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The Witches at the End of the World by Chelsea Iversen

The Witches at the End of the World

by Chelsea Iversen

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Readers' Rating (29):
  • Published:
  • Oct 2023, 320 pages
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There are currently 29 reader reviews for The Witches at the End of the World
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Keri P. (Momence, IL)

Great book club book
I enjoyed this book very much. It's told in the alternating viewpoints of Minna and Kaija. A book of love, rage, family and consequences. The story line is well-written and the reader is drawn to the emotions if the characters. I would recommend this as a book club book;there is much to debate and discuss.
Joy A. (Port Ludlow, WA)

Complex
This is a novel of vengeance, grief, love, the ties that bind us to others and the actions fueled by emotion. The setting is in Scandinavia and there are a few Norwegian words sprinkled throughout that really require no further explanation due to the context. The author depicts ghostly birch forests and hard scrabble fishing villages vividly, right down to the rocky beaches. If you are familiar with the ocean, there is an incidence with a rip tide that should hit home.
While the author paints a detailed portrait of the earth, the sea, and the beaches where they meet; there is far less attention to the physicalitymore
Karen S. (Allston, MA)

Who doesn't want some magic now and then?
As a New Englander, I may be particularly open to books about magic and witches, This tale set in Norway was surprisingly fun to read while dealing substantively with issues of "outsiders" and villages full of suspicion and rigid loyalty to their church's authority. It is a tale of "life below the surface," on many levels. Themes of loyalty, love, rage and evil permeate this tale of two very different sisters, the daughters of a witch burned in the village they fled as young girls. A good read, and I will recommend it to friends who enjoy stories that include a bit of magic we could all use.
Susan P. (Mount Vernon, WA)

Norway, Witchcraft, Sisters, Spells and Consequences or Is it Just History?
Chelsa Iversen's first novel, The Witches at the End of the World, captured this reader's attention from the beginning and held it to end as she tells the tale of two sisters living a subsistence life in the birch woods in 17th century Norway. The sister's tale is not so unusual as they mature and their wishes for an adult life differ one from the other. Until, that is, you learn they come from a long maternal line of Sami women with magic in their blood. The Sami are, of course, the reindeer herders who live a migratory life in the north country and are practitioners of the Old Religion, where certain spiritualmore
Kathleen C. (Cockeysville, MD)

Sisters and witchcraft
A wonderfully immersive story of two sisters, Kaija and Minna, who cope with childhood trauma and a legacy of witchcraft in a world not always kind to those who are different. The sisters will experience the repercussions of actions done in anger. Tragedy occurs as well as the opportunity for forgiveness and healing.

The story kept my interest throughout. I felt empathy for the sisters, the settings are easily imagined and I was on the edge of my seat caring about the outcome during tense scenes. I look forward to Chelsea Iverson's next book!
Patricia S. (Chicago, IL)

Witches at the End of the World
Ten years before this book begins, Kaija and Minna flee their village with their grandmother. Behind them, their mother is burned as a witch. Escaping to the birchwood the two girls grow up safe, learning to use their magical powers under the tutelage of their grandmother, Mormor. As the book begins, the Mormor has died, and decisions need to be made. Kaija wants to return to the village she left, remembering friendship, and community, maybe even gaining a husband and family, and willing to suppress her magic in order to live there. Minna wants nothing to do with the village, being too young to have known it asmore
Paula W. (East Wenatchee, WA)

The Witches At The End Of The World
Two witches, two sisters, the year is 1677. Minna and Kaija live in Finnmark, Norway. The story begins with the death of their grandmother. She did not die burned at the stake, as their mother did thirteen years ago, but peacefully in her sleep. They have been living in the wild with their grandmother. Now Kaija wants to leave and return to the village. She says, the village I have to go. Not knowing her sister has already left Minna casts a spell on the village. Revenge is sweet like no other. Cast to those who burned my mother. Minna now lives alone in the wild. Kaija, in the village, is trying to fit in,more
Nanette S. (San Pierre, IN)

The Witches at the End of the World
Family, love, hate, sibling rivalry, and paranoia all told through the eyes of sisters Minna and Kaija using witches and witch spells as the backdrop for this novel was ingenious. Could the author use any other type of theme to present family dynamics? Maybe, but the witch theme added suspense for both sisters and their views about their village life they abruptly left. Snippets are gleaned about their childhood living in that same village with their parents from a neighbor named Tante Tllde, a past neither Minna nor Kaija can really remember. It's from part of that past one sees how and why they act, and reactmore

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