Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

28 reviews

bookforthought's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective 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

I've been sitting on this review for a while because I found it so incredibly hard to write something even vaguely coherent about this book. I often find it hard to write reviews for books I loved, and The Once and Future Witches is no exception!

The Eastwood sisters completely captivated me right from the first page. The three of them couldn't be more different, yet I found myself becoming attached to all three even despite their many, many issues. I loved how beautifully fleshed out all three main characters were and how much each of them struggled to reckon with age-old scars (both spiritual and emotional) to ultimately grow into her full potential - and re-discover the power of sisterhood.

Sisterhood is probably the main theme in this book, although there are many to choose from. Starting from the three blood sisters and their fraught relationship, the story lends itself to a wider reflection on sisterhood as a wider concept, encompassing all women. Feminist themes and reflections abound, as the story is set in an alternate version of the United States in the late 1890s and the fight for women's votes, and freedom more generally. I liked the fact that there were mentions of inequality between the various women in the diverse cast, particularly due to class, race and sexuality, as well as the fact that some male characters joined the fight.

I particularly enjoyed the author's depiction of witchcraft in this book. It's no secret that I love witchy books and books with magic, so it was off to a great start because of that alone, but as I read quite a few, it can be hard for me to find them original. This was not an issue here, as the magic system is quite different from others I have read (at least that I remember reading recently). I liked the fact that magic was based on having the words, the will and the ways, and both the limits and the freedoms that this brought. One thing I absolutely loved was the way in which old stories, nursery rhymes and fairytales were used by women to preserve the memory of these spells when witchcraft was forbidden, and I was very happy to find some of these tales included in the book.

I could probably keep writing about this book for much, much longer than I should, so for now suffice it to say that this is easily one of my favourite reads of the year. For quite a chunky book, it was surprisingly quick to read and its themes and characters still stay with me: the more I think about it, the more I find to reflect on! 

Filled with complex characters, an engaging plot and fascinating lore, The Once and Future Witches is one of those books I will be recommending to everyone for a really long time, and one I hope to revisit soon. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Pregnancy

Moderate: Violence, Death, Child abuse, Torture, and Racism

Minor: Sexual assault

afion's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abortion, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Transphobia, and Violence

caidyn's review

inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

This was a pretty good read. It nearly was a solid four stars, but I felt that it was a bit too long. Could have been edited down a little bit for my liking. But I loved that the focus was on family and women reclaiming their narratives. That really made it for me in the end, as well as how there was romance but it wasn't the most important part of the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abortion

annir's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Abortion

Minor: Domestic abuse and Transphobia

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense 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

All a witch needs are the words, the ways, and the will but it's 1893, and the words and ways have been burned with the witches. Women have only the rhymes and songs passed down by word of mouth from mothers and grandmothers. But when Beatrice Belladonna Eastwood discovers a forgotten rhyme in an old book, she thinks she may have found a way to bring back the Lost Way of Avalon and restore witching to the world. When she is reunited with her sisters, Agnes Amaranth and James Juniper, they must move past old betrayals and work together for all womankind.

This book was perfect for me: the writing style was beautiful and a little bit meta, with references to storytelling and stories within the story; the characters were vibrant and lovable (and yes, I related to Bella a lot, as an oldest sister and book lover); and the feminist themes. I loved how Harrow altered fairytales—Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Rumplestiltskin, and more—and history—the Salem witch trials and the Underground Railroad—to use for her story. I loved the parallels drawn between witching and women's rights, and I especially liked how the story dealt with intersectional issues like race, gender identity, and sexual orientation. The setting reminded me of the Harry Potter franchise's Fantastic Beasts movies (though the book takes place about 30 years earlier, just before the turn of the century), with the gritty American city and leaders determined to hunt out witchcraft. I cannot recommend this book enough!

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just my judgement of how happy the ending is because I always wish someone would tell me that before I read books):

I'll be honest, I cried. I'd still say this is a relatively happy ending, though, but maybe bittersweet is a better word.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Misogyny

Minor: Abortion, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Racism

purplatypus's review against another edition

dark inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Kidnapping, and Torture

Moderate: Abortion, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Domestic abuse and Transphobia

domtheknight's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I cried 3 times.
This book has pretty dark and graphic depictions of the suffocating fragility of the patriarchy.
It ends happily! Mostly. But it's a rough ride.
There's also sacrifice, and trying to change the world, and sisterhood and motherhood and community, loving something bigger than yourself, consequences and whether or not they are worth it, and the power of stories.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Sexual assault, and Medical content

Minor: Transphobia and Torture

There's a fairly harrowing birth scene where the life of the mother is in danger both from bad doctors (1893 style medical ignorance, plus imprisoned woman shackled to bed) and from being a witch and a wanted person, and just from a hard birth that would have been hard even without all that. There's also then a very sick infant and a kidnapped infant used to threaten the mother and aunts. I'm guessing this falls into some broader warning category but it's a lot!

celery's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The strength of women and the power they have. Read anything by Alix E. Harrow, you'll love it, I guarantee it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Genocide, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

The minor trigger warnings on this book are extremely minor mentions, but the major warnings are topics that are extremely prevalent in the book.