Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

128 reviews

haunted_jackalope's review

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.5

Slow books aren't my favorite, but the story was worth it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Child abuse, Classism, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Confinement, Cursing, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Pregnancy

Minor: Torture, Abortion, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

I wasn't sure if this would be a good book for me. I anticipated it might be a little dull or a little too intense, but I wound up loving it! I especially liked the adaptation of fairy tales and other well-known works as the hidden words of spells. This was just the book I needed this month.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Confinement, Murder, Grief, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Racism, Classism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Violence, Death, Death of parent, and Misogyny

Moderate: Transphobia, Miscarriage, and Abortion

Government sanctioned removal of children from target group of people

tormerritt's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was truly magical from start to finish! I was already expecting a well-written book because I am in love with Harrow's gorgeous writing style from 'The Ten Thousand Doors of January', but I was not expecting such a beautifully woven story with so many profound elements to it. I can tell so much work went into the writing of this book!

It is 1893, and we follow the Eastwood Sisters who are discovering their witchcraft and using the power of spells and storytelling to share their "words and ways". Ultimately, turning a women's movement into a witches' movement! The bravery and strength of the many women in this book were incredibly inspiring! The story deals with some heavier subjects like trauma, abuse, racism, violence, abortion, pregnancy/birth, and constraints against women during the 1890s. 

Every character was written so well that they practically jump off the pages! We get to see their struggles, where they are from, who their family and friends are, what has caused their traumas, their thoughts and feelings, and their most vulnerable moments throughout. This made the characters relatable and so human for me. Also, I love the fact that there is LGBTQ/interracial relationship representation. ❤️

There wasn't anything I disliked about this book. I did not want to escape this enchanting world of The Once and Future Witches and I definitely want to form my own society of powerful witches now! Who wants to join? 🧙🏻‍♀️✨️ 


I highly recommend this to anyone and everyone, a new five-star favorite! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Murder, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Death of parent, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, and Racism

Minor: Abortion

zany25's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.5

It’s a solid fantasy book that started slow and got stronger as it went. Definitely slows down at some points, but has a very nice literary flowing narration. The opening especially was the weakest part of the novel for me, but past that it bloomed into its own well. 

The characters are the strongest part of the novel, if you love them you will love the book and if you don’t, you probably won’t. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexism, and Racism

Moderate: Homophobia, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abortion

laurenlreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Abortion

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Violence, and Domestic abuse

fyredragyn's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture and Child abuse

kimmag92's review

adventurous dark 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

3.0

I wanted to like The Once and Future Witches much more than I actually did. The premise is magic has always existed in the world and before the Plague women were rulers and leaders of society until men turned against them and magic was relegated to something shameful. In the story we follow three sisters who were abused by their father and who come together seven years later in New Salem who take up women’s suffrage as a way to bring magic back to women. 

Though I greatly enjoyed the premise of the book I found Harrow’s execution to not be great. The explanation of the world was muddled and unclear and so was the magic system. Also, each chapter is told from a different sisters perspective. How she did this was quite clunky as instead of each chapter having a heading of the sisters name, like many multi POV books do, she started the first sentence of each chapter with the sisters name. It felt rudimentary.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Violence, Torture, and Physical abuse

beth_dieroff's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racism, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Death, Torture, Abortion, Sexism, and Transphobia

schnaucl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? No

5.0

I really like this book.  It's very smartly written with interesting characters and clever tweaks to history and historical figures.  

It's a book that's full of women's rage and the subtle ways they have to hide their power to pass things down through the generations and the never ending cycle of women gaining a measure of power only to have it nearly all taken from them.  But still they endure. 

I appreciated the effort to bring in words and ways from other cultures, both contemporary and historical, and the focus on the fact that progress will eventually cause a reactionary backlash which will fall hardest on the most marginalized.

While I really liked the book, the ending didn't quite work for me.  Well, it works on a thematic level, just not a practical level. I can't think of any reason Gideon would choose to take over the body of a female child.   He is keenly aware of how easy to is to accuse a woman of witchcraft and see her burn, whether she's a witch or not.  I can't see himself putting himself in that position, even temporarily.   Surely he's found some method over the long years of gaining procuring what he needs from the next man (or potential men) whose body he intends to occupy.   I think Eve had to be in some kind of proximity and I'd think it a big gamble that once she was rescued she'd be brought to her mother's burning rather than safely whisked out of the city.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Death of parent, Police brutality, and Violence

Minor: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Physical abuse, Torture, and Abortion

mooshake's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful slow-paced

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

1.5

the only character that didn't annoy me was the baby

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, and Torture

Moderate: Transphobia