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A review by emfass
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book. Oh my god, this book.
I have been in a horrible reading slump for two months, grumpy about everything and not feeling pulled to pick up any book that I was trying to get through (except for an audiobook buddy reread of the Hunger Games series). Then my women's book club picked this for our October read, since the host wanted something witchy.
This book was everything I didn't know I wanted. It blasted my reading slump to smithereens, and I feel so deeply grateful and in awe. The prose. THE PROSE. I cannot. Maybe this is what helped break my reading slump, it was so lush and poetic and just stunningly gorgeous and different from anything I've read in a long time. The story interweaves sisterhood, feminism, women's suffrage, collective power, and magic steeped in fairy tales and folklore and "women's work" and the ways that women have to move through the world in order to survive.
The book is set in 1893, in a world and timeline that very clearly references events in our own but changes things a smidge (for example: referencing Eugene Debs and the Railway Union strike, and the "Square Shirtwaist Fire" that is clearly meant to represent the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which happened in 1911). But it was oh so clear to me that it was written in the aftermath of #MeToo and Trump's election; there are certain passages that are hauntingly relatable today. Harrow drops in plenty of little moments that we as women have to deal with every damn day and calls out the injustice of it all.
I will say that I feel somewhat conflicted about the ending, and look forward to processing it with the other folks in my book club this weekend. But this is hands-down one of my favorite reads of 2021.
I listened to this on audio and narrator Gabra Zackman is a dream. She shows such love for the prose, and creates distinct voices for the (many many) characters while showing them a lot of love as well.
My one small complaint about the audiobook is that during the chapters where fairy tales are retold, there is underscoring throughout the chapter, and the mix felt really imbalanced - I struggled to hear the narration over the music, which irked me. (I am a sound designer by trade, and also have some auditory/information processing issues with things like this.)
I have been in a horrible reading slump for two months, grumpy about everything and not feeling pulled to pick up any book that I was trying to get through (except for an audiobook buddy reread of the Hunger Games series). Then my women's book club picked this for our October read, since the host wanted something witchy.
This book was everything I didn't know I wanted. It blasted my reading slump to smithereens, and I feel so deeply grateful and in awe. The prose. THE PROSE. I cannot. Maybe this is what helped break my reading slump, it was so lush and poetic and just stunningly gorgeous and different from anything I've read in a long time. The story interweaves sisterhood, feminism, women's suffrage, collective power, and magic steeped in fairy tales and folklore and "women's work" and the ways that women have to move through the world in order to survive.
The book is set in 1893, in a world and timeline that very clearly references events in our own but changes things a smidge (for example: referencing Eugene Debs and the Railway Union strike, and the "Square Shirtwaist Fire" that is clearly meant to represent the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which happened in 1911). But it was oh so clear to me that it was written in the aftermath of #MeToo and Trump's election; there are certain passages that are hauntingly relatable today. Harrow drops in plenty of little moments that we as women have to deal with every damn day and calls out the injustice of it all.
I will say that I feel somewhat conflicted about the ending, and look forward to processing it with the other folks in my book club this weekend. But this is hands-down one of my favorite reads of 2021.
I listened to this on audio and narrator Gabra Zackman is a dream. She shows such love for the prose, and creates distinct voices for the (many many) characters while showing them a lot of love as well.
My one small complaint about the audiobook is that during the chapters where fairy tales are retold, there is underscoring throughout the chapter, and the mix felt really imbalanced - I struggled to hear the narration over the music, which irked me. (I am a sound designer by trade, and also have some auditory/information processing issues with things like this.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Racism, Torture, and Transphobia
Minor: Abortion and Vomit