Juniper is on the run, accused of mortal, magical crimes. Alone, she has not seen her sisters for seven years, after they left her to fend for herself in an abusive home. She arrives in New Salem, pushed by necessity and pulled by a mysterious force she does not understand, and finds herself with many others gathering in St. George's Square for a meeting about women's suffrage. What she finds there is a new sense of purpose, as well as her long lost sisters, Agnes and Bella. Yet all is not sweet smiles and happy reunions, for old cuts wound deep, being left mars the soul, and the pain that once tore them apart has shaped them separately into tortured women. Yet, they believe that they must find a way to connect with magic, to bring power to women that has not existed for an age, and discover the secrets and spells that are now forgotten. They also know that every revolution needs the power of the people, and it is time to gather their allies.

What an amazing book about women, witches, and the power of belief and action to make change happen! Each of these sisters was interesting and unique, and the story of The Once and Future Witches almost felt like getting two stories in one. The sisters dealt with trauma in their past, and they have to face the music and each other to move forward. Additionally, they are looking to rekindle the spark of magic, and because there are no magical tomes at hand, finding where the ephemeral spark is proves to be a challenge. “Must a thing be bound and shelved in order to matter? Some stories were never written down. Some stories were passed by whisper and song, mother to daughter to sister."

If history is written by the victors, then do the defeated not hold close the old ways in their surviving culture, stories, and traditions? The societal hubbub in New Salem is all to fight for women's suffrage, and requires the organization of people from many walks of life to forge the bonds of community and union that can take on the status quo. I was on pins and needles as the sisters and people of New Salem gathered together to make their tomorrows better than what they had! Alix Harrow shows us a piece of the world as it was, sprinkles some camaraderie and magic dust on it, and dares us to live with the verve and bravery of its people. The Once and Future Witches weaves a tale of sisters, power seen and not seen, and the ability to change the world. All it requires is "the will, the words, and the way."

Once upon a time there were witches so powerful that they ruled the world. By 1893, witches have been all but exterminated, especially since Old Salem was destroyed and the City without Sin was built in its place. Juniper, Agnes, and Beatrice have been estranged for the past seven years, but on the spring equinox they are drawn to a new power in the center of New Salem. Together they form the Sisters of Avalon, a group for women and witches dedicated to recovering their power.

Ok, so this book may have been overhyped. It was very slow paced. I kept waiting for it to pick up once we got to know the players, but it just didn’t. It didn’t help that the book had a very definite ending about 60% of the way through and the second half read more like a sequel. Did the author just not have enough to break this into two books and had to cram everything into this one?

My main problem was that I didn’t feel any kind of attachment towards any of the characters. The sisters are meant to represent the Maiden, Mother, and Crone archetypes, but didn’t rise above their tropes. The perspective jumps between each of the sisters and while I normally like that, it made this book seem scattered and without a real identity.

It was a good read for October, but ultimately unsatisfying. I really wanted to like this book more than I did.

Suffragists are fighting for women's right to vote, but some women are fighting for even more: witchcraft. That's the premise of Alix E. Harrow's novel The Once and Future Witches. Set in New Salem - a town without sin - witchcraft has been purged. Well, not entirely. It's just gone underground, the words that mothers pass on to their daughters spoken in hushed tones but still known.

The Eastwood sisters thought they could outrun their past, but the bond of blood and magic is too strong. And that's how they find themselves in New Salem tangled up in a search for the lost ways and trying to use witchcraft to give women more than just a vote.

Of course, there's a man and magic more powerful than they anticipated. Will they find the ways to defeat him in time or will they too burn at the stake like their ancestors?

What a great book to read during the Halloween season. I loved going on a hunt with the sisters as they searched for the Lost Way of Avalon, and it was so interesting to see how the author took familiar nursery rhymes and fairy tales, and interpreted them into spells and witch stories, giving them an imagined magical history.

If you love books with strong female protagonists and you like to be a little bit spooked, then you'll enjoy this new novel.

The Once and Future Witches is the story of the Eastwood sisters, Agnes, Juniper, and Bella, who are all brought together one day in New Salem, despite being apart for seven years. Witching was commonplace long ago, but in 1893, it’s nothing but nursery rhymes and bits and bobs. The sisters join the women’s suffrage movement, which before long turns into a kind of witches’ movement, as they and the other women of New Salem fight to bring back the old words and ways.

I loved this book from start to finish, honestly. The only thing that prevented me from reading the entire thing in one sitting was real life getting all up in my reading time. But, I found that drawing it out into several days of reading gave the experience a certain something, like I was savoring it. This doesn’t always happen for me. I consume books as quickly as I can, usually. When it does happen, it is *chef’s kiss*.

This is a book about sisterhood, and about womanhood. It is angry, and I was here for it. These are three women who have spent much of their lives being beaten down and punished, and they’ve reached the point where they’re just not going to sit down and let it happen anymore. The women we meet at the beginning of this book, and the women they are at the end of the book are radically different. I didn’t love the characters at the beginning, but by the end I loved each of them.

The prose was lovely, and I liked the pacing. There wasn’t always something super exciting going on, but even during the slower parts of the story, I didn’t find my interest waning or my attention wandering. I have all kinds of little quotes and tidbits highlighted. It was all around a really great read.

Alix E. Harrow’s new novel The Once and Future Witches is at its heart a story about reclaiming one’s power, specifically power that men have historically denied and/or taken from women. The story is set in 1893 in the town of New Salem and right in the heart of the women’s suffrage movement. The Once and Future Witches is also a story about sisterhood, both in the sense of the sisterhood of women fighting to make their voices heard at the ballot box, and in the sense that the three protagonists are actually sisters and specifically sisters who have been raised to embrace magic even though magic and witches have been gone for a long time. Although they have been separated for years, the sisters find themselves inexplicably drawn to the location of the latest suffragette rally and therefore back to each other. When an unexplainable event also happens at the rally, the sisters take their reunion and this supernatural occurrence as a sign that magic is trying to return and that they should help it along and perhaps recruit some suffragettes to their cause, thereby combining the women’s movement and the witches’ movement into one major force to be reckoned with.

I honestly adored everything about this book! I thought the overall theme of women reclaiming their power, whether through magic or through securing the right to vote for themselves, was wonderful and I thought using the women’s movement as well as witches and magic to symbolize that theme and bring it to life was brilliant since it highlights both the historical and modern society since as women, we are still having to fight for equality at almost every turn. I also loved that Harrow truly brings this theme into the present by having a diverse cast that features both women of color as well as LGBTQ characters.

Speaking of the cast of characters, while I don’t want to give any details of the plot itself away, I do want to talk about the three sisters because they were all such incredible characters, just so well drawn and complex. James Juniper is the first sister we meet. She’s the youngest and is a bit of a wild child. She’s incredibly brave and forthright and has no filter whatsoever. You just never know what’s going to come out of her mouth. She also holds a major grudge against her two older sisters because they both ran away from home and left her behind to contend with an abusive father. Then there’s Beatrice Belladonna, the oldest and most wary of the sisters. Beatrice is into books and not much else, although she does have an interest in magic. She works as a librarian and in her spare time has delved into the library’s collection of books from Old Salem, trying to find hidden or long-forgotten spells. Lastly, there’s Agnes Amaranth, the middle sister. She’s the most nurturing of the sisters, practically taking on the role of Juniper’s mom after their mom died. The dynamic between Juniper, Beatrice, and Agnes is so complicated and I found myself completely invested, both in their adventures to bring back magic and witches, and most especially in their emotional journey to work through the pain of the past and get back to each other.

The overall themes of The Once and Future Witches are compelling and the characters are fabulous, but I can’t forget to mention the real stars of the show, Harrow’s masterful ability to weave together a beautiful, atmospheric, and intricate story and her gorgeous prose. This book was an absolute dream to read from start to finish, and I especially loved her use of popular childhood nursery rhymes as a way to camouflage witchy spells.

If you’re into witchy reads and feminist themes, you definitely want to check out The Once and Future Witches. It’s the best of both worlds. Truly a magical read!

An immensely well-crafted story of redemption and triumph, this beautiful and harrowing tale leaps from the page. I could easily picture it as a limited television series with amazing special effects and perfect set dressing.

But it wasn’t just shallow spectacle, either. The complex relationships between what could have been blandly archetypal sisters and their familiars (both human and otherwise) were rich and layered. The story was woven beautifully and I found the only times I came up for air were those times when I needed the breath back in my lungs.

Such an empowering and moving experience. You absolutely must dive in!

I received a free copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

If you are someone who once loved Mists of Avalon but no longer feels comfortable recommending it to others, then THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES may well fit your need. It covers the same intersection between feminism and witchcraft, and while it is not quite so epic or paradigm-shifting, nor its plot as long-ranging or multi-faceted, it is still a gorgeously rendered story on a grand scale. I can heartily recommend it as a story of sisterhood, born to blood or forged by creed, and the magic that holds the marginalized together in a world run by a very small subset of unyielding men.

The book is not flawless. There's a little haziness in the worldbuilding which bothered me, especially in the first third of the book. It takes a while to warm up to the main characters, especially since they're keeping secrets and speaking at cross-purposes for a good chunk of the book. But once you get there, their story comes together beautifully. Especially in the third act, I found myself very moved by the story, its stakes, its sacrifices.

This is a great read for fall 2020, when you are likely furious and frustrated and wishing you had a little witchcraft on your side.

Sisters Juniper, Bella, and Agnes reunite at a New Salem suffrage rally after many years apart. When the sisters and the suffrage movement are threatened, they turn to the tricks and charms passed down from mother to daughter and woman to woman to protect themselves, and realize that witchcraft has been cleverly hidden, not lost.

Featuring a huge and diverse cast of characters, a setting that is both historical and fantastic, a creepy villain, cathartic lady rage, a secret library, and fairy tales woven throughout, there’s a lot going on and a lot to love in this book. The pace dragged at times and a few themes felt repetitive, but this was still a fun and satisfying read, especially for spooky season in an election year.

“Writing a book is dangerous business, if done correctly.” Alternatively titled, Why read problematic 'classics' when Alix E. Harrow exists?

Harrow's sophomore novel is yet another love letter to stories and readers. Her writing is, as always, vividly beautiful and descriptive.

After reading and falling in love with The Ten Thousand Doors of January, I immediately needed to read The Once and Future Witches as soon as it was announced. Of course, it's a completely different story but still as relevant as the former. Luckily, it didn't take very long for me to get approved for an arc. Though, it did take me awhile to actually pick it up due to an extended reading slump and whatever Twilight Zone episode this year is.

(quote)In stories the sisters are always set one against the other—the beautiful one and her two ugly sisters, the clever one and the fools, the brave one and the cowards. Only one of them escapes the wicked witch or breaks the terrible curse. But maybe tonight— just for a little while— they can pretend. Maybe they can stand hand in hand, once lost but now found. Maybe it will be enough to save their wild, wayward sister from a world that despises wayward women.(quote)

The Once and Future Witches is the story of three witch sisters in the late 1800s. This is the story of three women who finally say 'enough'. This is the story of the heart and soul of women.

(quote)“Children’s stories! Nursery rhymes! Nothing respectable, nothing verifiable!”
“Must a thing be bound and shelved in order to matter? Some stories were never written down. Some stories were passed by whisper and song, mother to daughter to sister. Bits and pieces were lost over the centuries, I’m sure, details shifted, but not all of them.”(quote)

I have adored fairytales my whole life. My grandmother read them to me and told me so many more that I've never been able to find in print. It wasn't until I was in high school, doing research for a paper, that I learned just how much they are rooted in real life and real events. It was absolutely exhilarating and eye opening. And I loved how they were weaved into this book and story. Especially as spells. I hope that people are inspired to do more research about it, too, if and when they read this book.

The release of Once couldn't come at a more perfect or revelant time. Women exist. Women matter. Women will be heard. #Vote

(quote)Sometimes, if you reach deep enough into the red heart of magic, some little scrap of magic reaches back out to you. Sometimes if you bend the rules long enough, they break.(quote)


***Thank you so much to Redhook/Orbit for giving me the opportunity to review The Once and Future Witches. Quotes are taken from an arc are subject to change.***


🎃 HAPPY HALLOWEEN, WITCHES 🎃

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I tried so hard to love this book and so hard to finish it but ultimately I had to put it down. The author has a talent for storytelling and a way with her words to make the story interesting. There was promise of magic and witches but I just felt like those things were tainted by the political ness of the book. I know it was the authors intentions to make this a magical tale with political lessons to learn from but it just didn't work for me. I think some people are going to absolutely love this book though. The writing is vivid and the characters are strong and intriguing.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC of this book!

This good had me at suffragist witches! James Juniper, Beatrice Belladonna, and Agnes Amaranth are sisters who have suffered a rift between them that time and memory have colluded to make grow. When they find themselves all in the same place for the first time in years, they find that they might be the key to bringing back the witching that's been lost to the world. No longer full of magic, witching has been reduced to nursery rhymes and simple spells passed down from generations. The sisters will have to fight against the darkness that invades the city while fighting for the witch's rights to vote and even live at all.

Alix E. Harrow is a fantastic author. We saw it in her storytelling and prose in The Ten Thousand Doors of January, and it's the same here. She weaves imagery and world-building together to create a stunning book that will put you in the middle of the suffragist movement and in the middle of a witching war.

The characters are so well developed right from the beginning. We see the story from the POV's of the three sisters, and it's easy to distinguish between their voices. They each have interesting personalities and backstories, and I liked all of them, which sometimes doesn't happen in multiple POV books like this.

The overall themes in the book are so important, even in today's world. The fight for justice and the look at how women, including women of color, are treated is important. Them coming together to fight and scheme and form bonds is important. I'm glad we got to see this here.

There was a moment or two when there was a lot of info given, and as a result, the book dragged a bit, but overall I really enjoyed it!

Even though I don't read much fantasy, I was a big fan of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, and I liked The Once and Future Witches even more. Alix Harrow does a fantastic job of creating a believable world that addresses interesting and important themes, and adds in some fun nods to reality in her naming of items. Her prose is really beautiful ~ there were many paragraphs that I read multiple times just to absorb the words she used. I look forward to reading whatever she writes next! Thank you to Netgalley and Redhook books for the advance digital copy!

I had Ten Thousand Doors of January in my stash and I heard that it was slow to get going but I ended up really liking it. I put off reading this because I needed something that would wow me right out of the gate but I shouldn't have waited. This is not my normal type of book but perfect for October and I loved it!

Juniper's sisters have left her with their abusive father and when he finally passes away Juniper starts looking for her sisters. She ends up at New Salem at a suffragist rally and unknown to the three of them the sisters, Bella and Agnes, also live there and are drawn to the rally. The suffragists are witches and witches aren't evil. They are women trying to make their lives better in the late 1800s. This is a story of love and devotion between these sisters. They are so different but so well defined. Juniper is the youngest and a wild child, impulsive, out for revenge and ready for a fight. Agnes is the strong one. She works in a mill and keeps her head down, not wanting to be noticed for her beauty and be taken advantage of. She keeps her circle closed not willing to open her heart to anyone but when she finds herself pregnant she found the ultimate love, a mother for a child. Bella is quiet and studious, works in a library, searching the books for the spells of witches.

The town of New Salem is in the grip of evil and the women are determined to overcome it. The town was vividly described and I felt that there was a greyness over it all with the sisters being a bright spot.

It is hard to sum up this story that encompasses the love and bond between the sisters, the battles they fight to right the wrongs against woman. They develop a bond with the women in town as the teach them spells and help each other. They had to overcome the misunderstandings that tore them apart in the first place. In the end love prevails.

I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Redhook Books for providing me with a copy.

Thank you, NetGalley, Redhook Books, and Alix E. Harrow for the opportunity to read and review this book!

I requested The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow immediately after seeing the cover and title. I didn’t even know what the book was about but I just knew I had to read it. Picture it. New Salem, 1893. Estranged sisters: James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna run into each other in the middle of the square. All are drawn to the suffragist movement. However, they all have a secret. The old ways are in their blood. Witches haven’t been around in years, but that is all about to change.

“The Words, the Will, the Way”

THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES
THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING!

Everything!!!

Where to begin?? First of all, it incorporates everything from fairytales to legends to history. There is social justice, sister relationships, and a whole lot of magic. The magic is so intricate but powerful. It includes the history of the persecution of witches who were burned. It discusses the atrocities that women face and how we had to work so hard to get the right to vote…and how white women left Black women behind. This book addresses that suffragette women were mainly wealthy, white women, and HOW those white women viewed poor women and Black women. I LOVED the inclusion of sex workers and the LGBTQ community. This book gave me all the Girl Power vibes —Trans women are women! When we ALL lift each other up and leave no one behind, we are even more powerful.

“Because it’s easy to ignore a woman.” Juniper’s lips twist in a feral smile. “But a hell of a lot harder to ignore a witch.”

THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES
I loved every single character. The Maiden, James Jumpier is the youngest and was left to fend for herself after her sisters left her behind and has been consumed with anger and bitterness. The Mother, Agnes Amaranth is stubborn and fierce. The Crone, Beatrice Belladonna was the first to leave. She is more likely to be in the company of books than with people. Their lives have no been easy and it will be even harder to come together. I could really relate to them being the oldest of three sisters. I understand the hurt, the love, and the willingness to lay down one’s life for their sibling.

The pacing is fantastic. The prose is stunning. I couldn’t put this book down for longer than 5 minutes because I became utterly addicted. Alix E. Harrow just became one of my auto-buy authors. This book does release October 13th and you will NOT want to skip this book. This book gets 5 PERFECT stars.

“Avalon wasn’t the first library. Alexandria, Antioch, Avicenna…they keep burning us. We keep rising again.”

THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES

It’s a special kind of heartbreak when you so badly want to like a book more than you actually do; this is precisely what happened to me and The Once and Future Witches. I know that many readers will adore this story about suffragette witches—personally, though, its execution just didn’t really work for me.

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Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried (AND VERY HARD I DID) I just couldn’t connect meaningfully with any part of this story.

At the end of the day, the writing and I meshed like oil and water. Harrow writes prose that is just shy of purple—the kind of thickly descriptive storytelling that is overladen with quirky adjectives and metaphors, and that readers will either find wholeheartedly enchanting or vehemently irritating. I was very much in the latter category.

I also felt that the protagonists, who are meant to represent recurrent female archetypes in fairytales, didn’t end up being more than their tropes: Juniper = Maiden (aka the wild one), Bella = Crone (aka the wise one), Agnes = Mother (aka the strong one). I appreciated specific moments and scenes (see below!) but overall I just couldn’t connect with any of the sisters.

Their respective roles are hammered repeatedly into the reader’s head, akin to the book’s heavy-handed treatment of its themes of feminism and the empowerment of women. Women’s rights—like other issues affecting the autonomy and wellbeing of marginalized people—are not up for debate. But… tell me something I don’t know? Tell me something with nuance and ambivalence? Or at least tell it to me in a way that isn’t weighed down by flowery writing that holds me and my emotions at a distance?

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That being said, there was a not-insignificant number of things about this story that I truly enjoyed.

I loved reading about Bella’s relationship with Cleopatra Quinn, a Black witch. I loved its themes of resistance and rebellion against patriarchy (tempered by Agnes, who recognizes that “Sometimes you can’t fight. Sometimes you can only survive.”) I loved the camaraderie between all of the book’s women characters. And I especially I loved its examination of what counts as knowledge, what knowledge should be reproduced and written about in theses and sermons. This book head-on tackles the devaluing of women’s knowledge—be it folklore or fairytales, nursery rhymes or recipes—by patriarchal systems. It reclaims these modes of knowledge by imbuing them with literal magic: turns out, the witches’ lost powers have been passed down from generation to generation through folklore, fairytales, nursery rhymes, and recipes. I found this so, so beautiful.

Bottom line: The Once and Future Witches will be an incandescent story that speaks straight to someone’s heart—unfortunately, she isn’t me.

I’m afraid I’m going to have to DNF this title. I’m still giving this a four star rating because I feel like the writing is actually spectacular but the story itself just isn’t for me. I’m not going to fault a book for me not being it’s demographic.

While this book may not be my taste right now, I can see many people loving and devouring this book.

This one is fun and filled with a level of satisfying enjoyment not often found in witchy books. Author Alix Harrow has created a a believable world where witchcraft is almost, just, right beyond the finger tips of women everywhere. If only they had access to the necessary words to make their desires a reality. Three sisters are at the heart of THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES and they manage to love, quarrel and redeem themselves through a rollicking good story. All sorts of real word historical points are neatly woven into this tale and the author gets extra kudos for her great creative chops. It was fun to see how fantasy and history collided and a wonderful tale emerged. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Once and Future Witches sounded like such a delightful book, mixing the historical with the magical to create a fun, feminist tale of suffragette witches. And while it is somewhat flawed, it did more or less meet all my expectations.

I love magic-lore in stories, and the fact that this book contains this in spades without bogging the story down is a major plus. I love the allusions to fairy tales (including some loose retellings of popular tales in-text), fun twists on real-world references to folklore like the Grimms, and the way familiar witchy and other magical sayings we’re familiar with were incorporated into the incantations that make up the epigraphs that begin each chapter. It really helps to form the backbone for the forgotten knowledge that the Eastwood sisters are bringing back.

I also liked how it tied in with the story of the sisters, and their general arcs of fighting back against the patriarchy. Each sister takes on one of the signature archetypes of Mother, Maiden, and Crone, but also subverts it, so they are not just that, and are each well-rounded people.

I did feel like the book was a bit too long at times, so there were bits that didn’t always hold my attention. However, it was more or less a solid read.

If you love historicals with a dash (or more) of magic, or are looking for books that explore feminism in a historical and magical context, I think you will enjoy this book.

I loved this book and enjoyed it even more than 10 Thousand Doors of January. Alix Harrow is definitely becoming someone who I will pick up everytime a new one comes out. Such a fun story for October and a great cast of strong women!

At first, this felt very Alice Hoffman to me (which I mean in the best possible way), specifically The Rules of Magic and not necessarily Practical Magic. Quickly though it became something else entirely - wild and wildly engaging, very nearly impossible to put down, despite its length. This Alix Harrow is one to watch.