Reviews

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

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ketutar's review against another edition

4.0

Another rather uneven book. It was partially great and partially really boring. All in all, it was good. I don't regret reading it.
It took me a little bit longer to read than it should have. I found it hard to get into it. About halfway I forced myself to read it.
I liked the feminist history and matriarchy in it. I don't like the witch burning and book burning.
Also, I have to commend Alix' ... er... what's it called now... dang it. How she follows the shape of the story. We get a small victory and then she rips it apart, we rise from the ashes, and she burns everything down again, again and again, the steps get higher and higher, the disappointment and loss bigger and bigger. When

Spoiler

she burned the tower

I almost stopped reading. It was a bit much. Obviously not too much, as I finished the book :-D

laelyn's review against another edition

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3.0

This book has such an amazing premise and I heard only the greatest things about Alix E. Harrow, so I was really excited to finally be able to read it. And I liked a lot about it! It's such an interesting take on witches and I loved the whole mythology of them and the way Harrow intertwines them with the suffragette movement. It's a story about female empowerment, beautifully written in Harrow's gorgeous detailed prose. The writing is, I'd say, the books greatest strengths. It's just so very captivating.

The characters were intriguing and complex, though I somehow never really connected with them. I still like them, but for some reasons that I can't even explain I just wasn't really emotionally attached to any of the sisters. Agnes was actually my favorite but I always felt like she wasn't entirely fleshed out, like I was missing some things about her as a character, as a person. The same goes for June and Bella, and I do have to admit that June kind of annoyed me a lot of the time. Her characterization seemed a little inconsistent, too. Still, they are likeable and great protagonists. The side characters were mostly rather forgettable and never really fleshed out, with the exception being Cleo. I really enjoyed her and Bella's romance, and for that matter I really enjoyed Agnes' and August's romance too. Neither romance was ever focus of the story, which I actually liked because the main relationship, the important love story of this book, is the one between the three sisters. The big antagonist of the story was interesting and scary and the last little twist about him was really cool, but I wished there had been more time spent on his character. It all felt a little superficial at times.

I loved the way magic was used and explained in this book and the way gender roles were discussed and norms broken. The world building in general was a joy to read. The story is complex and exciting, but also it kind of... dragged at times. The pacing was way too slow and I honestly think that the book would have benefitted from being shorter, more to the point, less meandering. I skipped a page or two sometimes, I admit. There is also just a large amount of characters that were often just namedropped and I simply couldn't remember who everyone was.

All in all this is an enjoyable, beautifully written tale, empowering and imaginative. The slow pacing, the too big and as such confusing cast of side characters and the fact that I simply never really felt any connection the main trio make this a solid 3 star read for me, probably leaning more towards a 3,5. I definitely recommend it to any fans of witchy books!

Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK/Orbit and Netgalley for the arc!