Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

51 reviews

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 against another edition

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

immovabletype's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Sexism, Torture, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Racism, Death, Death of parent, Hate crime, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Abortion, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, and Murder

Minor: Transphobia

kristasorocks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Torture

Minor: Child abuse

julianimal's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Racism, Torture, Cursing, Homophobia, and Murder

Minor: Abortion and Blood

alerasaul0's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Police brutality, Child abuse, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment

m0czy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

5.0

This book is feminist, witchy perfection. 

This book is so descriptive, and the prose eloquently paints the world in breathing color. 

The characters are flawed and powerful. Your heart will break for them and rejoice with them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Torture, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Racism, Transphobia, Abortion, and Sexism

Minor: Police brutality, Child abuse, Abandonment, and Lesbophobia

aimeemarie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad 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

This book was unexpected for me. I had a bit of a hard time getting into it, but by the time I was about a 1/3, maybe a 1/4 of the way through the pacing picked up to where I was finally throughly enjoying it and totally enthralled. There were indeed a few spots in the story that, to me, seemed like a natural ending point to the story, but I wasn’t displeased that it kept going either. I thought the story was very well written, and I particularly enjoyed how the story highlighted “alternate” versions of stories or tales that we have, in such a way that highlighted women.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Lesbophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Racism

Minor: Abortion and Transphobia

rockyroadbutch's review against another edition

adventurous 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: Sexism, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Death, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Genocide, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Torture

maregred's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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: Confinement, Death of parent, Suicide, Misogyny, Police brutality, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Grief, and Racism

Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Cursing, Animal death, Classism, Religious bigotry, Animal cruelty, Transphobia, and Domestic abuse