Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

24 reviews

abicaro17's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

This may be the best book i've ever read. I laughed, I cried, I felt seen. This book is what it's like to be a woman. Anything you do is demonized but when a man does it he's praised. Alix E. Harrow writes about how "behind every witch is a woman wrong." (445) and creates beautifully complex characters like Agnes that show a true beauty and a true darkness in femininity. Juniper is a feral, selfish, and damaged girl but

her final act is to do something so selfless it saves all future witches. She bears the burden so that the future of her niece and all other mothers and daughters won't have to.

I could spend hours describing my love and adoration for this book. The emotional and storied complexity for even minor characters like Jennie and Mr. Blackwell are so outstanding and enriching. I think Harrow needs all the awards and I'm devastated i'll never be able to read this book for the first time again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Classism, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Transphobia, Racism, Police brutality, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Gore, Gaslighting, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Torture, Suicide, Misogyny, and Homophobia

queclecumber's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Police brutality, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racism, Animal death, Medical trauma, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse

Minor: Confinement, Medical trauma, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcoholism, Blood, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Chronic illness, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

woodsofthebooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

i’d give this book 17 billion stars if i could. i don’t think this book will ever truly leave my thoughts, and it will certainly never leave my heart. every twist and turn, every lost girl and foolish hope will always be with me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, and Self harm

Moderate: Misogyny, Child abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, and Medical content

the author’s website also contains content warnings, so go check that out too. MAJOR content warning for pregnancy, abortion, childbirth

premature_insecurity's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

The best book I’ve read this year. The strength of sisterhood, the struggle of being a woman, the unrelenting will of women. It made feel endlessly proud of being a woman, and endlessly thankful for all the brave women who came before me, who fought with their bodies so I only have to fight with my words.

On another note I am also delighted that Juniper is all but explicitly aroace and all the other queer representation in this book 

I was bawling my eyes out for the whole last 50 pages. I did not see that coming but it made such perfect sense. The grief of sisters was so well portrayed that I’m pretty sure I felt the echo of my own heart breaking

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

haleyflight's review

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Pregnancy, Police brutality, Torture, Racism, Transphobia, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

spineofthesaurus's review

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective 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: Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Torture, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Self harm, Stalking, Violence, Medical trauma, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Outing

Moderate: Ableism, Abortion, Alcoholism, Genocide, Murder, Excrement, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual assault, Racism, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Animal death, and Hate crime

Minor: Xenophobia, Alcohol, Slavery, Deadnaming, Classism, and Colonisation

l_e_lavalle's review

challenging emotional hopeful 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Pregnancy, Medical content, Abortion, Blood, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Body horror, Grief, and Outing

Minor: Child death and Kidnapping

marleywrites's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

My favorite character was Juniper.

I really thought she was gonna take over Hill’s familiar as her own. But the crow also makes sense and suits her.

She is such a badass character and I love her spirit. 

From reading reviews, I thought I wouldn’t like Agnes. But truly, I really enjoyed her character. I don’t usually relate to mothers or the whole “maternal bond” thing, but I really felt like Agnes did a good job of balancing her loyalty to her sisters and her child.

And I am obsessed with her relationship with August.

Bella was also a great character. I’m fond of lesbians and I’m fond of librarians, so this was just a wonderful character for me overall. I think I relate to Bella the most, with the anxiety yet fierce loyalty to her sisters. 

I don’t have a sister, but reading this book made me feel like I do. These characters had me wrapped up in their little family with them. And their extended family in the witching community was just beautiful. 

This book was a bit slow at first, but once it picked up I was IN IT! I think I’m going to recommend it to anyone looking for a witchy read.  I’m a big fan of Alix E. Harrow and have read two other books by her. I’ll definitely keep reading her work and I look forward to her next project!

Side note, I loved the LGBTQ+ rep in this book. Amazing. 

Side note to the side note: am I the only one who felt terrible for Hill’s dog? 😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Medical content, Pregnancy, Death, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Confinement

Minor: Death of parent, Animal death, and Sexual content

liligilsoul's review

dark emotional funny hopeful 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

Like all lesbians I have met,  this book has to climax three times before it is finished

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, and Medical content

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