A review by kimmag92
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

I wanted to like The Once and Future Witches much more than I actually did. The premise is magic has always existed in the world and before the Plague women were rulers and leaders of society until men turned against them and magic was relegated to something shameful. In the story we follow three sisters who were abused by their father and who come together seven years later in New Salem who take up women’s suffrage as a way to bring magic back to women. 

Though I greatly enjoyed the premise of the book I found Harrow’s execution to not be great. The explanation of the world was muddled and unclear and so was the magic system. Also, each chapter is told from a different sisters perspective. How she did this was quite clunky as instead of each chapter having a heading of the sisters name, like many multi POV books do, she started the first sentence of each chapter with the sisters name. It felt rudimentary.

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