Reviews - The Once and Future Witches

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

10.2k reviews for:

This was gleefully savage and I loved every minute of it and can’t wait to reread it in a year or so. I grew up reading every fairy tale collection I could get my hands on and always wanted to hear more about the witches. The utterly delightful, appropriate, and accurate female rage simmers and builds slowly to a goddamn glorious conflagration that is deeply satisfying in every way.

Granny Weatherwax would absolutely love these witches and might even give them a head nod or a small bow.

mewtenantworf's review against another edition

5.0

eastcoastcandice's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

fskornia's review

5.0

I feel that this is one of the books that needs a larger scale than just 5 stars.

I read [b:The Ten Thousand Doors of January|43521657|The Ten Thousand Doors of January|Alix E. Harrow|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548174710l/43521657._SY75_.jpg|63516505] earlier this year and it was a fantastic read and worthy of all the praise it received. The Once and Future Witches proves that the first book was not a fluke.

This book felt like a raw full-throated feral scream into the night against the last four years in America and the toxic patriarchy that plagues us. All of it entwined into a meta-fairy tale that spins the strands of the stories and fables we all know into something new and shining.

mags_gcs's review

4.0

Personally I’m pretty generous with giving stars, which is why this is a 4 star instead of 3. There were times I found myself not wanting to pick it up because there was a lot of information to slog though. The overall plot and premise were very interesting and I liked all of the sisters, but there were times when we would get a lot of information at once and then other times where we wouldn’t find out what was happening until afterwards. Just overall the pacing wasn’t my favorite, but because I loved the sisters so much (and because it didn’t fall into the bury your gays trap, which it so easily could have done) I went with 4 stars instead of 3.

stay_cool_mommio's review

5.0

Alix E. Harrow knows her folklore. She knows her fairy tales and children’s rhymes and whispered legends. And she knows her history. Not just the mainstream victor’s history but the histories of the not-quite-silenced and systematically repressed. This book is what comes out of the alchemical fusion of those things and I cannot look away.

I love all of her books and I loved this one the first time I read it. But reading it again now in 2025, largely while holding my own fierce, passionate daughter? It’s sublime and utterly perfect for this moment and I am so grateful to be able to experience it again.

The setting and premise are fitting, the plot is neat and complete and significant, and the characters are memorable and so perfectly juxtaposed against one another. Harrow’s prose is lush and beautiful and her sentences are so full without feeling dense or overwrought. Her passion sparkles off the page, as does her anger and hope. It’s so very easy to dive in.