The Once and Future Witches – Book Review

Hi friends! Welcome to my The Once and Future Witches Book Review! I read this book back in December and I am super excited to finally share my thoughts with you. Let’s get into it.

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Title: Once and Future Witches

Author: Alix E. Harrow

Rating: 6.2/3 Stars

Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Content Warnings: N/A

Format: Physical Copy/eARC

Publisher: Orbit

Date Published: October 13th 2020

Goodreads Description: 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.

I received a review copy from Jonathan Ball Publishers and Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Review

I wish I could remember what happened in this book, but alas. I had originally planned to give this book 3.5 stars, but since I cannot remember anything I decided to knock it down to 3 stars.

Characters – 6/10

I really enjoyed all three sisters in this story. They each had their own unique voice and personality but I wasn’t that invested in their stories. We start off with Juniper’s POV, and by the end, her POV hardly ever comes up. This book constantly jumped between their POVs, and even though they were distinct I found myself not caring about what happened to them. They were often lost in their own heads and thoughts, which really disconnected me from the story. That sounds terrible, I know, but I think that was a pacing issue as well.

We meet a lot of side characters who are barely memorable and who don’t contribute much to the story. Beatrice was my favourite out of the three of them, but all in all, I would say most of the characters were pretty forgettable.

Atmosphere – 8/10

One thing this book has going for it is the atmosphere. Fairytales are often spun in between the stories and they add so much to the world and general feel of the book. The Once and Future Witches reads like a fairytale, which isn’t a bad thing. I could clearly picture New Salem and I wanted to join the suffragist movement as they fought for our rights.

You can clearly tell a lot of love and research went into this book and it shows through the descriptions and the atmosphere.

Writing – 7/10

Alix E. Harrow’s writing doesn’t particularly stand out for me. It’s not overly flowery (which I like) but it wasn’t mind-blowing either.

Plot – 6/10

I have some pacing issues with this book as I mentioned above. It often felt like the story was ending, or preparing to end, and then it just picked back up again. It made me feel like the whole middle of the book was just dragging along. We follow a bunch of mini-arcs throughout the story, but the overarching plot gets lost in the sauce.

Intrigue – 5/10

I will admit that I was bored through most of the middle of the book. There was nothing that really intrigued me other than the magic system, which is wonderfully thought out. However, I need characters and plot to go with it.

Logic – 6/10

In context, everything makes perfect sense about this book. The magic system works really well and is explained really well. We also see a lot of historical references to the social and political climate and it adds the right amount of tension to the story.

Enjoyment – 6/10

Overall I enjoyed certain aspects of this book but found the plot and the characters a little lacking.

Let me know your thoughts on The Once and Future Witches (book review).

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