Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

28 reviews

theinkedpath's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

ES:

No es un secreto para nadie que los libros de brujas son mi debilidad. Son el personaje arquetípico fantástico en el que me veo reflejada. Y no es un secreto para nadie que el periodo histórico del sufragismo femenino me resulta fascinante. 
Por estos motivos cuando Alix E. Harrow presento "Las brujas del ayer y del mañana" supe que tenía me corazón. Ya conocía a la autora por "Las diez mil puertas de Enero", que me gustó mucho también...pero en esta novela me ha hechizado. 
Todo buen hechizo necesita tres cosas: Palabras, componentes y voluntad...y Harrow ha encontrado el suyo para hechizarme: Sonoridad, rabia y lucha contra la injusticia. 

Este es uno de esos libros para tener en físico. Y lo conseguiré. 

EN:

Witches are real...and from now on, I am one of them. 

The tale of the Eastwood sisters, with the rage of a fire has captured my heart. In this story about women rights, sorority and witchcraft, Alix E. Harrow has built me a personal portal to my refuge in stressing times. Her prose was the protection spell I needed and know she is one of my favourite authors.

The problem is... now I do not know how to cope without my favourite withes. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, and Cursing

Moderate: Torture and Lesbophobia

Minor: Slavery, Racial slurs, and Racism

_teoeo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad 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? Yes

5.0

This was a fantastic book!! I enjoyed it soooo much. Don't know how I feel about retelling fairy tales but in this book it is well done. Couldn't decide if I should rate it 4,75 or 5 stars but I loved it so much it just HAS to be 5 stars.
Please look at the trigger and content  warnings before reading it, because it really was a lot sometimes.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Animal death, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Medical trauma, Sexism, and Suicide

Moderate: Torture, Transphobia, and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal cruelty, Slavery, and Animal death

a_dara_ble's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

5.0

It was so good I didn't even really notice how long of a book it was. If you want strong female characters that are all equally great and different, while also being extremely flawed, often wrong, and sometimes unbelievably (and rightly) angry, this is the book for you.
It's been weeks and I still think about this book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abortion, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Homophobia, Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Slavery, Medical trauma, Racism, Sexual content, and Torture

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

---

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

wrensreadingroom's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Cursing, Misogyny, Slavery, Abortion, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Torture, and Blood

winx15's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

4.5

I loved this book and the magic system and the way witches were tied into womrns rights movements. The charachters were whole people with flaws but were given the chance to form meaningful relationships.  I only took half a star off cause i had moments where i thought it should be ending and i was only 1/2 or 3/4 of the way through, so pacing threw me off sometimes,  but it was lovely and wrapped up very nicely and i highly recommend!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Religious bigotry, Racism, Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Violence, Pregnancy, and Sexism

Minor: Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Abortion

ehmannky's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

I am always incredibly hesitant to start this book because it felt like "witches and the suffrage movement" was a kind of proposed plot that would go real fast into white girlboss feminism. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. There's way more witchcraft than suffrage, and even when we do dip into suffrage Harrow takes care to include women of color, poor women, and immigrants and how their lives are worse than the white, middle class characters of the book. Like, when a very minor Native character tells one of the white leads that their knowledge is not for them I was so delighted. I loved the story of three sisters mending their lives and struggling for a better world, and the two romance subplots are well-integrated. Each of the sisters has a great character arc and I loved the ending. 

My main qualm came from Harrow changing a bunch of male authors to women (like, the Brothers Grimm become the Sisters Grimm or for some reason Dante's Inferno is about a witch who walks through hell). I don't know, it felt out of place in a world that is filled with the same misogyny as our own to have all of these women authors. I felt it would have been more thematically fitting to just have spent the time focusing on women writing in books or other marginalia than just being like "oh, it was Charlotte Perrault, not Charles Perrault who wrote these fairy tales!" I do have to admit that every single time Harrow did this I rolled my eyes because it just seemed silly and so out of place with the rest of her world. But other than this, I thought it was great and it surpassed my expectations. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Murder, Violence, Sexism, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent and Misogyny

Minor: Slavery, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Racism, and Emotional abuse

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

---

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

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Abortion and Transphobia

smoothgoat's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Classism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Racism, and Torture

Minor: Abortion, Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Miscarriage, Slavery, Transphobia, Ableism, Addiction, Blood, Colonisation, Infidelity, Outing, Rape, and Sexual content