This book is exactly what I look for in a witchy setting/vibe the three sisters and witches in the story all had strong character development. There has been a lot of fantasy books recently with the theme of witches and its a theme I'm never bored of, however this is different in its approach, the author has created an extremely interesting alternative history. Please pick it up!

I loved The Ten Thousand Doors of January, and this was even better.

This is a book about sisterhood, and the nuances of feminism. Emphasis on nuances - this book doesn't shame women for putting themselves and those they care for above a cause, though does promote the idea that sometimes its worth putting yourselves and those you care for at risk when playing it safe isn't really playing it safe at all. We get to explore feminism through a truly intersectional lens, through race, sexuality, class, parenthood, careers, general upbringing, immigration etc. Though there are no non-binary characters that I recall, there is one secondary trans character, and magic itself is depicted as being very non-binary and fluid, with the female characters discovering "boys magic" and the male characters learning witchcraft. Speaking of the male characters - I loved how they were written. It would be very easy to make the men - especially the antagonists - one-dimensional, moustache twirling villains here, but it wouldn't be very effective way to tell a feminist tale, in my opinion. Again, nuance is utilised - for example one of the most supportive of the male characters, a socialist who has experience in rebellion, still starts off fairly sexist but is allowed to grow in the narrative, much as real life allies do (allies always start off ignorant to some extent), and plays an important role in helping the women. As for the most villainous of the male characters, he is not inherently evil - in fact he is something of a foil for June, who could quite easily go down a similar path to him due to her trauma and sense of vengeance.

All three of the sisters were fantastic characters. I think Agnes was my favourite, even though I could relate to June and Bella more. They were all badass in their own special ways and each embodied completely different yet equally valid versions of womanhood. The three sisters have a complicated history full of well-constructed miscommunication (I say well-constructed as it can so easily be done badly) and it's a joy to see them come together again, and how even when they are together there are still difficulties that arise between them that need to be overcome. But even at their lowest points when they practically despise each other, you can still feel their love for each other and the bond they have. It's so lovely.

Side note, I also love how June, who represents the Maiden, is kind of aro-ace coded (not sure if the author has confirmed she is ace but I definitely read her that way), while another "Maiden" character is not described as such, destroying the whole maiden=virginity concept while also allowing an ace-reading of the Maiden archetype. If that was the author's intention, then that's really cool.

Anyway, this book was awesome. It was so tense at times, and incredibly immersive. I know Alix E. Harrow's writing isn't for everybody, but if her first novel didn't work for you purely on writing style/structure, I'd still say check this out if the story interests you, as it's a bit less flowery and unconventional in this book. Also, this is easily one of my favourite feminist books, because it does it so well.

I still need to read A Spindle Splintered, but I think at this point Alix E. Harrow is easily an autobuy author for me!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a beautifully written book. Prior to this one I have only ever read a short story from Alix E Harrow, and in both pieces the prose is exquisite.

A well-balanced piece, with a plot that sings with importance and characters to care for and believe in.

This one felt a little too lengthy, and I feel it could have shone brighter for being a little shorter, a little more succinct, but otherwise a wonderful read and an author I'll be sure to pick up again in the future.

4 beautiful stars

There were multiple parts of this book that I adored; the way that magic and rhymes mixed together, the writing, the portal/magical aspect in general. I loved the way the sisters were fractured (over something that would have been historically accurate) and how they slowly wound and healed and came together. How this was set somewhere that isn't actually a place, however the time period, the lodgings, the work houses and suffragette movement were all historically accurate.

However, I do wonder if this book could have been slightly shorter as there was a loooot of character development and inner monolgue... It was gorgeously written however, and I am very glad that I have read it.

I also have listened to the audiobook and Gabra Zackmann is wonderful as always.

I thought that The Once and Future Witches was beautifully written - however, after also disliking Alix E. Harrow's previous work, I have come to the conclusion that her books just aren't for me. I wasn't a fan of any of the three sisters, and while I so wanted this book to be something I would love, it simply wasn't the case.

I was very disappointed by this one!
The description of this book was just so intriguing and sounded like something I would love but unfortunately it fell very flat for me.
I found myself confused by most of the plot and I think a major problem with that was that this was overwhelming with lots of different themes.
While I’m glad to see important topics represented, this felt like the main point of the book and some things just felt thrown in their for the sake of it without much build up or exploration. Also the world building was completely absent for me. I still don’t really understand the magic system and I couldn’t picture the time era at all from the descriptions as they were very lacking.
Also a big issue was the characters! Whilst I enjoyed the sister aspect of the story, the characters individually just felt flat and under developed. I feel like they needed more distinct personality because at some points I couldn’t even tell who was being talked about. I did enjoy the little fairytale story’s mixed in every now and again and honestly I could read a whole book of them with Harrows writing!
Beautiful writing but lacking in every other aspect it takes me to enjoy a book fully!

When I first heard of this book I absolutely loved the premise of it and was very much hyped and then as I saw people read and review I put off reading this as I was very intimidated by the massively mixed response to this book. After a year of putting this off, I finally read it and I have definitely learnt my lesson to not always let mixed reviews put me off a book because I adored this book.

I loved how different the three sisters are and how they each played an important role in the plot. How they came together and brought the women of New Salem together to push back against the patriarchy, introduce spells and more. I thought the balance between the suffragist movement as well as the witchcraft was perfect, with the witchcraft tipping the scales just the right amount. The magic was so beautifully written that this book had be crying both over what was actually happening and how beautiful the writing was.

This is definitely not a book everyone will love, as proven by the mixed reviews, but it is one hundred percent a book I would recommend everyone give a go.

3.75 stars

I quite enjoyed "The Once and Future Witches" even though the writing style took some time to get used to.
The characters were interesting and the magic system was unique and well thought out.
What I liked least was the ending because it felt a little too convenient and didn't really match the darker atmosphere of the rest of the novel in my opinion.

DNF @54%

To be honest I stopped reading this book a long time ago but I still had hope that I would pick it up again and finish it.

But I took a good look at my TBR and decided that it has been too long since this book caught my attention and even considered picking it back up.

And it's not because the book is bad, it is great! The story is very interesting, three sisters that went different ways and have lived their own lives either their way or someone else's for the sake of surviving and are now fighting for the things they've lost? I'll take that with a side of fries, thank you.

The story, the lore surrounding the witches, the characters, the rep are all there and it's great. But what really killed me and the reason I might not ever finish this book is the chapter length. They're just... so long. And the book itself it's terribly long. By the time I reached 50%, it felt like this could be a regular-length book and the second part might have worked as a sequel. But by the time the second part of the book came along I was so tired of reading, even if the story was appealing it still couldn't hold my interest THAT MUCH.

Will I ever finish it? Maybe. I don't know what even happened in the second part of the book and I don't want to find out unless I actually read it.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this. My expectations were quite high, and they weren't met, sadly. I just couldn't get into the story, and I feel like it had everything to do with the writing style.

Perfect book for the spooky season! I love a good witches tale and fact this includes so many for different origins makes my heart sing!
I have to admit, it took me some time to gel with the sisters but by the end I was routing for them all!
Would definitely recommend this book!

Powerful and emotional novel, loved the little tidbits that expanded the world ('Miss' Conan Doyle's novels, the 'Sisters' Grimm), loved the structure which echoed the fairytales and stories of magic so important to the story.

Absolutely fantastic read. Perfect for those who love witches and atmospheric books, then look no further. I adored it.

I absolutely loved this book, the world building and descriptions really pulled me into this world it was so easy to get lost in it.
The story is great and Eastwood sisters were such vibrant characters, I'm not usually a big one for fairy tales being incorporated in to this kind of setting but this was done really well.
This was the first book I read by Alix E. Harrow and I can't wait to read more!

Thank you for the advanced copy.

Thank you so much for the review copy!

Unfortunately I didn't click with the writing style. I found the sisters boring and unrelatable and the pace was too slow for me to get stuck in to.

While I have put this aside for now, I think I may come back to it in future.

I really wanted to like this. Alix e Harrow writes beautiful prose, and I hoped this would suit me better than Ten thousand doors did - since it didn’t really have any magic per say. The problem is, that the prose is too nice. I was a large portion into the book and nothing had happened.

The sisters, though with obvious traits, didn’t feel distinct. Perhaps because they’re all written in such a poetic way that it is hard to get to the bones of them. When all the prose sounds the same, no character has a distinct voice or personality. They all feel superficial and without personality that makes it obvious who is who. I just couldn’t feel connected to the sisters. Even the action felt detached and not interesting.

Clearly this work isn’t for me - but I have no doubt others can and will enjoy it. I just this the prose is maybe too purple for me.

I’d heard a lot of good things about The Once and Future Witches before I read it and I wouldn’t say that I was disappointed, but I don’t think my expectations of the book matched what it actually was. I’d recommend anyone who wants to pick up TOAFW to manage their expectations going into it too as it’s closer to historical fiction (with some magical elements) than it is to a pure fantasy book.

First up is to talk about the historical elements, which were clearly well researched by Harrow. In 1893 there’s an uprising of suffragists in New Salem and a fight for women’s rights, and it’s rightly pointed out that the movement isn’t completely inclusive and sometimes isn’t as effective as it could be. The world is an alternate history of ours, but it also includes a lot to think about when it focuses on politics.

Despite it being more historical fiction in it’s pacing and some world building, the book has an interesting magic system that I loved reading about. The witches are no more due to death, and mostly being killed off in witch trials. However, each woman no matter where they’ve come from has had “small words” whispered and passed down to them from mothers, aunts and grandmothers which allow them to use small magic and give women power.

The overall theme that I got from the book is about the strength of women, and the strength of family and friendships too. The strength of a woman is not tied to how tough she is, the way they act, how much education they have or even tied to their titles of mother, maiden or crone. But themselves as women, strength is needed every day to live and power can be shared and amplified through family, friends and strangers too.

Whilst the book focuses heavily on women, there’s also discourse around men having magic but a different kind of magic which can help them. There’s a group of men that do end up helping the sisters, and I found this to be reminiscent of power dynamics in our own society, where women can fight and fight but we also need men as allies to help our voices be truly heard sometimes.

One element that I think Harrow did purposefully is give each of the Eastwood sisters flaws which make them unlikable. When reading at the beginning, I found it harder to root for the sisters except out of the “I want women to be equal” goal. However as they come together as sisters, and build out the society they start to get better, and their strengths help overcome the flaws of others. It also helps that there’s a fantastic supporting cast of characters who you do end up loving.

Overall I think the biggest sticking point for me was that the book’s pacing is slow, and the long build up to the more magical elements is something I imagine many fantasy readers might not enjoy as much. I kept reading despite my own push back from the pacing, and found that I started to get more enthralled as the secret society builds (kind of like a secret that’s being whispered all over town). But I get why others might not make it that far into the book.

Thank you for allowing me to read this book in exchange for a review.

Sadly this book just waasn't my cup of tea.

I think I was just expecting more magic and just more from it,,,

The plot itself was good but for me it fell short on the character development and magical elements.

Thank you, Netgalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don't want to give a 2.5 stars because that would make this book an average one.

Plot: Three estranged sisters find their way back to each other because of witchcraft. One joins the fight for women's inequality and the others pitch in to expand witchcraft to women. Nothing is ever that easy and there comes a villain contesting for Mayor against witches and witchcraft.

Characters: All the three sisters even after deciding to stick together, go alone to pursue their own agenda and bring more trouble. They act too selfish and narrow minded without properly communicating with each other. Sometimes they think and plan, sometimes they just act on impulse. Their behavior was too frustrating making it impossible to like or care any of them.

Writing: There are too many fairy tale narrations within the book to count. Some are interesting but mostly are just dragging the story. There's sudden influx of characters and no way of remembering any of them. The story would've ended long time ago if it hadn't been for the extensive unwanted information or side stories.

To Summarise: The book could've been with crisp storyline, deep characters, about 150-200 pages lesser and more interesting. Sadly, it was not. The social, political and historical aspects were the only strengths.

The first thing that hit me and then proceeded to envelop me was how the story was written. To call it lyrical is not enough to convey how it resonated with me. Whether I was following the story within the words or not, I definitely appreciated the writing. When I tried to talk about it to someone else, I equated it to a linked chain; each word held the next in place and so forth, making the entire book a continuous flow.
I started with the best part (for me). I will now move on to the story itself. As the title proclaims, we have witches past, present and the future, but it is the present that concerns us the most because our lead protagonists of the current fight live in it. It is historical fantasy fiction which means their present is our past (sort of). The times are dark and challenging, especially for women and minorities. With a small spark and shared pain, things start to shake and change. There is no conclusive ending here but an ongoing fight. The underlying point, which I think the author successfully conveys, is the concept of 'seeing' the other people in your surroundings instead of just passing them by.
The only reason I am not giving it a full five stars despite all the glowing praise is that it felt a little too long. Nothing actually repeated, so I can not say what I would have skipped. Overall, if it had been shorter, the spell the words cast on me would have held on a little longer, and I would not have been able to put the book away the number of times I did (in order to do regular day to day activities). I would recommend it to people who like a little spin in the style of narration. People who prefer a more straightforward approach are not those I would coax into giving this a shot.
The fight and the consequences, the pain and the bonds form the core of the narrative, and I actually enjoyed it even more than the previous work.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the 'words' in the book are the only thing that influenced my review.