Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

28 reviews

alliemikennareads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A very strong contender for my favorite book of the year. The Once And Future Witches is delightfully witchy. Badass women fighting the patriarchy in every possible way, with a swoonworthy WLW plotline and a very refreshing second romance plot line. We love to see it. 

This really had me hooked from start to finish and was not too predictable at all. I felt like I was hanging on every word. I loved these characters deeply - The Eastwood sisters, Cleo, August, the general narrative voice. 

It's going to take me awhile to recover from this in the best possible way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Confinement, and Torture

Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

Minor: Abortion and Abandonment

anaguana's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Homophobia, Torture, Racism, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Suicide, Abortion, and Death

Minor: Transphobia

anniereads221's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Gaslighting, Abortion, Homophobia, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Torture

nebulasaurus's review

dark hopeful informative inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Torture, Cursing, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

annikareads_'s review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Misogyny

milesaway_'s review

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Death of parent, Hate crime, and Cursing

Moderate: Sexual assault and Abortion

Minor: Transphobia and Abandonment

sparklingginger's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Misogyny, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Sexism, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, Lesbophobia, Animal death, Racism, Transphobia, Abortion, Death of parent, Outing, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

laisai's review

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Child abuse, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Racism, Lesbophobia, Forced institutionalization, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Abandonment, Abortion, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Grief, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexism, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, and Xenophobia

elliebeemellie's review against another edition

adventurous reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

2.5

The Once and Future Witches is a historical-style fantasy where witching is real and women (and especially women of color and queer women) are quashed under the boot of the heteronormative white patriarchy. 

I feel like I really should have liked this book, but it really didn't resonate with me. The writing was alright, but I struggled to connect with the characters, and I felt like any promise the story may have had was overshadowed by how it approached its social messaging. Don't get me wrong, I love allegorical stories that force readers to think hard about how they view the world, but this didn't do it for me. 

I also felt like the conversation about intersectionality needed more attention. It felt very sidelined to me, which was a little jarring considering the whole book was a critique about systems of oppression.

Tldr; It's not a bad book, but it's definitely not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism, and Child abuse

Minor: Racism and Sexual assault

andromeda_1998's review

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Once and future witches is the highly feminist witch novel everyone deserves to read. It has suffragettes, strong female characters and magic. I really enjoyed reading it but watch out the story starts a bit slow!

Characters
Juniper is the wild witch child everyone needs. She’s free, furious, stubborn and fearless. She’s the reason I read this book to the end. It’s interesting to read how she grew up and how she fought herself free of her fathers influence.

Beatrice is the mousy booknerd who is curious, kind and brave.  O and gayyyyy. The gay icon we need. I enjoyed her as a character. She’s a character with a lot of flaws but  that makes her human.

Agnes is the “strongest” sister is the line that is used many times and well I’m not really seeing it. It’s a lot of telling and the writer is often more intensely describing that she’s pregnant instead of giving her a real character. She’s always scared and running, throwing her sisters under the bus. Frankly she’s the coward of the story. And in my opinion she’s the weakest sister. Since she’s the one who’s scared to open her heart.

Worldbuilding
The world is inspired by 1800 Salem with a lot of American witchcraft. The magic system is beautiful and in some ways very real. Lullabies and nursery rimes have always been the things keeping mothers and children connected. It wouldn’t be weird if some magic can still be found in these story’s.

Storytelling 
The book is hard to get into. It isn’t some easy read but it’s worth it. The writing is spectacular and the plot is amazing. The story is full of diverse characters and it’s a full on recommendation for anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexism, Domestic abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, and Slavery

Minor: Abortion and Transphobia