Firstly, this book is creative; the lyrical and creative writing lifts from the pages and you can take time and savour the words. Harrow is also just as creative with her punctuation, and you get a real sense of crafting throughout. The structure and plot are meticulously planned and literary history, actual history and the female is reworked and re-represented in a mix of childhood rhymes, fairy tales and lore.
An evenly paced story, that allows the reader to indulge in good storytelling against a backdrop of more pertinent and relevant themes. Gender, race, and identity are woven into the threads of this story. On its surface is a story of three sisters, of how they became separated and how their witchcraft begins to define them. There is a great bond, although severely fractured, between these three women. I love their flawed but powerful characters, and how over time we begin to view each one differently. Harrow connects the female, and her repression over centuries into the current lives of the three Eastwood sisters. History is re-worked as a plot device to relay themes of repression, feminism, racism, women's suffrage, patriarchy, and persecution.
The Eastwood Sisters are great characters; they are not perfect; they have let each other down and are rather downtrodden and lost at the start. They soon change their current situations and begin a battle to promote witchcraft in a town that would have them burned. Their power and determination become a strong reading hook, as they unite to battle inequality and subjection from a shadowy, evil nemesis.
A book of witchy spells, creative fairy tales and the power of words with powerful overriding themes. It is also a great adventure: a book of love and resilience in the face of powerful adversaries.

This might end up being one of the shortest reviews I write as I just can't seem to find the words for this book, but it is utterly, utterly spellbinding and I absolutely LOVED it.

Following three sisters (naturally), it is a tale of family and of loyalties, betrayals, suffering and survival, set in a time when women are second class citizens with no rights and no voice.

The sisters Eastwood are unexpectedly reunited following the death of their abusive father, but as they meet, magic stirs.

For this is also a tale of magic. Of wills and ways and words, of forgotten rhymes and passed down tales, of nature's treasures and objects found, of old wives' tales and whispers on the grapevine.

Juniper is a wonderful character, a determined and wilful force of nature. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned seems like an apt description, although it tuns much deeper than that and her tenderness, fragility, youth and yearning are all expertly woven into her tale too.

Determined to see a change, or to be that change, what begins as her joining the suffragist movement quickly becomes much more as she riles against the injustice and mistreatment rife around her.

This is a story of sisterhood, of strong females and strong female bonds, of standing up for yourself and helping those around you do the same.

It is a tale of revenge, regret and powerful emotions; of hate, grief, love and fear.

It is a tale both historical and relevant, political and personal, magical and real.

It is a tale showing how fierce a fairytale can be.

Indeed, the way in which fairytales are used in the story is so clever and effective and, ultimately, so incredibly captivating.

Absolutely one of my favourite reads this year. I had it on netgalley but bought the hardback halfway through, as soon as it was released and have ordered Alix's first book 'The Ten Doors of January' to be one of my first reads in the new year.

This is a story that spoke straight to my heart and my love of all things fairytale, witchy, folkloric and other.

Like all the best stories, this was filled with the familiar made new. A story of rebellion, suffrage and witchcraft. Three sisters, battered by life and tired of being disregarded and powerless. Three women, wanting more than they have. Three witches, with the power of sisterhood and the will to raise hell for their independence. This was a grubby, dangerous and enchanting tale of violence, women’s rights, gender, race & homophobia, all told through the lens of old fairy stories & nursery rhymes. Wild, wicked & wonderful.

The book stole my heart and I couldn’t put it down. Being a big lover of witchcraft books, I had never read one regarding witches in the 1800’s and the witch trails which occurred.

I loved the twist regarding the bad guy of the story and didn’t expect the story which came behind it. The idea that nursery rhymes, fairytales and children stories could be spells and wards was an amazing concept which I throughly enjoyed. The sister witches were their own people but different in their own ways and I loved the fact each one had their own interesting storylines as well as interlinked.

This book pulled on my heartstrings at so many points and I connected with each of the main characters as if I was living the story with them. Beautifully written and easy to get sucked into the world. I’m honestly jealous of anyone who gets to read this for the first time!

This is such a brilliant, spell-binding story of sisters both by blood and common ground; of friendship; or betrayal and dark shadows. Alix Harrow's writing is magical and lyrical and her characters inspiring and emotional. The journey the three Eastwood sisters take is such an inspirational story with the strong message of fighting together for what is right just as relevant today, and this story embodies the courage needed to achieve this justice.
This is definitely now one of my all time favourite reads.

Edit:

Okay, I'm ready to talk about it.

This is one of my favourite books of all time.

Orbit very kindly sent me a finished copy after I had some issues with the e-ARC, and oh my god I am so grateful. This book made me sob, made me laugh, and meant to so much to me.

The relationships in this book were EVERYTHING. From the romantic to the platonic, these characters were so developed and so real that I felt like I was reading about REAL PEOPLE. Juniper, Bella and Agnes are some of the most magic characters I've ever discovered and even after finishing, I find myself thinking about them - what would they be doing? Where are they now?

The plot was engaging and had me GRIPPED. The whole story felt so effortless, like it was just a tale of what really happened - even in a fantasy book, everything felt so plausible.

My heart was racing at parts, breaking at parts, and felt completely mended at other parts. I lived through these events with the women and I felt their pain, sorrow, joy, anger alongside them.

The writing. Oh my lord the writing. It was absolutely stunning. I have highlighted so many passages, written some down and sent them to friends because I HAD to share the magic with them.

I adored this book with my whole heart. Alix E. Harrow can do no wrong and I will buy everything she ever puts out.

Thank you so, so much to Orbit for sending this copy my way. I can't wait to buy all my friends and family their own copies.


First review:

Five. Stars.

Five incredible stars.

I adored every word of this book. I put off reading the final section because I never wanted it to end. I have no words, remind me to come back and review this properly when I can speak about it without just going Jdjeofngjejehfnan I LOVED IT.

I loved Alix E. Harrow’s Ten Thousand Doors of January so much that it was in my top ten books of last year, so I approached her new novel with excitement, but some trepidation too. Could it possibly live up to her last work? Yet with promises of suffragettes, spells, anarchy and sister witches how could it possibly fail? I soon realised that this was going to be a very different book, embedded in American history but from a magical and feminist angle. Our main protagonists are the Eastwood sisters - Agnes Amaranth (the mill girl), Beatrice Belladonna (the librarian and researcher) and finally James Jupiter, the youngest sister with a wild streak and fierce loyalty to her sisters. This is New Salem, 1893, and since the burnings there haven’t been witches in this part of the world. However, snippets of the words and ways of witchcraft remain, hiding in plain sight. In the lullaby a mother uses to soothe her child, in the rhyme from a children’s game and even in recipe books. These are women’s spaces, and this old wisdom, that sits within the fairytale women tell their children at bedtime is accessible to anyone, once you realise it is there. The power lies dormant at a time when women are fighting more than ever to have a share in power at the ballot box. When the three sisters join the suffragettes of New Salem, they start to realise some of the power that Bella has been researching at the library. They possess a different type of power and with the right ways and words they could wield it against those shadowy figures who would rather not see a witch live, let alone vote.

Although I struggled a little at first with the girls names, especially where there were other characters to remember, it was Bella who seemed to stick with me most at this point in the story. I think it’s because she was a gatherer of stories, so I felt an affinity with her. She comes to understand witchcraft from re intellectual perspective, she is studying and making sense of it from books, but gradually through first hand research. I loved that her research takes her to every corner of the community: from the local mill women and children’s rhymes; to the more marginalised black and Native American communities. She finds that women have been hiding their wisdom in a wealth of ways. On her travels she also finds the alluring Miss Cleopatra Quinn, who trusts Bella enough to disclose a society of black women, possibly the most marginalised group in society, who have a lot of shared knowledge including a set of secret tunnels under New Salem that prove very useful as the story progresses. The relationship between these women is one of the high points of the book for me and shows that the usually bookish and almost spinsterish Bella has unexpected reserves of passion.

This is a very character driven novel and comes alive when the sisters are together on the page. Agnes is the mill working girl, fired up by the rights of the women she works side by side with. Her need for witching comes from that lack of power, from knowing what it’s like to be hungry and not wanting that for her own children. I love that these girls don’t come from the big house on the hill with pots of money behind them; they come from a family blighted by poverty, the loss of their mother and a violent father. Jupiter particularly seems haunted by that past and there are secrets to be uncovered here. She is the more natural witch, the wild barefoot girl who has magic in her bones. She is furious when the other sisters get a familiar before she does. I also love that she walks with a cane and this cane is her strength throughout, not just something to lean on. Very cleverly the author weaves these marginalised people into the narrative and it’s refreshing to see these characters where their colour, sexuality or disability isn’t the story.

Harrow weaves together so much history here with folklore, myth and fairy tales. Our villain of the piece is an aspiring politician - which probably says more about our times than the story - but underneath he is something altogether different. He hates witches and possibly women too. He wants to use the ballot box for legitimacy, but his actions are those of a dictator. He amasses a group of enforcers for weeding out sedition, suffragettes and witchcraft. It is Jupiter who first sees what he truly is in a horrifying scene in the ‘Deeps’ - a basement prison that fills with water. Like the sisters he appears to have a ‘glamour’, a way of appearing to other people that masks the true face. It takes time for the sisters to realise they are in an age old battle, replayed across the centuries but they are determined that this time the witch will win. There are heart stopping scenes such as Agnes going into labour, or final confrontation that are visceral and heart rending. Harrow doesn’t hold back on the horror of how witches have been treated historically and their nemesis here is particularly cruel. The final confrontation isn’t just heart rending, it’s heart stopping. I couldn’t put the book down at that point because I was so emotionally invested in the sisters and their cause. Harrow does this to me. I always think that the fantasy elements will distance me from my heroes suffering, but then something will happen that floors me emotionally. I think there’s an incredible skill in creating this whole world of magic, but then connecting the reader to your characters so strongly that they feel their pain and their triumphs. I have loved spending time in this particular world and I’m so happy that for this reader, Harrow has done it again.

Simply spectacular just like The Ten thousand doors of January. It was one of my most anticipated books and I am so glad it cut the mustard. The prose is simply gorgeous and beautiful. A story of sisterhood (sisters), witches, their oppression, anger, fight, witchcraft and what not OMG!!!! loved it!. it ticks all the boxes and I can't wait to buy its hard copy. Thank you so much #Netgalley for this ARC in an exchange for honest review

Where to even start.... this is quite simply one of the best books I have read all year!

This is a most wonderful mix of historical fiction and fantasy that pulls you in completely and works its magic on you like the spells our three Eastwood sisters conjure in New Salem. Three sisters torn apart by tragic family history that fools them into believing they have betrayed each other, who are unexpectedly reunited - three sisters who fall prophetically into the roles of warrior maiden, powerful mother and sage crone, whose destiny sets them on a path that will change the world in which they live.

It is a stroke of genius for Alix Harrow to set this book about witches in a time that we do not normally associate with magic. This is an era when women are fighting for the vote as a way to get their voices heard - a modern era... and era of progress... of industry. But it is, of course, impossible to set a book anywhere near Salem, made famous for its witch trials, and ignore the legacy of the women that lived there before, and our author weaves her tale of witchcraft beautifully into the fabric of the atypical backdrop she has chosen.

This novel thrums with the power of women - maidens, mothers and crones - who have been disenfranchised, brought low in a world of men, and forced to weave traces of their magic into songs, fairy tales and nursery rhymes to keep them hidden, waiting for the time when their sisters can rise again. Magic remains in this world, passed down the female line in many different cultures, but of necessity it has a form so subtle and secret that it takes a mighty catalyst like the reunion of the Eastwood sisters to bring matters to a spectacular head.

What starts as a tale of a bustling metropolis at the end of the nineteenth century with eyes set firmly on the future, but with underlying whispers of latent magic, morphs beautifully into a full on tale of witches gathering their strength for a battle against the forces of darkness... and it is glorious.

There are some lovely ideas worked into this story that I found captivating. The gathering of spells and folklore, rich in sorcery, from women of so many different cultures and backgrounds made my heart sing - the notion of so many different kinds of magic, kept secret for so long, all brought together in a single purpose is enchanting (please pardon the pun). And I really enjoyed that Alix Henderson gives an interesting role for the good men in this tale - the men with secret magic of their own.

This is perfectly paced, full of danger and adventure, of love and loss, of camaraderie and conjuring, and it was an absolute pleasure to race through the pages of this book. What a perfect read for the spooky season!

I read The Ten Thousand Doors of January last year and something that I absolutely adore about Alix E. Harrow's writing is her uncanny ability to create familiar worlds that have a touch of fey, a touch of magic and something a little bit darker and more foreboding. She writes the kind of women that have a proper backstory, motivation and character. It means that you won't always like them, they won't always make good decisions, but the things they do are true to themselves.

In particular, I love a world where Old Salem has been burned to ash, where witches around the world still exist, to some extent, but the ways have been lost, trapped in fairy tales and children's stories, and where there is power but it has been lost.

I especially loved the fairy tale rewrites that appeared every now and again. They had that deliciously feminist and gruesome Carter-like twist and worked perfectly in with the story, the rhymes and the spells that accompanied each chapter, not to mention the gender-swapped folklorists e.g. the Sisters Grimm. That level of thought and planning in writing is something that I really admire and love to read.

The things that both bind and tear the Eastwood sisters - Agnes Aramanth, Beatrice Belladonna and James Juniper - together are really well written. Their relationship with each other has been virtually destroyed by their father and there is little more than a joint cause that binds them. But they are sisters, and no one but each other understands what they've been through. Their interactions with each other are sharp, snappy and really fun to read. And they've each learnt to cut themselves off from each other; Bella strapping her thoughts into parentheses, Agnes drawing a circle around only herself and Juniper ... Juniper is a destructive force of nature.

And, although the narrative is strong - the threat of something shadowy, the uncertainty that the tower will actually bring back witching, the election in New Salem and the suffragist movement - it is a little slow to be enjoyable reading all the time. That doesn't mean that it isn't well written, just that it runs through at such a steady pace that it becomes a little challenging to power through. And it also means that at times you are struggling to pull together all the different threads that make up this world to try and understand what has happened and why.

The characters are also written and described in the terminology of the historical time, though, even though women in this world have been powerful witches and this is fantasy history. There has still been slavery, anyone who is Black is called coloured and other ethnicities are described by skin colour e.g. clay-coloured skin (with, to be fair, white characters described similarly). That can make it a little hard to read at times and, we should perhaps be questioning whether we need to describe people in that way when it is a very loosely historical novel. But, on the other hand, this was a really powerful way of presenting a women's movement (and a witches' movement) as not just one plucky person or a group of well to do women. We have whores, mill workers, librarians, people of colour and the LGBT community.

I loved the sense of reclaiming one's past and one's rights, and the way that fairytales are woven into this story. I found it a little exhausting at times, but greatly admire the research, the energy and the time that has gone into creating a story that feels wholly original.

4.5 strong stars.

I really enjoyed this absorbing, believable magical story which I thought was part fantasy story and part alternate history. I’ve always hoped that magic does exist somewhere in the world so I loved that the author suggested some areas where it might exist. The idea that it had been hidden by women for generations in stereotypical female hobbies amused me and I enjoyed exploring this idea.

The world the author has created was utterly compelling and I really enjoyed learning more about it throughout the book. The author’s vivid descriptions helped me imagine what it looked like and what it would be like to live there. It’s a world of inequality, like our own history in real life, with the woman as the weaker sex so I loved that they hid such a great secret that could change everything.

One of the things that really stood out about this book was the way the author describes and developed the characters relationships with each other. This was particularly true of the three sisters who had an interesting history together. There is definitely a lot of resentment there which I found interesting to learn more about as the story continued. It was interesting to see how different things were at the end of the book

Overall I really enjoyed this beautifully written and absorbing read which made me cry at times. The plot develops at a good pace which helped the plot and relationships to develop naturally so they never felt forced. I felt there was a lovely hidden message in this book too about how it’s not to late to find your voice and fight for what you want – though I might be thinking too deeply into things!

Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Orbit for my copy of this book.

When I say I love and want stories about witches, this is the kind of story I mean.

Over the past year I've fallen in love with Alix E. Harrow's stories. Not only is she an author who combines fantasy with historical fiction, one of my favourite things to read and write, and not only is her writing stunning, but there's something so nostalgic about her tales that reminds me why it is we love stories in the first place.

After celebrating the portal fantasy genre in The Ten Thousand Doors of January, it's time for witches to shine in The Once and Future Witches and oh how I adored this book.

James Juniper is the youngest of three sisters who were all incredibly close until they weren't. Until the day her older sisters left her with their father, and June never heard from them again. When her father finally dies seven years later (with a little help from June), she flees to New Salem, reunites with her sisters (who, for some reason, haven't spoken to each other in a long time) and, naturally, becomes involved in the suffrage movement.

In this alternate version of 19th century America, though, witches are real and still widely feared, and when June and her sisters, Bella and Agnes, accidentally bring witchcraft back into the world to empower women and the disenfranchised, they find themselves at war with the government of New Salem.

There's June, who's young and angry and frightened and so desperate to be with her sisters; middle sister, Agnes, the beauty who's tried to cut herself off from her desire to mother the world until motherhood comes knocking on her door; and eldest sister, Bella, a scholarly and shy librarian who's hiding some demons of her own after their father sent her away to school.

This novel had so much in it that I love, and explored so many different things, that I don't really know what to say about it other than that you need to pick it up and read it. There are so many quotes from this book that I would gladly have tattooed on my forehead.

There were two things I particularly loved, however. Firstly, I loved that this is a novel of witchcraft with family at its centre. You'd think witchcraft and covens would create dozens and dozens of stories centred on sisterhoods, and yet so many witchcraft stories are overtaken by romance. The Once and Future Witches is a love story, but it's a love story between three sisters who are discovering each other again and, in so doing, finally discovering themselves.

There were still two romances in the novel that I loved - a sapphic romance that was my everything, and another romance I so appreciated because Harrow wrote a woman who was still allowed to be desirable while pregnant, which I don't think we see enough - but they worked so well because they didn't take over the story, and it's ultimately the relationship between June, Agnes and Bella that's at the heart of this book.

Secondly, can I please get a hallelujah that the Eastwood sisters aren't from high society? Something I'm always yearning for more of in my witch stories, particularly when they have a historical setting, is stories centred around the working classes. Tales about high society witches so often follow the same pattern of a woman who's not like other girls™ who doesn't want to get married, and yet whose story often ultimately revolves around a romance. With the Eastwood sisters being working class, Harrow was able to look at so many different parts of society - from the suffrage movement to racism to trans rights - instead of following one very small group of people who never have to worry about where their next meal is coming from.

This is a tale of family and sisterhood and politics and power; a story about how the way in which the history of anyone who isn't a white and wealthy man is so often overlooked can also be a way of quietly passing power through the generations, and how, ultimately, the stories we choose to tell are some of the most powerful spells in our possession.

“You think there’s witchcraft hidden in pat-a-cake songs? Secret spells in the tale of Jack and the Giant?”……. “Maybe so…”

If you’re here hoping to find another incredible witchy read, you are in the right place. The Once and Future Witches is so perfectly written, with an atmosphere that pulled me right into 1893, the age of suffragists, whispered witchcraft passed down through generations and a time when women had very little power in a man’s world. One of my absolute favourite things was the witches using nursery rhymes and old stories to practice magic. It lent such a haunting quality to the story, as well as giving a bit of familiarity to the ways of the witch.

Juniper, Agnes and Bella are estranged sisters, until they are drawn together by strange magic, and forced to put past hurts behind them. The city is in turmoil – the women’s movement is doing what they can to secure the right to vote, there are fears another plague is around the corner, dark shadows creep where they shouldn’t and witches are blamed for every misfortune that befalls New Salem. Juniper is sure the women’s movement can be turned into a witch movement, if only they can reclaim the lost ways of their ancestors. But the quest will cost the sisters more than they ever imagined.

The character development of all three sisters (and even other wonderful side characters, such as Cleo and August) in this book was nothing short of brilliant. Alix Harrow has such a magical way with words and I was swept along, completely enchanted by a story that was gritty and dark beneath such beautiful prose. Not only did we get a bewitching read, the author skilfully wove in many forms of diverse and inclusive characters, that didn’t feel out of place at all in a book set so far in the past.

I would highly recommend getting your hands on this book, especially if you’re looking to cram in some more perfectly witchy reads during the spooky season!

*cranks up the dial to full volume on Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves AND Season of the Witch*

Well, well. What do we have here? An autumnal witchy treat that is slow paced with lush prose to make up one heck of a cosy yet magical read.

The Once and Future Witches follows the Eastwood Sisters - Beatrice Belladonna, Agnes Amaranth and James Juniper - who are reunited after years of estrangement. Not only do the sisters have to contend with reacquainting themselves with each other, but they have to face a dark magical presence infecting the city and the challenges of being women in the time of the suffragists movement.

“Aren’t you tired yet? Of being cast down and cast aside? Of making do with crumbs when once we wore crowns? She’s asking: Aren’t you angry yet?”

The Once and Future Witches makes for a striking imagining of witchcraft and women’s suffrage blended together to tell the tale of the everlasting bond of family, the importance of community, the desire for a better world and the value of one’s life to be realised.

I’ll get my one and only issue out the way, spick and span, swiftly. The Once and Future Witches is a long drawn story, that consequently leads to the feeling of a tiresomely slow paced read. I remember reading at least 3 chapters that served no great enough purpose for the extra pages they added to the bulk of the book. I could’ve skipped them and would’ve been none the wiser of having missed anything, because, I really wouldn’t have. If you’re like me and squeeze reading into a busy lifestyle, it can be rather annoying when you feel any spare and precious time is used on chapters that aren’t in the grand scheme of things entirely necessary. And with that, now let me go on to tell you all the reasons I loved this book.

Harrow’s reimagining of women’s suffrage in the context of a world with known witchcraft is cleverly crafted and rather refreshing. Without a doubt it gives new life force to a history that may otherwise bore some readers, but make them aware of its existence nonetheless. And the magic involved in this story, is everyday magic I would love to have. It’s easily believed as maybe possible and I’ve found myself often doing something and imagining so.

The beauty of Harrow’s use of a classic trio is we get the full package. You’ve got the silent mousey but wise type with the eldest sister, the brooding cynical/stern but strong type with the middle and then the hilariously wild and dangerous youngest sister. Juniper was my favourite of the sisters as she often made me laugh whilst simultaneously pulled on my heartstrings. But truly all three of them had their moments of my appreciation and also great annoyance. Each of the sisters have their own arc which were enjoyable and developed well, particularly when they interconnected with each other. It provided the dimensions of sibling drama and heartfelt sisterhood.

And I can’t tell you how emotional this book made me at its end. At this time of reading The Once and Future Witches, I’m going through a very difficult time emotionally, and I hand on heart can’t say if that was a contributing part of my emotional response or not, but what I’m certain of, is I really needed this story. The Eastwood sisters and the Sisters of Avalon were the extended family/company I didn’t know I needed. I felt the support, the love and unity the women in this story offered one another as if it was extended to me. Harrow’s writing was comforting yet equally captivating - even Harrow’s acknowledgements were beautifully written - and the characters were easy to care for and feel invested in due to how authentically they were conveyed.

Akin to the witchyness of Practical Magic, I’ve chewed on this for the past day, and whilst I felt The Once and Future Witches was overly long, I really loved this book and would happily reread it in the future. So it’s getting all the stars. It’s easy to get lost in this witchy world and I’d love to see it developed into a movie or TV series. Or maybe even a sequel for the Sisters of Avalon.

And lastly, I’ve had The Ten Thousand Doors of January on my shelf/TBR for so long now, and after my love for The Once and Future Witches, I’ll be making it a priority to read it soon.
Thank you kindly to the Orbit and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for this honest review.

This is an alternate history, of sorts. Because just imagine that instead of women being discriminated against because they are physically weaker and often objects of desire, often encumbered by helpless children – there is an extra twist of fear. That they are witches. And when they were witches, women were often in charge. Until the nexus of their power was burnt, along with every practitioner the witch-hunters could get hold of. But many women still have a few household charms that they whisper to their daughters, when no one is looking, with bits of advice on how to stay safe. Except for the Eastwood sisters, who’s mother died in childbirth, leaving them to the mercy of their brutal father – and a beloved grandmother, who lived in a tumbledown cottage in a forest. Theirs was an upbringing you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy – and from being a tight-knit unit, they were finally ripped apart in a welter of anger and betrayal.

And this is where the book starts… I found it initially a hard read. The setting is the advent of the Industrial Revolution, where capitalism is red in tooth and claw and workers’ rights are simply not considered. Especially if those workers are women and children. The writing is beguiling – poetic and beautiful and each sister’s strength and weaknesses are portrayed with insightful compassion. I did worry that this was going to be one of those beautifully written books with an ultimately bleak ending. And I hope it won’t be regarded as a spoiler if I reveal that I was mightily relieved when it didn’t turn out to be the case.

I am also conscious that this review sounds as if there isn’t much going on – but this book is packed with intrigue, tension and sudden, violent bursts of action that had me reading far later than I’d wanted to. In short, it is a stunning portrayal of a lovely premise – I particularly enjoyed Harrow’s playing about with the wording of nursery rhymes. And I highly recommend this passionate, moving book to anyone who enjoys reading about witches. While I obtained an arc of The Once and Future Witches via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

Rated 4/5/5 stars!

I knew I would enjoy this book, but I didn't predict just how much I would come to love it. When the suffragette movement inspires a witchy revolution in the town of New Salem, a whole host of characters are pulled into this web of words and will. Not only was it a story of witchcraft, but a story of sisterhood and wayward families. It was a story that proved how sheer willpower alone can make a person very, very powerful.


The thing that instantly pulled me in was the writing style. Alix E. Harrow's way with words is truly something worth reading. Her descriptions flow so smoothly despite being more picturesque than most, and with a hint of cleverness that proved fun to spot. Imagery would be woven between the three sisters, adapting slightly for each one's situation - for instance, the metaphor of despair as a black dog weaving around them all. The way their stories are inherently tied together, through thick and thin, made such imagery feel folkloric and gave it the exact ancient storyteller vibe it wanted.

The twists in folklore itself was a fun addition too, with famous fairytales retold and twisted to foreshadow the events of the book, or famous people genderbent but recognisable as fun easter eggs. The Brothers Grimm, for instance, became The Sisters Grimm and the basis to a lot of the witchcraft within the story. Children's rhymes became spells, and everything seemed at once both uncannily mundane but magical at the same time. It really was quite a feat to accomplish.

As was the natural incorporation of so many characters. While we have our three sisters leading the way, each one come across a circle of characters that all contribute something to the story. At first I did hesitate when it came to character building, believing the Eastwood sisters to be a tad closer to caricatures than characters due to their distinctly set personalities as "the wise one, the maternal one, and the outrageous one". But as the story progressed, their characters were built upon and adapted in ways that made me forget I ever questioned it. The same happened with all the side characters - they all felt purposeful, and like well-rounded characters with clear personalities and interests. I was impressed by the ability to not only keep track of them all but also make them seem relevant and necessary.

I honestly just loved so much about this book. A slow rise towards revolution, made with so many important acknowledgements about who's involved and the ebb and flow of change, this book showed so may variations behind the word "revolution". The thought of magic being this accessible too proved to be quite a comforting thought, only bolstered by the family dynamics and loyalty providing the very foundation of this book. While it has its darkness and shows the negative aspects of society along the way, it really is a book you can easily fall into, get behind the motivations, and cheer on the characters along the way. It left me with a contented feeling, and one that I'll remember for a good long while.

P.S. I do just want to mention too for anyone interested that there is disability rep (one of the main characters), LGBTQ+rep and PoC rep!

The book I’m reviewing today is The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow. It follows three sisters in the year of 1893 after the burnings of the witches where magic is something forgotten or believed to be made up stories where witches are depicted as horrible, evil and wicked creatures. The three sisters, James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth and Beatrice Belladona end up in New Salem after not having seen or heard from each other in seven years. Here they join the suffragist movement and while doing so rediscover witchcraft which might turn the movement into another one completely. With the help of the witchy stories their grandmother told them they rediscover the old ways. The three sisters however also have personal issues between them that need mending before they can tackle those who oppose or even hunt them for their abilities and beliefs. “There is no such thing as witches. But there will be.”

As I started reading this book I immediately noticed that it was unlike anything I’ve ever read before within the fantasy genre. It’s either a good thing or a bad one depending on what you’re looking for in a book and what kind of a reading mood you’re in. The author has a very unique writing style where it’s almost lyrical which makes this book hard to read if you’re a novice reader but extremely enjoyable for those who love literature at its best.

At the same time she was really able to transport me into this dark and cold feeling world where the story is being told as the worldbuilding was absolutely phenomenal. You can tell that the author really did her research on all of the historical aspects that are involved with telling the story.

Personally the main characters were not very likable but at the same time they felt realistic and were definitely not perfect. The amount of secondary characters should have been reduced in my opinion as it felt like an overwhelming amount of people to remember in such a comparatively short story. What I absolutely loved in this book was the magic in it, it felt as if I could speak those little chants with them and do some magic of my own.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to read something outside of what you normally find in the fantasy section. Word of caution though, if you don’t master English well enough this book could become a tedious read instead of an enjoyable one so beware. On the other hand if you’re interested in a light fantasy novel this is definitely not the book for you. All in all I would again like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

QUICK OVERVIEW:

PLOT: 3/5
CHARACTERS: 3/5
WRITING STYLE: 4.5/5
COVER: 5/5
UNIQUENESS: 4/5
PERSONAL FEELING: 2.5/5
WORLD BUILDING: 4.5/5
PACING: 3/5

TOTAL: 3.7/5

This book was absolutely wonderful. The prose was beautiful, the story engaging, and the characters well fleshed out. The pacing dragged a little at times but the conclusion of the story made well up for it!

The year is 1893, and there is no such thing as witches. At least not in this Salem, where the witches were burned by honest, Godly men, and witchings became a thing of fairy stories for children, forgotten. That is until three sisters, June, Agnes and Beatrice witness something magic and illegal. Forced to confront their own fractured relationships, while being hunted by the shadows of Salem, the three will realise that they're stronger together by joining with the suffragettes movement to return witches to the world.

Witches and suffragettes, wrapped up in intense sibling relationships and self discovery from an author I've previously loved. This had all the ingredients to be an amazing book for me, yet it took me so long to read it was beginning to border on the ridiculous. The writing is beautiful, deeply lyrical and atmospheric, as I've come to expect from Alix E. Harrow, and the relationship and bonds between the sisters is wonderful. Each sister is an independent entity by themselves, fully developed and vivid yet all together they're an integral component of each other. The three crones. The three stages of life.

Beatrice is quiet, studious and intense in her thirst for knowledge. She's the gateway to spells, and the history of the women of Salem. She's the most introverted of the three, yet her entanglements with a mysterious journalist opens her heart and emotions to the reader. Agnes, the middle sister, was my favourite character. Brave, fierce, yet cynical,she has a strong sense of self and what she wants. Finding herself in a life changing situation, Agnes faces some tough decisions - tougher than either of her sisters, in order to protect those she loves. And she loves fiercely and deeply. June, the youngest, is the most tempestuous of the three. Wild, stubborn and unbound, she has watched both her sister leave her with their awful father, and she harbours a lot of resentment. She doesn't forgive easily, yet she is the most passionate of the three, and the one who could spark a revolution. Plus, she gets a witches cape made with pockets. The girl has style.

I think the main issue I had is with the pacing. This is a slow, often meandering story that builds quietly on an alternative history of women and witches. It's a story where women are the central component, passing stories and spells down through the generations. These spells are inherently unique to the women and cultural background they come from, and invoke different qualities. There's a spell, a poem, for rusting metal that feels very masculine and a very earthy spell for healing that feels very natural. It's a book about women, for women in s world where the stories of old have been subverted and changed by men in order to suppress and control. It's moody and dark, and takes a long time to building up any action.

I ended up really loving this, but it took me a long time to get there. Alix E Harrow has a wonderful way with words, and her imagery and character development is perfection. I just wish this had started with a bit more oomph to elevate it to a 5 star read for me.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January was one of my favourite books on 2019 so as soon as I heard that Alix E. Harrow was coming out with a new book, I knew I had to read it. Harrow has become and auto-read for me and whilst I was excited to start this book, I was also incredibly nervous. I over-hyped this book in my head and there was a small part of me that was scared I wasn’t going to love this book as much as Harrow’s first novel.

I had nothing to worry about. This book was everything I wanted, and I found myself actually loving this book even more than The Ten Thousand Doors of January. The Once and Future Witches left me spellbound and I once again fell in love with Harrow’s lyrical and magical way of storytelling. Full of women empowerment and magic this book covers so many different topics from racism, sexism, homophobia, equality and social injustice.

Juniper, Agnes and Bella were amazing characters that I quickly found myself attached to them all. Each has their own unique personalities along with being strong and fiercely independent women. These characters had flaws and made mistakes, but it made them feel more realistic and relatable. I also found myself loving the side characters in this book and how much they brought to the story. They were memorable and at times a key part of this journey.

One of my favourite things about this book was the use of nursery rhymes and fairy tales. I loved seeing how they were adapted to become spells and how they had been passed down generation to generation all over the world.

Honestly, I could talk about this book for hours as it has now become a new all-time favourite book. This was everything I could have imagined and needed. Harrow has done it again and completely blown me away with how her writing just has me completely hooked from the beginning. I cannot wait to see what she comes out with next!

I highly recommend this book, you will not regret it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.