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A review by woahno
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
4.0
Between the short stories I have read by Alix E. Harrow and last year's The Ten Thousand Doors of January, this novel was propelled to the top of my TBR upon its release by sheer virtue of being the next thing. It's always a magical experience as a reader when you find a writer that has a style you eat up and Harrow is that for me.
What I liked.
For starters, the writing. I love the prose. I love how the magic seems to be filled into the gaps between the lines. It is not always an overt display of some kind but rather a subtle working within a scene. As it says in the book:
The character work was on point as well. The Eastwood sisters especially were great. It makes sense that the main characters were the most interesting but that isn't always the case. I particularly liked Juniper. She was my favorite. She did a lot of questionable yet entertaining things and was constantly propelling the plot forward. Sometimes you just need a person to come in and make things happen without really thinking it through. That was Juniper in this book and I found it to be delightful.
What I did not like.
As much as I love the magic it can be a double edged sword. There were times when I was like "Wait, what?! How did they do that? Why haven't they been doing that before now?" and on that line of thinking goes. I love soft magic systems but it can be a draw back at times and it took me out of this story a few times. Also, I found the pacing to be a bit slow on occasion. Neither were major drawbacks, but they were there.
Overall, this was a great read. The concept and execution were enough to keep me interested throughout most of the novel and the prose had me invested in the rest. I'll continue to put Harrow's work on the top of my TBR whenever she releases them.
What I liked.
For starters, the writing. I love the prose. I love how the magic seems to be filled into the gaps between the lines. It is not always an overt display of some kind but rather a subtle working within a scene. As it says in the book:
“That’s all magic is, really: the space between what you have and what you need.”I love this quote. I love this concept. And I love how it plays into the magic and the world on display in The Once and Future Witches. It lends a weight to the spells and willpower of the characters, and also to stories of old that are incorporated throughout.
The character work was on point as well. The Eastwood sisters especially were great. It makes sense that the main characters were the most interesting but that isn't always the case. I particularly liked Juniper. She was my favorite. She did a lot of questionable yet entertaining things and was constantly propelling the plot forward. Sometimes you just need a person to come in and make things happen without really thinking it through. That was Juniper in this book and I found it to be delightful.
What I did not like.
As much as I love the magic it can be a double edged sword. There were times when I was like "Wait, what?! How did they do that? Why haven't they been doing that before now?" and on that line of thinking goes. I love soft magic systems but it can be a draw back at times and it took me out of this story a few times. Also, I found the pacing to be a bit slow on occasion. Neither were major drawbacks, but they were there.
Overall, this was a great read. The concept and execution were enough to keep me interested throughout most of the novel and the prose had me invested in the rest. I'll continue to put Harrow's work on the top of my TBR whenever she releases them.