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A review by okiecozyreader
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Honestly, maybe 3.5 rounded to 4?
I felt like this chapter moved better for me than Ten Thousand Doors, but there were just parts of it that I could have skipped. It’s just so long, and I guess, not my favorite. I liked The Change better, kind of a similar idea, but it was more compelling to me.
The cover and the rough edges made this such a beautiful paperback, though. I’m looking forward to discussing with my bookclub Monday. I don’t think I’m 4 years, we have had a fantasy book, so it will be interesting.
The Eastwood sisters in New Salem have been separated since there was a fire at their home. The youngest sister, James Juniper, who is blamed for the murder of her father is mad that her sisters deserted with the evil man, and she comes across a chant that she can’t get out of her head and she repeats until a magical tower appears and disappears. The community wants to get rid of all Magic and witches and becomes afraid, except for the women who use a little magic to make their lives a little better. This occurrence also brings her back into the lives of her sisters: Beatrice Belladonna (Bella), a librarian; and Agnes Amaranth, a worker who has her own secret. The sisters find their own connection to Crone, Mother, and Maiden, the three archetypes in the witch-tales.
“Agnes learned young that you have a family right up until you don’t. You take care of people right up until you can’t, until you have to choose between staying and surviving.” P14
“Witching and women’s rights. Suffrage and spells. They’re both… a kind of power aren’t they? The kind we aren’t allowed to have.” P47
“Well, I think maybe magic wants to be found. And I think maybe we’re the ones who are supposed to find it.” P125
“Surely trust is never truly broken, but merely lost…. And what is lost, can’t that be found?” P160
“Then Agnes is alone, feeling like a snake or a shard of glass, something that hurts if you hold it close.” P176
“And now all of it’s gone and all our hope with it. …
What have I done?” …
“But let’s look at what you’ve done, Belladonna Eastwood. You have called back the Lost Way of Avalon and spread its secrets around half the city. You saved both your sisters’ lives. You stood for something. You lost something. … You gained something too, I think.” P335
“The Three waited. They studied and argued and wept, despaired and dreamed, undying, and eventually they lay themselves down to sleep. They let the shape of themselves coil down among the black roots and dark earth, slipping between stones and the brittle pages of books.” P409
“Together they dared to dream of a better world, where women weren’t broken and sisters weren’t sundered and rage wasn’t swallowed, over and over again.” P436
“Maybe magic is just the space between what you have and what you need”… p459
“Maleficae quondam, maleficaeque futurae.” … “in English, it’s ‘witches once and witches in the future.” …
“I think it means witches will return one day, no matter how many of us they burn.” P464
“I am a witch. … And so are my sisters, and so will be my daughter and my daughter’s daughter. …
And so is every woman who says what she shouldn’t or wants what she can’t have, who fights for her fair share.” P467
“Or maybe dying for someone else is just worth more than living for yourself.” P489
I felt like this chapter moved better for me than Ten Thousand Doors, but there were just parts of it that I could have skipped. It’s just so long, and I guess, not my favorite. I liked The Change better, kind of a similar idea, but it was more compelling to me.
The cover and the rough edges made this such a beautiful paperback, though. I’m looking forward to discussing with my bookclub Monday. I don’t think I’m 4 years, we have had a fantasy book, so it will be interesting.
The Eastwood sisters in New Salem have been separated since there was a fire at their home. The youngest sister, James Juniper, who is blamed for the murder of her father is mad that her sisters deserted with the evil man, and she comes across a chant that she can’t get out of her head and she repeats until a magical tower appears and disappears. The community wants to get rid of all Magic and witches and becomes afraid, except for the women who use a little magic to make their lives a little better. This occurrence also brings her back into the lives of her sisters: Beatrice Belladonna (Bella), a librarian; and Agnes Amaranth, a worker who has her own secret. The sisters find their own connection to Crone, Mother, and Maiden, the three archetypes in the witch-tales.
“Agnes learned young that you have a family right up until you don’t. You take care of people right up until you can’t, until you have to choose between staying and surviving.” P14
“Witching and women’s rights. Suffrage and spells. They’re both… a kind of power aren’t they? The kind we aren’t allowed to have.” P47
“Well, I think maybe magic wants to be found. And I think maybe we’re the ones who are supposed to find it.” P125
“Surely trust is never truly broken, but merely lost…. And what is lost, can’t that be found?” P160
“Then Agnes is alone, feeling like a snake or a shard of glass, something that hurts if you hold it close.” P176
“And now all of it’s gone and all our hope with it. …
What have I done?” …
“But let’s look at what you’ve done, Belladonna Eastwood. You have called back the Lost Way of Avalon and spread its secrets around half the city. You saved both your sisters’ lives. You stood for something. You lost something. … You gained something too, I think.” P335
“The Three waited. They studied and argued and wept, despaired and dreamed, undying, and eventually they lay themselves down to sleep. They let the shape of themselves coil down among the black roots and dark earth, slipping between stones and the brittle pages of books.” P409
“Together they dared to dream of a better world, where women weren’t broken and sisters weren’t sundered and rage wasn’t swallowed, over and over again.” P436
“Maybe magic is just the space between what you have and what you need”… p459
“Maleficae quondam, maleficaeque futurae.” … “in English, it’s ‘witches once and witches in the future.” …
“I think it means witches will return one day, no matter how many of us they burn.” P464
“I am a witch. … And so are my sisters, and so will be my daughter and my daughter’s daughter. …
And so is every woman who says what she shouldn’t or wants what she can’t have, who fights for her fair share.” P467
“Or maybe dying for someone else is just worth more than living for yourself.” P489
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Abortion