Reviews with content warning for Grief - Weyward

Overall, I enjoyed the stories. Solidarity between women, close family members, and distant relatives and ancestors is a lovely topic. I liked the way the women took inspiration from one another and passed knowledge along for the next.

The change in point of view and tense was very jarring, and the chapters were so short. It truly felt, sometimes, like nothing had happened in a chapter. I wish the chapters were longer.

At first I thought the book would be better as three separate stories, but I don’t agree with that impression anymore. I think, as the three women’s stories progressed, that they were woven together very well.

Violet’s story was my favorite. Almost a coming-of-age arc, I loved watching Violet grow into herself and lean into who she is. I felt the most emotional towards Violet’s circumstances and the most vindicated by her story’s climax and resolution.

Altha’s was my second favorite by a very close margin. I liked that we ended up reading her story in non-chronological order, it left me very curious about what could possibly happen in part three. I loved the ending was left pretty open compared to the other two.

Kate’s was by far my least favorite. Even though hers had the most immediate action of the three stories and took place over the longest period of time, and even though her character development was on par with Violet’s, it *felt* like nothing happened in her arc. Fundamentally I disagree with her biggest choice, and I absolutely do not relate to her reaction to the consequences of the choice she made, so she was very difficult to empathize with. The climax of her story was incredibly underwhelming- she deserved more time to bask in her power.

All in all it’s a good read about female empowerment and I would recommend it!

Content Warnings

sarahmaemae's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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daniellekat's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

I loved the writing and was immediately and easily rooting for each main character. I thought the changing POVs was used well, but I felt that the book had a bit too much telling and not enough showing. Hart clearly has talent and I appreciated that she didn't paint every male character the same (although nearly all were scum). The ending felt a bit rushed together and I wish there was bit more mystery. While I really enjoyed this and devoured it in a couple of days, I would never recommend this without strongly suggesting taking a look at the content warnings. Some of this book was difficult to read and I'm grateful that I didn't go into this book blindly.

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emilywemily6's review

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I think if I was in a different mood/headspace I would have enjoyed this book more. It was very tense and melancholic, so I felt a lack of hope for the first 65% of the book. That made it hard to read and enjoy. The writing style was also a little off for me, lots of beautiful prose juxtaposed against some really stilted sentence structure. Since I was listening to the audiobook I noticed that. I liked the themes and seeing three different witches and how their heritage affected their lives, but this wasn’t my favorite type of story. Lots of on page trauma and triggers, so be aware of that.

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