In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.
But when the Eastwood sisters--James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna--join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote-and perhaps not even to live-the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.
There's no such thing as witches. But there will be.
It took me a while to finish this one, not because it's boring, quite the contrary. There is plenty of action, and Harrow makes you care about her characters in such a way that the tension and set-backs are almost too much at times. As in her other novels, she knows how to dig in the themes of loss, anger and reconciliation. Her vivid prose drips metaphors much better than this one, and her use and reinterpretation of fairy tales and children rhymes is really interesting. A fun and terrific book!
A witchy tale based on the 1800’s around the time of the fight for women’s suffrage… with representation of the many walks of life women find ourselves in. The author need not strain much to make it feel modern though, as present day struggles closely resemble those long past.
Review of 'Once and Future Witches' on 'Storygraph'
3 stars
By all outward signs I should have loved this book, but I just could not connect with it in the end.
The author has a beautiful writing style—it’s clear from the tone of the story, specific repetitions of phrases, and focus on immediate identifying details that they’re invoking the sparse yet fantastical style of the stories retold by the Brothers Grimm. This adds a fairytale sheen to an alternate world that may have a similar past to ours, but where the magic in those stories is very real. Despite the sparseness of this style, the author absolutely knows how to paint a compelling scene, and the later part of the book is full of fantastic set pieces for this dark tale about a trio of sisters rising above their past abuse and the misogyny they’ve experienced at the hands of society to become symbols of freedom and rebellion as …
By all outward signs I should have loved this book, but I just could not connect with it in the end.
The author has a beautiful writing style—it’s clear from the tone of the story, specific repetitions of phrases, and focus on immediate identifying details that they’re invoking the sparse yet fantastical style of the stories retold by the Brothers Grimm. This adds a fairytale sheen to an alternate world that may have a similar past to ours, but where the magic in those stories is very real. Despite the sparseness of this style, the author absolutely knows how to paint a compelling scene, and the later part of the book is full of fantastic set pieces for this dark tale about a trio of sisters rising above their past abuse and the misogyny they’ve experienced at the hands of society to become symbols of freedom and rebellion as witches.
These set pieces would’ve been thrilling to read had I cared more about the characters.
In service of this alternate universe fairytale, I think the author leaned a little too hard on the three main character’s assigned archetypes—Maiden, Mother, and Crone—because I can’t say much about them beyond those roles. They are reactive rather than proactive in a story that’s supposed to be about them breaking free of social expectations, feeling like they’re just following the scripts for their archetypes.
The rest of the characters get the shorter end of the stick. There’s a revolving door of side characters who never get much definition beyond hair color and a handful of lines. It feels like they exist just to embody the idea of a ‘movement’ kind of in the same way a chorus fills the role of the general public in musical theater. A lot of words are said about how they’re Sisters, just not in blood, and how they learn to count on each other, but we never really see it on the page, just told that the bond is there. This is most awkwardly exemplified in the scene towards the end of the book where one of the girls explains that she’s trans, and I had to spend a minute trying to remember which character she was.
The romance interests fare a bit better, but from their introductions alone it’s pretty clear what their roles are as well. While I understand that romance was not the focus of this book, I wish that there was more exploration about how these relationships made both parties better people rather than being used as a shortcut to overcome trauma so that the main characters can get back to dismantling the patriarchy.
The book also has a problem keeping its focus. The sisters are the core of this book, and the relationship between them is strongly emphasized. However, for a majority of the book the sisters each have a misunderstanding about their relationship, the kind that would be easy to resolve if they would just talk to each other about it. Instead, it takes over 300 pages of a 500 page book to fully resolve the misunderstandings, long after the plot has thrown them into numerous life or death situations where, if they didn’t care about each other, one or more of them would’ve been in deeper trouble. It’s hard to be invested in reading about a sibling relationships when the siblings themselves refuse to discuss it. There’s also the way the book meanders between perspectives, the aforementioned lack of meaningful detail for the side characters, the framing device of the suffragette movement and an alternate history that gradually gets dropped, and a mustache-twirling villain that was more horrifying when he was toned down a bit.
There’s more that I could go on about, but the core is this—the book needs the reader to buy into the main characters and their relationship, and since I wasn’t able to do that, the most I got out of this book was enjoying the pretty turns of phrase. There were times when I felt this book working its magic on me, when I would get pulled into a scene and I’d feel immersed in what the author was attempting—but then a perspective would shift, or a character I couldn’t remember would resurface, or there’d be a real world reference in the middle of performing magic, and I’d get thrown back out again. I wanted to like this book, but the magic just didn’t work on me.
A view on current issues through a story on women's suffrage
4 stars
Well crafted story and magic and women's rights. What's not to love?
(The rest of the review is super personal; I wonder if it has the same effect on others.)
I was angry for and with the characters, not at them. Which was the point of the book, sure. But it was relentless. By the end of book I was exhausted. And I realized that I need that energy for issues in the real world; I need to save my anger energy these days.
Review of 'The Once and Future Witches' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This is not a soft book. This book tugs at the parts of me that survived abusive family, exboyfriends, cancer... That has lost jobs for speaking up against "those jokes".
I adored it. It's about the power women (and yes this book means ALL WOMEN) have when they come together against their oppressor.
Review of 'The Once and Future Witches' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
There was a lot I liked about this one. Let me quickly get some of the criticisms out of the way. I felt things meandered a bit and could have been tighter, some of the characters' decisions felt like plot conveniences, and the writing bordered on melodramatic. Some of the characters were more well written and fleshed out than others.
That being said, I really enjoyed the themes of the story, that it had a relatively diverse cast, the hidden bits of magic everywhere, and Juniper as a character. Some of the writing and imagery is beautiful, and the author really has a transportive way to talk about smells of all things.
I'd recommend this for its story of magic, strong female characters (including queer ones), and uprising against your oppressors.
Review of 'The Once and Future Witches' on 'Goodreads'
No rating
I heard about this book from a retweet of a tweet from the author. She said that one of the weirdest complaints that she gets about this book is that it was too political. She said she didn't know what people expected from a book about lesbian suffragette witches. I was in. I listened to this on audio and I think that was the best choice for me. The writing is very lyrical and descriptive. That style tends to bore me when I am reading. I'm a get to the point kind of person. It was soothing on audio though. The story is set in an alternate Massachusetts where witches are real but shunned. Most every woman knows a little spell or two passed down from their mothers and grandmothers. That's not really witching though, is it? When a group of estranged sisters accidentally trigger the reappearance of a mysterious …
I heard about this book from a retweet of a tweet from the author. She said that one of the weirdest complaints that she gets about this book is that it was too political. She said she didn't know what people expected from a book about lesbian suffragette witches. I was in. I listened to this on audio and I think that was the best choice for me. The writing is very lyrical and descriptive. That style tends to bore me when I am reading. I'm a get to the point kind of person. It was soothing on audio though. The story is set in an alternate Massachusetts where witches are real but shunned. Most every woman knows a little spell or two passed down from their mothers and grandmothers. That's not really witching though, is it? When a group of estranged sisters accidentally trigger the reappearance of a mysterious black tower, women start to be more forthcoming about what they can really do. Not everyone is pleased.I loved the fact that most of the witch knowledge has been passed down in fairy tales. The book includes a lot of gender-bent fairy tales where the women and girls are the powerful ones. Those were fun.I was a bit afraid that this book was going to get a little too White Savior at points. The three sisters are white women who are bumbling through and not really knowing what they are doing. They are helped by an order of Black witches who have been honing their magic for a long time. It was feeling a bit like the Black women have been doing the work and now the white folks are going to swoop in and take the credit. It veered away from that some but it is still there. The story was self-aware enough though to have the Black women call them on it. I saw this more as a typical fantasy Good vs Evil story than an overtly political one so I don't know what that original commenter was talking about. I'm glad they complained though so I could find this author and story. I'm looking forward to her next book. This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story
Review of 'The Once and Future Witches' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I may have had some issues with the focus of characters in The Ten Thousand Doors of January but it was clear that Alix E. Harrow can write a story, and I didn't hesitate to jump in to The Once and Future Witches.
The story packs more than witches and spells. There are messages about equality, tolerance and the strength that love from family can bring. I found it particularly cute how nursery rhymes, song lyrics and stories were interwoven in to the narrative.
The book didn't strike me in any strong way, it was an enjoyable read and firmly in the liked it category.
There is a huge amount going on this book, probably a bit too much. It's a wonderful story about three sisters, witchcraft, and a fight against injustice. I love the half fantasy, half real world, the snippets of re-told fairy tales, the magic. The three sisters are all great characters, with very different approaches and views on the world. On the other hand this is a big book, with a bit too much going on. There's so many side stories and characters who appear and disappear that it's kind of hard to stay engaged with it all. I think there was a desire to show all the different sides of the struggle, but it's just a bit too much for one book.
This is really good, but The Ten Thousand Doors of January is better.
Review of 'The Once and Future Witches' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I didn't connect solidly with the characters and while the feminism is appreciated, the execution felt heavy-handed.
However! The writing! And the subtle historical and literary twists!
Not every reader will like the writing (another reviewer referred to it as "purple" and I understand why) but for me, it landed perfectly with the rural Southern character voices.
The way every fairy tale (now witch-tales) is just a tiny bit altered was delightful. The way the disparate tales connect is intriguing.
Bottom line, the faults did make it slow-going at times, but the virtues made it worth it.
