Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

65 reviews

ellejaereads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book was wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The way she turned fables and nursery rhymes into spells was so well done. I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Blood, Pregnancy, Child abuse, and Homophobia

Minor: Transphobia and Medical trauma

itsdanibee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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: Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Abandonment, Violence, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Murder, Racism, and Cursing

Minor: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Transphobia, Torture, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Abortion, Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Hate crime, and Kidnapping

Not even half way through the audiobook, I immediately went and purchased a copy of Alix E. Harrow’s masterful tale of resilience, empowerment, family bonds and folklore. A truly spectacular work with a delicious plot, enchanting prose and characters to adore: I cannot wait to reread this beautiful and relive the magic.

alightbookjacquet's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

A book of women's resilience and rebellion. You burn as bright as starlight alongside the Eastwood sisters, watch their wicked spectacle shine and crumble and live.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Child abuse, and Blood

Minor: Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Homophobia

eander93's review

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood and Child abuse

hannahrogers's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Violence, Racism, Torture, Suicide, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Murder, Lesbophobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Abortion, Deadnaming, Transphobia, Hate crime, Gaslighting, and Miscarriage

raenyreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. It may be my new favourite book! The vibes are amazing - the sisterhood, the feminism and the witchiness were exactly what I wanted from an October read. I really enjoyed how nursery rhymes and fairy tales were altered and included in the story. I highly recommend this book, especially if you're looking for something with multiple strong female characters!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Torture

theespressoedition's review

adventurous dark hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This book. Honestly, I could just stop my review right there because it says it all. THIS BOOK. It has so much power, so much angst, so much feminism, so much history, and so much truth (even though it's a work of fiction).

While the pace might be almost painfully slow, the way it's written is absolutely breathtaking. I hope to do a reread of this in the future because I felt like I needed to rush through it this time around due to it needing to go back to the library really quickly (the only negative side to borrowing books rather than buying them). I know I missed things because I had to skim sometimes to get through it, but I honestly didn't feel like I was lacking anything even at the very end. It was incredibly written.

My first book by Harrow was The Ten Thousand Doors of January, and I immediately fell in love with the whimsy and depth that somehow corresponded so beautifully throughout the story. This felt the same way. There were moments of fantastical insanity (in a good way) but then also times that had my eyes getting glassy with tears.

If you're looking for a really phenomenal, queer, empowered, witchy read - this is it. Seriously, so good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Abortion, Blood, Cursing, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racism, and Sexual harassment

emfass's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This book. Oh my god, this book. 

I have been in a horrible reading slump for two months, grumpy about everything and not feeling pulled to pick up any book that I was trying to get through (except for an audiobook buddy reread of the Hunger Games series). Then my women's book club picked this for our October read, since the host wanted something witchy.

This book was everything I didn't know I wanted. It blasted my reading slump to smithereens, and I feel so deeply grateful and in awe. The prose. THE PROSE. I cannot. Maybe this is what helped break my reading slump, it was so lush and poetic and just stunningly gorgeous and different from anything I've read in a long time. The story interweaves sisterhood, feminism, women's suffrage, collective power, and magic steeped in fairy tales and folklore and "women's work" and the ways that women have to move through the world in order to survive.

The book is set in 1893, in a world and timeline that very clearly references events in our own but changes things a smidge (for example: referencing Eugene Debs and the Railway Union strike, and the "Square Shirtwaist Fire" that is clearly meant to represent the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which happened in 1911). But it was oh so clear to me that it was written in the aftermath of #MeToo and Trump's election; there are certain passages that are hauntingly relatable today. Harrow drops in plenty of little moments that we as women have to deal with every damn day and calls out the injustice of it all.

I will say that I feel somewhat conflicted about the ending, and look forward to processing it with the other folks in my book club this weekend. But this is hands-down one of my favorite reads of 2021.

I listened to this on audio and narrator Gabra Zackman is a dream. She shows such love for the prose, and creates distinct voices for the (many many) characters while showing them a lot of love as well. 

My one small complaint about the audiobook is that during the chapters where fairy tales are retold, there is underscoring throughout the chapter, and the mix felt really imbalanced - I struggled to hear the narration over the music, which irked me. (I am a sound designer by trade, and also have some auditory/information processing issues with things like this.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Racism, Torture, and Transphobia

Minor: Abortion and Vomit

mo345's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

msbarnesela's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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 had moderate-to-low expectations for this book because I was really disappointed by Harrow’s previous book (which I had high expectations for), but I was pleasantly shocked by how much I enjoyed this. The twists in classic fairytales and nursery rhymes and children’s songs were fascinating, and I found these characters to be very compelling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Violence, and Misogyny

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Outing, and Pregnancy