The Witches could Fly is set in a dystopian near future where witches exist but are damned by the State. Women must marry before they are 30 and allow their husband to control their lives. Jo’s mother disappeared when she was a teenager, and there are many unanswered questions about whether she was really a witch. Now 28 and unmarried Jo wants to find out what happened to her. She agrees to carry out a last request for her mother which leads her to a mysterious island.
I enjoyed this book up to a point, the first half where Jo is in her regular life is well handled and interesting but I found the section on the island hard going and meandering. It all didn’t quite work and the ending is very sudden. Many people have praised this highly so maybe it just wasn’t for me.
Thank you to #netgalley and #panmacmillan for allowing me to review this ARC

This book brings the magical and the real, the terrible and the beautiful, the curse and the cure and mixes them together to create something spellbindingly unique. The story is led by a gay black woman, a witch, someone who in this world has the name of witch to add to the persecution and fear she receives from the ignorant masses - and the story she weaves is undeniably striking and evocative.

In an almost uncanny valley style, we see a world that feels familiar yet so strange - pulling the reader in with lyrical prose and engaging characters until the very last page.

I didn’t find this to be the Atwood/Butler esque story promised by the blurb but engaging nonetheless, after a drawn out first half. I enjoyed the overarching social commentary but would have liked the author to take this much further throughout, particularly in its comment on race and gender.

Josephine’s ancestor survived a witch burning. Her Mum vanished when she was in her early teens and was the subject of TV shows. She’s about to turn 28, and as an unmarried bisexual woman, she will soon have to register with the authorities and be monitored to ensure that she’s not a witch.

This is a really clever book as whilst it has dystopian/mystic themes, it’s very much rooted in the modern day USA. The control of women through the regulations surrounding witch craft are scarily feasible, as is the deep seated misogyny and discrimination against minorities.

There are some fabulous one liners, and unusually for me, I underlined numerous quotes. My favourite was “pizza is not emotional penicillin.”

I really liked Josephine as a character and her friendships with Angie and Preston, the plot ticked along nicely, but mostly I enjoyed how apt and real something so improbable felt.

With thanks to netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Joy's mother went missing when she was 14, just over thirteen years ago, and has finally been declared legally dead. There's a history of witchcraft in Jo's family, and this will not be accepted in modern society - if a woman is unmarried by the age of 28, then she must be tested for witchcraft. She will then be closely monitored, unless she gets married.

As Jo tends to her mother's affairs, she discovers new things about her mother and about herself.

Ach, I dunno. I liked the premise of this one A LOT. Witches? YES. Feminist? YES. But for me, it was a little too Lena Dunham does Magical Realism. I don't mean that to be mean - I think there's an audience for this, but I just don't think I was it. I wouldn't read it again.

I didn’t recall requesting this book but as it was on my “shelf” I thought I would give it a go. This isn’t a genre that particularly appeals to me and I didn’t really enjoy this book at all. Although the writing style was okay I thought it was a bit slow. Although in someways reminiscent of The Handmaids Tale sadly it doesn’t have the same impact. Just not for me.

Perhaps I should have been a little more careful about reading the description. The Women Could Fly is a dystopian novel, a genre I normally avoid. Having said that, I’m always open to having my mind changed, and this book sounded interesting, so I gave it a go.

Jo lives in an America where women can still be accused of and burned for being witches. Her mother mysteriously disappeared when she was a child and she is black, both of which factors make her more vulnerable to accusation. In this version of society women must be safely married off before they reach thirty, thus losing all autonomy. Naturally, if they fail to marry they still lose it, having to undergo testing and supervision to make sure that they are not witches. Jo is twenty eight, and in a very dangerous position.

The novel was split into two places – the island of witches and the rest of America – and even the writing felt very different in the two. The interlude on the island was a bit odd, and I almost gave up at that point, but I’m glad I didn’t, because the last third of the book was the most intense bit, and I finished it in one go. It was a good, readable story that would probably appeal much more to someone who likes and chooses to read dystopia.

There were a few bits that bothered me – the relationships were all off-kilter, and although I realise that this was deliberate, I didn’t really like it very much. I did find myself wondering (when Jo and Angie discussed emigrating to Canada) why, if this was only a problem in America, people didn’t just leave?

This was a gothic, haunting and atmospheric story that I couldn’t put down. It was gripping and engaging the whole way through with a level of suspense and unpredictability that added an extra layer to the storytelling. It was a chilling read that has stayed with me since I read it. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

An interesting dystopian novel in which women who are unmarried at 30 are viewed with suspicion and denounced as witches. But here witchcraft is actually real.

The protagonist is a young, bisexual, black woman who is close to thirty and struggling with the loss of her mother. But the most interesting aspect of this story is its parallels with modern US society, particularly the recent overturning of Roe v Wade. The fictional world sees women controlled by men, but as in the US now, it’s women of colour who suffer even more.

This is a good novel, but possibly not with the heft of other similar feminist dystopia that I’ve read recently. If you like dystopia with a touch of magic realism, you’ll love this book.

I loved the concept and enjoyed the writing in the first half but if fell quite flat for me. I didn’t connect as much as I’d like to with the characters.

Could not put this enchanting book down, to say I devoured it would be an understatement. This is a thrilling book which is a fresh of breath air for the genre. Magical.

I have to admit I thought I'd enjoy this more than I did. It's a wonderful unique idea but somehow lacks something in it's execution.

An engaging and timely novel, exploring sexual and racial prejudice in a dystopian setting. Josephine is a bisexual, black, unmarried woman aged 28. As the story unfolds the reader understands why Jo and her contemporaries consider marrying for convenience and against their will.
Although it took me a while to get into the book, once I did I warmed to the main character and found myself engrossed in her life and world. The pace of the book changes throughout, ebbing and flowing, and this did affect my reading of it, but all in all a good, although at uncomfortable at times, read which made me think about the themes.

With thanks to NetGalley and the authors who supplied me with a copy of the book in return for an honest review.

A very impactful novel about race, gender, women’s rights and autonomy, especially given the recent, horrific, overturning of Roe vs Wade. In this world where women are accused of being witches, race further increases chances of this and the fear that women of colour experience in this not-so-dystopian world.

Whilst I enjoyed the beginning of the novel, the pacing felt slightly off in the latter half, and I was slightly confused at parts. My favourite part was the introspective elements whilst the characters were grappling with following societal expectations or their own desires.

Overall, I felt this book is an excellent exploration into prejudice and the internal state of mind whilst living under an authoritarian rule. However, there were too many inconsistencies in the plot and pacing issues for the book to have its full impact.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced review copy.

“She believed that most of what people believed was magic was actually just a way to wash out the accomplishments of women, make their hard work small.”

Set in a world where magic is real, Josephine’s mother went missing thirteen years ago. No one knows what happened to her, and Josephine carries a lot of questions around with her as she struggles to sever the connection between her and her mother. Independently of those gnawing feelings, she also struggles to conform to the world in which she finds herself, and right before she’s set to become a ward of the state for turning 28 and not being married yet, she receives word about her mothers will. On her mission to complete the task her mother has set, she makes a startling discovery that changes everything.

I am so conflicted on how I feel about this book. Part of me loves it, and especially the subject matter and parallels between witchcraft and the censorship women face in 2022. I loved how wildly imaginative this world was, and that this came from a diverse voice and so was seen from Josephine, a woman of colour with a black mother and white father’s POV. I liked that it also took on other modern-day issues we’re facing in the world right now, but mostly that the feminist angle was well explored - which is what I expected when I read the synopsis.

On the subject of bringing socio-political issues into the book, however, I did at times feel as though the writer was pontificating, which disconnected me from the story a little. I also felt that the book read like a fever dream in that something so inexplicable and strange would happen without any real reaction from the character and then it would move on to the next strange thing. I suppose at times it felt more like a series of events than an actual flowing story.

Very much on the fence with this one, I can certainly say that this book challenged me, but I’m still trying to figure out whether that was enjoyable, or just ended up being a bit of a jarring experience.

Final notes then: This was definitely a feminist dystopian novel with witches - as promised - and although I didn’t realise it at the time, the character did grow on me and I found myself rooting for her in the end, but throughout, I didn’t feel particularly invested.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

PS. Always check the trigger warnings.

While the topics covered in this book are usually right up my street I felt that the prose was difficult for me to get into a flow when reading. Potentially it is just the style the writer works in and is successful with readers who enjoy this, The pace of the novel was changeable and the slower sections really dragged for me, added to the plot holes and inconsistencies which made me have to go back and read sections again, I didn’t enjoy reading in the way I would usually, getting engrossed in other alternate worlds is something I enjoy but this had too many aspects I couldn’t brush over. It could be I was just missing key aspects and other readers can see this.

I get the comparison to Atwood, Butler and Jackson, but I think this story fell a little flat because it was almost too unbelievable. It felt like it was trying to do The Handmaid's Tale but changing everything to have a focus on witchcraft. Nonetheless, it's a story that works and does its job in illustrating the ever present reality of being a black queer woman in America.

The synopsis sounded enticing. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the most tedious accumulation of pseudo liberal woke trifle I have come across in a long time.

This one took me a bit of time to get into. However, was an interesting amalgamation of fantasy and dystopia which felt pretty original. A very thought provoking and rather disturbing look at the treatment of women in this fictional society. Incredibly salient and relevant novel to current society.

Wonderful, intriguing and captivating. A well thought out plot and colourful characters. It draws you in and once it has you it doesn't let go.
A stunning book and story it keeps you hooked for the whole ride. No second guessing here, you have to endure and experience until the conclusion.