Reviews - The Once and Future Witches

10.6k reviews for:

The Once and Future Witches

Alix E. Harrow

4.12 AVERAGE

westvthunderb's review

3.75

adventurous dark emotional 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: No

ishi_robinson's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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

ashley_wohner's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark mysterious 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

vanessaamber53's review

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

I absolutely adored ‘The Ten Thousand Doors of January’ by the same author, so as a treat for finishing last year’s TBR, I picked this copy up at the beginning of the year. Not much longer after that, I fell into a severe book-reading slump, and as such I’ve gone eight months without reading a physical book. I was on a camping trip this past weekend, and finally I grabbed it, sat myself down in the car, and told myself I wasn’t allowed on my phone until I read for at least 15 minutes. Two hours later we were at our destination and I hadn’t picked up my phone once. From the first three chapters I was so completely locked in that the world around me faded out. It’s been such a long time since a book has given me that feeling, probably since reading TTDJ if I’m being honest.

Usually I write down a few categories with corresponding sticky tabs at the beginning of the book because I find it helps me comprehend and digest more of the reading if I’m pausing to mark my favorite lines or scenes with the tabs every now and then. There are only two sticky tabs placed in this book because I enjoyed every moment so much that the entire book would be sticky tabbed if I had kept up with it.

I think it’s clear by now that I would give this book a rating of 5 out of 5, but let me elaborate more on the reasoning with less of the anecdotes for everyone’s sake. This book was such a beautiful work of story-telling, weaving the lives and storylines of three estranged sisters together with such skill that it kept me on the edge of my seat. It told stories of the good and the bad for strained sibling and familial relationships, of the suffragist movement and the women’s movement to gain the right to vote in the 1890s (at least in this universe), of dealing with corrupt politicians, and of re-introducing the concept of witchcraft as a benefit instead of a curse to a less-than-enthusiastic population of townsfolk. It ties in real historical events but alters them to fit the story itself, and truly makes the reader engage in order to pick up on all of the subtle nuances.

Every single line in this book is intentional. Even with how absolutely focused I was on this book, the foreshadowing struck as so subtle that at times it flew right over my head. I would read a scene or chapter and realize only after that it had been led up to or connected to previous conversations or throwaway comments from before. Every time I had to pause just to think that through before moving on, and it was so rewarding to put pieces of the puzzle together. The ending truly caught my off-guard, not because it was from left-field, but because all of the hints that pointed to what the end would really be were so impressively subtle that I never would have guessed that conclusion in a million years, and yet it felt suitable and not inconsistent with the story and diverse cst of personalities.

This is definitely in the new favorites list, and I will be recommending it to all of my friends. I’m unsure where this will fall in the top ten ranking, but rest assured it’ll be there for a long time.

Content Warnings

lefthandlou's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark 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: Complicated

This felt like a very timely read, which also made it a bit difficult, as I’m feeling so raw already. But this is a gorgeous, heartbreaking, hopeful book, and I adored it. Also James Juniper forever 💙💙💙

Definitely content warnings, as the book covers a lot of difficult subject matter, but I think the author treats these issues with respect and compassion for those affected.

Content Warnings