Reviews

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

funkylindsay's review

4.0

I thought I would be immediately in love with this book because I loved Alex Harrow’s other two books so much. Strong witchy suffragist sisters. I expected to be spellbound all the way through.

I got disengaged in places. The pacing was slow and the book was long (500+ pages). The majority of the book is women talking to each other. Lots of knowledge sharing and building community, and very little plot movement. Sometimes she pushed too many themes into it. It’s well-written but I wasn’t captured by every chapter.

Ultimately though, I really enjoyed this book. It was charming. I especially liked when the action picked up in part 4 when everything finally came together- past, present, future.

sklus's review

5.0

I loved how bits of folk tales and myths weaved their way throughout the story. It made if feel a little bit more magical, a little bit more like this might have happened and that it might happen again.

anabila's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

3.0

paige71's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-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? Yes

4.75

mitskacir's review against another edition

1.0

Oh God did I dislike this book. I powered through it because I have trouble quitting books mid-read, and I was optimistic that it would improve. It did not. I felt no connection to any of the characters, the writing was extremely boring and repetitive, and I was disappointed by the premise. This had very little to do with the suffrage movement (suffragists are introduced early in the book but then are quickly dismissed as being useless), and the world building felt too disconnected from reality. There were some references to the role race, sexuality, class, etc. operated in the world, but its exploration was shallow and it didn't feel anchored in history enough. The three main characters were characterized by the Crone, Mother, and Maiden tropes, and were referred to as such in the text so much I wanted to throw my book. Nearly every time a character's name is mentioned, we get "Bella, the wise bookish Crone" or "Juniper, the wild Maiden" etc. I only knew that characters were attracted to/in love with each other because during every encounter we were told that they would blush or throw sultry looks at each other, without any underlying chemistry. I have no idea where the multitude of high reviews came from.

wwhimm's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-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? Yes

4.0

manilace's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

jmcmillan18's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

ksenia_'s review

challenging dark emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

2.75

I really did not enjoy this book. It felt like a lot of telling and not showing. The romances were tacked on. The suffrage movement is used more as a setting, rather than a theme that is being deeply explored. The feminism of this book is very shallow, the villain forgettable.

I feel like this would be better as a short story or a novella than a book.

cconant265's review

5.0

This is not my usual genre, but absolutely adored this book. It was so creative and engaging. I would highly recommend to anyone, no matter their preferred genre!