Review: The Once and Future Witches


The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Set in an alternate 1893, Alix Harrow's second novel gives us the story of three estranged sisters who are very different women, who have come through the abuses at the hands of their angry and bitter father by running away from home and each other. James Juniper aka June, is the youngest and she opens the story after her flight from a burning house to the town of New Salem where, in a suffragist rally, she miraculously finds her sisters Agnes Amaranth (the middle daughter) and Beatrice Belladona (the oldest). Each of the sisters has a personal struggle, whether June's sad childhood leg injury and anger that is a force of nature, or Agnes' being pregnant out of wedlock, or Bella's struggle with her attraction to women. Possessed of some of the keys of magic like the will, they will seek the words and the ways of magic together, in pursuit of women's equality and a better future for Agnes' soon to be born daughter, Eve. The journey will be long, hard, painful, and sad, though the novel does end with much welcome optimism.

The Once and Future Witches has so many elements I love in stories (witches, suffragists, feminism, sisters, and it's a book about books and libraries) and therefore I find myself in an odd position of being not wholly satisfied with the novel. There was much to love in the idea of the book, such as the sisters' distinct personalities and their fierce and undying love for each other in spite of all they had been through together and apart. I also loved Cleo and her confident, loving manner, Jennie and Inez, all the women who fought in spite of being afraid, and August Lee, who turned out to be a marvelous man. The pacing of the novel felt uneven, however, and the culmination of the battle between the good witches of New Salem, and an old devil somehow felt oddly contrived. I may, however, in all honesty, be suffering from reading Alice Hoffman's Magic Lessons, C. L. Polk's The Midnight Bargain, and this novel, all of which have very similar themes of feminism and witches or sorceresses, back to back to back. Overall, however, this is a solid fantasy novel that I can easily recommend as a seasonal read for Samhain/All Soul's celebrations.

The audiobook, narrated by Gabra Zackman, is quite nicely done.

CW: references to sexual assault, burnings, attempted burnings, torture

I received a digital review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.




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