Gunnhild is the youngest daughter of Solveig and Ozur, a local leader (hersir) in Halogaland, while Oddny and Signy are the only daughters of Yrsa, a healer, and Ketil, a farmer who died years before. Although they don't share the same social status, the families are very close, although Solveig and Yrsa don't like each other. Yrsa is very nurturing to her daughters and also to Gunnhild, while Solveig is constantly criticizing Gunna and making her life a misery. When an old seeress comes to Ozur's hall, everyone in the community comes in the hopes of having their future told. Solveig forbids Gunna from participating, but she is ever the rebel and joins Oddny and Signy, only for all three girls to receive a prophecy that one will bring trouble to the others, rendering all three girls pariahs as far as future marriage prospects. Heid, the old seeress, senses Gunna's troubles with her mother and offers to train her in the weaving magic that was already brewing in her, so she leaves home, despite the previous blood oath, and is assumed dead.
Fast-forward some 12 years and Gunna has become quite the competent witch. She secretly checks in on Oddny and Signy from time to time, only they don't know it because she takes the form of a sparrow. She happens to be there the day some raiders attack their family farm, murdering Yrsa and their older brother. While Gunnhild can't do much as a sparrow, she is able to claw at the eyes of a raider named Halldor, causing Oddny to escape being kidnapped, but sadly Signy is taken. It is clear that the peculiar weather happenings that occurred during the raid were the handiwork of witches and in the scuffle following the raid, Gunna's mentor, Heid, is murdered by Thorbjorg, a witch often taking the form of a white fox, with the help of Katla, a witch presenting as an eagle. From then on out, Gunnhild vows to destroy those who killed Heid, but also to aid Oddny in finding and rescuing Signy, at any cost.
Halldor is soon thrown off his raiding crew and out of their boat because he allowed Oddny to escape, only to wash up on Ozur's land, where Oddny has fled. Needless to say, she is furious and wants his blood, but a sum of silver is decided upon and he sets out to work to pay off his debt to her by joining King Eirik's retinue (hird), when they travel near the area. It just so happens that Gunnhild's best chance of finding Signy quickly is to also team up with King Eirik's group to gain rapid passage to the most likely place that Signy will be sold. But Eirik has another plan - he needs a witch in his employ to combat the aforementioned Katla and Thorbjorg, because those two powerful witches, along with a third mystery witch who embodies a seal, are working at the behest of Eirik's two brothers, Olaf and Halfdan, who want to be successor to their father, King Harald, despite him already naming Eirik as such. It's a hot mess and both Eirik and Gunna have strong personalities, plus they instantly hate each other. Can they put aside their differences for their common goal of survival, and in doing so, rescue Signy in the process? Let's just say the process won't be pretty, but it certainly will be interesting.
Personally, I don't know a lot about Norse lore and mythology, and what I do know came from Marvel's Thor, American Gods, and Genevieve Gornichec. She can weave an incredible tale using characters from history and lore, as well as her own fictional ones, and really pull you into the story. While I didn't find this story quite as compelling as The Witch's Heart, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. There are several twists and turns that I sort of saw coming, but I was still thrown by aspects of them. If you enjoy Norse lore with a hefty dose of magic, you should check out The Weaver and the Witch Queen.
