The Weaver and the Witch Queen
#6623.83 adjusted 3.84 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 2023 Reading commitment Low Genevieve Gornichec Last reviewed 2026-08-29
Overview
The Weaver and the Witch Queen (2023) by Genevieve Gornichec is a standalone historical fantasy novel set in tenth-century Norway, during the historical period of King Eirik Bloodaxe's rise. It follows Gunnhild, a woman with a growing reputation for witchcraft whose path leads her toward Eirik and eventually the seat of a queen, and Oddny, a farm girl who sets out to rescue her sister Signy after Viking raiders destroy their home and take Signy captive. A childhood blood oath sworn between the two women as girls binds their fates together across years of separation, and each is tested in turn by ambition, grief, and the different costs of survival available to women in their world. The novel draws on Norse saga sources and historical record for its setting and several of its characters, and was praised by reviewers, including the Historical Novel Society, for its grounded treatment of women's agency within a genuinely researched Viking-age Scandinavia.
Historical fantasy, Mythic fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
The Weaver and the Witch Queen (2023) core · 3.83 (10,398 ratings)
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Weaver and the Witch Queen? The Weaver and the Witch Queen's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is The Weaver and the Witch Queen finished? Complete (2023).
- How much reading does The Weaver and the Witch Queen take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book · ~424 pages).
- How is The Weaver and the Witch Queen ranked? #662 in this site's official ranking, based on 10,398 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #662?
Ranked #662 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.83 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (10,398 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- 0.01 behind #661, Sunshine.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
- A single standalone novel: ranked on that one book alone.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 1 book · Complete · 10k ratings · Ranks #662 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment historical fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- No verified awards found for this novel.
Related universes
- Same author The Witch's Heart: Both novels are by Genevieve Gornichec and share a broad Norse-mythology/historical backdrop, but have no shared characters, plot, or timeline -- The Witch's Heart is set in the mythic era of the Norse gods, The Weaver and the Witch Queen in 10th-century historical Norway. Kept as two separate universes by the same precedent as Guy Gavriel Kay's Ysabel vs. The Fionavar Tapestry, the same resolution already reached for a comparable same-author pair earlier in this project.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what The Weaver and the Witch Queen and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Hrolf Kraki's Saga Mythic fantasy / Historical fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.97
- The Fox Wife Historical fantasy / Mythic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.97
- The Warm Hands of Ghosts Historical fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.96
- Sistersong Mythic fantasy / Historical fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.94
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.83 across 10,398 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: The Weaver and the Witch Queen admitted as a separate single-work universe accepted 2026-08-29
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Penguin Random House Tier 1
- Historical Novel Society Tier 3
Related universes: see the Related universes section above.
Last reviewed: 2026-08-29
Rule: Core Canon is the 1 published novel. There is no Expanded Canon: the author has written no companion short fiction set in this novel's continuity.