Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

110 reviews

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

ingridmaria's review

challenging emotional 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? No

5.0

I could see myself in all 3 of the sisters in the beginning of this; in Bellas fear, in Junipers anger and in Agnes' walls. I grew with them, into sisterhood and love and community – and I loved every part of it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Death, Violence, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Child abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Domestic abuse, Racism, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Slavery

cassiopeia_lucky_fowkes's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad 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

This book is AMAZING I have read it twice now, I love it so much! 

You end up falling in love with the characters like they are you own Sisters (note the capital S) 
Only read if you are okay with crying for ten minutes at various parts of the book (this happened to me both times I read it!)

It has an amazing plot with lots of plot twists that grip and pull you into the story and dont let you go until its done

I wish this book had a sequal!

Also the writing style is amazing, there is the perfect amount of description to allow you to imagine sort of the more fine details in how a character looks for example but also gives you a good base 
the settings are also described in this way

I cant tell you how much I love this book tbh it changed the way I look at everything and changed my life too!

I highly recommend to any feminist out there.

Let the fire inside your heart continue to burn and let this book help it to burn brighter with fury, love, hate and hope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Cursing, Alcohol, Death, Toxic friendship, Blood, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia

I put all the content warnings in graphic because i dont have time to sort them! Also some are so minor they are only one sentence or word

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

sparklefarm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.5

There once were three sisters...

Rollicking, wild, and fierce. I loved this. I might read it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Abortion and Domestic abuse

Minor: Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Outing, Transphobia, and Animal cruelty

sol84's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Death

Moderate: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Violence

maya_venkatesh36's review

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Racism

windowsill's review

DNF @24%

I really wanted to like this book and was looking forward to reading it. However, the characters and story quickly started to feel very flat and juvenile. While I can enjoy books for younger audiences, this book felt as if it was trying to be for an adult audience and just fell short. It was a strange mixture of purple prose and incredibly simplistic writing that wasn't melded together in a way that worked for me. 
I might come back at another time and give it another try because, as I said, I wanted to like this book. It's possible the story improves as this book goes on, but for now I'm not going to stick around to find out. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abortion and Death of parent

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

sneakysnam's review

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Police brutality, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Abortion, Child abuse, Misogyny, Colonisation, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, Grief, and Kidnapping

Minor: Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death of parent, and Grief