then there is Skadi with her father and the she-wolf, and finally, of course, Loki and his army.

Hel is very sick and dying at this point, but at least Baldur is by her side. He's actually chained to her because of a deal.  Do you know why they say don't make a deal with the devil?  Because the Norse gods had already done it once, but Hel was beyond their wits. As her father is, so is her daughter.

Angurboda rescues both her and Baldur.  She turns them into humans while she faces Ragnarök's fire. 

The third part is about them, or should have been about them, I don't know.  I didn't pay much attention to it because I was crying so much that I didn't even see the pages.  I think I can be forgiven for that. It wasn't just Agurboda who lost everyone, but me too.

 I cried a lot after finishing it.  So much so that I had to go out to my dogs and it took me at least 10 minutes to pull myself together.

So; this book killed me to say the least. I could definitely read it several times, but I don't think I'll cry over it.

This was Angurboda's story, a witch who was burned three times, tricked, betrayed, stabbed, tortured and abandoned, but her heart remained in place all the time.

AND PLEASE:
Whenever I die bury this book next to me.