Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Čarodějnice dřívější a budoucí

Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Čarodějnice dřívější a budoucí by Alix E. Harrow

73 reviews

thereadinghammock's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book was a much longer read than I usually get my hands on, but it needed every moment of the story to breathe and share so many stories within it. As with most witching, the story follows the sisters Eastwood: Beatrice Belladonna, Agnes Amaranth, and James Juniper and their love, loss, and reconnection with each other and the lost ways of their witching ancestors. Set against the backdrop of a women's suffrage movement turned suffrage and witching campaign, these sisters work together to unlock the lost ways of Avalon and heal old hurts between them.

The diverse cast of supporting characters is just as fascinating, and so well written. I loved their interactions with each other, the story itself, the variety of their witching, and the overall sisterhood among them. And most of the protagonist's supporting male cast are also early adopters of their own brand of feminism and I was LIVING for it!

And what a delightfully insidious villain Gideon Hill turned out to be. His character continued to evolve and loom throughout most of the novel and his intentions were fascinating to guess and watch change as the sisters Eastwood work to bring witching back to the world.

Despite the length, I never felt like the book got too bogged down with one story over another. No one character was more important than the next, and they all played an important role in the overall telling of this story. I did love the subtle rephrasing and retelling of so many classic nursery rhymes, folk tales, and witch tales into more feminist and generally less evil stories. It was so much fun to read and see how the stories or rhymes changed when the witch wasn't always evil for evil's sake!

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hanz's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No

3.0

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plethorian's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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beulah_devaney's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense 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

4.5

It took me a long time (at least a couple of months) to get into this book. I'd pick it up, read a few pages, and then put it down again, convinced that something horrible was about to happen to the three sisters. By the time I realised that they weren't going to be put through the parade of torture and mistery most books about the witch trials deal with, I was almost halfway through and couldn't put it down.

All of this isn't to suggest that The Once and Future Witches sanitizes the treatment of women. There's a palpable sense of menace hanging over the heads of the three Eastwood Sisters. They represent the Crone, the Mother and the Maiden, with all the danger and trauma those archetypes encounter. But in this alternative timeline (when witchcraft was real) there's also a sense of joy and wonder as women discover their forgotten spells and power.

While this isn't a comfortable or easy read, it's easy to get lost in the world of New and Old Salem.

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dasatain's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

This book was tremendous and empowering. I loved the connection between witchcraft and suffrage...the wild and dangerous idea that women’s words can have power. Beautifully written and had a great inside-the-fairy-tale feel that was really interesting. I was completely entranced! Bewitched, even.

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accovino's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.0

I enjoyed a lot of the ideas in this, but there were just too many places it bugged. I'm sick of reading about Salem, I'm bored by "what if [Historical Figure] but GENDER SWAPPED" and "what if [Historical Figure] but SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT NAME" and

the expendable character being the one who didn't fall in love

and the badass Black *supporting* character… Also it took me way too long to get into it, and WAY too long to remember who was who. I like that the tower is

a library

. I like that there is a trans character, minor though she is. I like that there is at least a mention of White women's history of one-sided "solidarity" and magic hidden in the open simply because women's work is never taken seriously. I just... I feel like someone needed to come in hard with the red pen and whip this into shape. I feel like "set in our world so I don't have to explain everything, but also everything is different" is a cop-out and a really irritating one for some reason? But mostly I just.. I really wanted to like this more than I did.

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