While the 10k doors of January tried valiantly to craft words, the Once and Future Witches blew it out of the park. This was beautiful. It was poetic. It was haunting. It was a little too long, but it was so wonderful. It was feminist but not in a way that hits you over the head.

If you like feminist, slow, character driven witchy stories, this book is for you!

It definitely sounds like something I would love but unfortunately, I'm not connecting with Alix E. Harrow's writing style. It's a shame because The Ten Thousand Doors of January seemed to be a hit for most people, and this book seems to be no worse. As much as I want to lover her books, the characters she creates never seem to have enough depth to them and the books read very young, which is not a bad thing! Just not what I'm looking for in this particular story type. I'm 39% through this story and I'm putting it down.

Fun and creative and smart. Harrow does an amazing job creating a new world that lives beside the one we know.

I just can't seem to connect to Mrs. Harrow's stories. Like her debut novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, this is a historical fantasy, now with three heroine leads instead of one. It has very feminist themes as we follow three sister witches who are also suffragists. Mrs. Harrow has a lyrical prose but for some reason I just can't find myself getting attached to characters or becoming immersed in the story. This book is very much a slow moving novel, so you need to like the characters in order to feel motivated to read. My motivation to read this was really only to just finish it; I just did not care about what was going on. I think I am in a vast minority here with not liking it, so I still encourage you to give it a try if you love historical fantasy.

3.5 Stars I'm having a hard time reviewing this one. I loved Ten Thousand Doors so naturally I couldn't wait to read her next book. I was slightly disappointed in this one though and I'm having a difficult time wrapping my brain around why I was disappointed. I know I had some issues with the pacing, there were parts that were very engaging and a lot of other parts where I felt "checked out" and was just reading the words on the page. There is no doubt the writing has magical moments--when we're in the middle of a really emotional part you FEEL it but other scenes felt flat to me.
I did really enjoy the witchtales and the world building and the author's insights are hard hitting and relevant in any time. Overall I did enjoy this book but felt like it was a little hard to connect sometimes. This will definitely not deter me from reading her next book.

Accused of murdering her abusive father by witchcraft, James Juniper Eastwood flees to New Salem, home to her estranged sisters. In the city, magic is hidden, and women protest for the right to vote. But suffrage is slow; Juniper wants a world where magic is real and where women and their words have power now. A bewitching tale of sisterhood and defiance.

Intelligent, challenging, highly inspiring. I really did not know what to expect but I was caught by the story early on and, even although I finished the book some days ago I am still thinking about the characters and the ending.

Three sisters, separated by trauma, re-unite in New Salem in 1893. Their fight for women's suffrage transforms into a fight to reclaim women's power through witchcraft. With a large, diverse cast of characters, the author can explore different magic systems, traditions, and cultures, (Intersectional feminism for the win!)

It takes place in an alternate world where magic has mostly disappeared from the world, after the Last Three were vanquished. Yet women still perform small magics in secret. The novel explores the transmission of knowledge both oral and written, official and spurious, historical records and hidden in plain sight. The eldest sisteris a librarian.

The world-buillding is fantastic. Many famous persons from history are genderbent, seemingly for the fun of it. I woul like to read more stories inb this world. Yet, i am also happy that it is a stand-alone novel.

The Once and Future Witches, magic, spells, and treason many stories playing at once that can hurt or save the sisters from a tragic ending..

I rarely read fantasy but this book keeps showing on my newsfeed all around so I decided to give it a try, it is a good book and a good story, It has sooooo many details that at times I was getting confused with what was happening but at the end everything was great.

The once and future witches it is the story of three sisters who had to go through so many problems and terrible situations to be able to reunite again, many lies and situations made them grow apart, thinking the worst about each other but life has a funny way to face you with your worst nightmares and mistakes so together again are ready to recover their life and power that was hidden from local authorities and regular humans who were hunting them and try to change their world.

Many evil characters, you didn't know whom to trust, who was bad, who was good but we definitely found some in this story and a lot of female energy. when I started to think which of the sisters was my favorite I really couldn't say but JUniper and Agata were definitely my favorites, both of them were very rebellious or more like a "rebellious soul" trying to survive in man's world.

I love how in the end family blood is stronger than any bad karma, I love how they redeem themselves, they forgive and forget and fight hard to get what they needed... but most importantly to become sisters and a family again that's what this book left me with.

I don't want to spoil anything so let's just leave this review like it is.

Overall it was a good magical book, with a great final message, with too much detail and description that kept me screaming "can we move on already" hahah but it was good

*I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Only two books in and I'm already an Alix E. Harrow superfan! This book is much more angry than Ten Thousand Doors, but doesn't lack any of the heart and wonder of Harrow's debut. I loved all of the characters and how their struggle for equality tied so well with women's suffrage. I also enjoyed the take on diversity. This one was appropriately witchy for this time of year!

I have to admit I was not blown away by Harrow’s first novel, The 10,000 Doors of January. I know a lot of people loved it, though! As I started this novel, I was beginning to think this one would be dnf’d too. But I kept going…and man, I’m so glad I did!

Three sisters are unexpectedly drawn together when a tower suddenly appears in St. George’s Square in New Salem during 1893. They were estranged because of the circumstances that each of them left at their childhood home. Do they stay together? Do they figure out where the tower came from and how? The book builds and builds from there.

The only issue is that the build-up does take a while. I was about 40% through the ebook before the action kicked in…and then I didn’t want to put it down. Such an excellent book for October!

I am always a sucker for a book about witches and this book definitely does not disappoint. This is the second book I have read from this author and I love the originality of what this author writes. Tying witch lore, the suffragette movement, and the history of Salem together was masterful and just so overall different than what I have read in the past. This is definitely a book that I will recommend to others. It is a longer read, but definitely worth the time and investment. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

I was so excited to get this book. I had listen to the audiobook of Harrow's previous book, Ten Thousand Doors of January, narrated by the great January LaVoy. I had liked it but suspected that part of my enjoyment of it was the fantastic narrator. So I was extra interested in her follow up book, The Once and Future Witches, to see if Harrow was for me.
Well, I guess the answer to that is no. I have tried for two months to read this book and have only gotten 100 pages in. However, I feel like I've given it a fair chance and I won't be finishing it. It centers on three sisters, who I can't seem to keep straight and a lot of convoluted writing. I think it is the writing style, and not the storyline, in this case that doesn't work well for me. I hope that other readers will enjoy this book but I did not.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy for review.

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

So, I’ll start this off by saying I love books set in the past as well as alternate universes. This book was almost an instant win for me because of those themes but I loved the story as well! It is such a perfect story for this time of year. Witches, feminism, sisterhood, etc! I loved every moment of it.

I found myself getting absolutely lost in this book! I would read and read, I absolutely could not put this down. It was like I just had to keep going. Each chapter pulled you deeper into the world.

What I love about Harrow’s writing style is she makes you feel every little bit of magic on every page. She just has a way of writing that is beautiful. I loved this.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

📖 This book. Wow. The Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow.

🧙 The author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January does it again, for me. This novel drops us in New Salem in 1893. We're crossing witches with the women's suffrage movement. Our main girls are Juniper, Agnes, and Bella (and Cleo ❤️❤️❤️), who are sisters, seeking each other, seeking power, seeking the words and ways of their grandmother and of The Last Three, who were burned centuries before.

🦉 The words are woven into womens-words, folklore and fairytales, nursery ryhmes passed from mother to daughter. Alix Harrow's writing is lush and expressive and breathtaking.

🥀 This plot moves, it doesn't plod, but this book is really about the characters and the setting and the writing, the search for a lace to belong and at what cost. The villain here is a dastardly devil, the women are wily and intelligent, and the message is one of justice and empowerment of those on the margins.

✒️ For readers who loved The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd, but are searching for that October-witchy vibe, do NOT miss this one.

🔥 I will be putting "Ashes, ashes, we all rise up" on my screensaver as my battle cry. Thank you, Alix, for this breathtaking novel. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#ashesashes #theonceandfuturewitches #fivestarbookalert #bookreview @alix.e.harrow
Thank you to @keliteracy for passing along her galley copy and to @netgalley who allowed me to jump between the paper and Kindle versions.

A story of women fighting for their power.

In the time of the suffrage movement, women are not only fighting for the right to vote but also for their right to use witchcraft, a once accepted practice that is now hidden behind closed doors and in whispers between mothers and daughters. Three estranged sisters, James, Agnes, and Beatrice, find themselves somehow in the middle of this fight after inexplicably calling forth powers from long ago.

Although I was searching for the beauty of the lyrical prose from Ten Thousand Doors of January, I found that beauty in the character development and dynamics in this story instead. There is no doubt that Harrow is an incredibly talented writer and I will read anything she writes here on out. It did take me about two-thirds of the way through the book for it to be hard to put down which can feel daunting when the book is over 500 pages. While witchhunt stories typically take place in the 1700s, this plot with the combination of the suffrage movement made for a refreshing take on this type of story as well as an empowering read for women.

I recommend this to those who enjoy character-driven novels, anyone looking for a new take on a story about witchcraft/witches, and fans of Alice Hoffman.

Thank you to Netgalley and Redhook Books for the eArc in exchange for an honest review.

Alix E. Harrow is one of my favourite authors of all time. When I read her debut book, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, I fell deeply in love with her style of storytelling, voice, and her creativity. Any book she publishes will immediately be snatched up by my greedy little hands. I took me a very long time to finish both of her books because I want to savour every words that she has written. I would pull the book up and read little bits at a time until I could not stand it any longer and I had to gobble up the remaining pages.

The Once and Future Witches is so completely different than her last book, but it still holds many of the components that I mentioned above. I fell in love with the characters in this story. The beautiful family bond that the three main characters share is heartbreakingly beautiful, as are the romantic relationships that are formed. (CLEO CAN HAVE MY HEART AND SOUL).

It's hard to form words to describe this incredibly nuanced and enchanting story. It is set in an alternate history of our world (in the mid-1800's during the suffragist movement) where witches were real but have been burned out of existence...or have they? It's feminist, dark, sexy, sad, hopeful, and many other compelling adjectives. I highly recommend inviting an edition of this book into your home and heart.

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

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

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


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

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

“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.”

It’s 1893 in New Salem and there’s no such thing as witches. But there were. And there will be.

Nursery rhymes, witches-tales, stories – these are how the whispers are passed down out of the view of watchful, hateful, and fearful eyes. Passed from mother to daughter, sister to sister; small charms and spells, harmless really. Real witching ended with the burnings, after all.

After several years of separation, the three Eastwood sisters – James Juniper, the fierce and untamed Maiden; Agnes Amaranth, the strong and passionate Mother; and Beatrice Belladonna, the wise and reserved Crone – find themselves drawn together as a tower appears out of thin air in the middle of a city square. Just as quickly as it appeared, it vanishes again. The sisters, surrounded by the suffragist movement, find themselves on the trail of forgotten words in a story that weaves and unravels in absolutely enthralling ways.

I read Alix E. Harrow’s debut novel earlier this year and was completely blown away by it and, although I tried to keep my expectations levelled, I was incredibly excited to see her second offering’s release date was so imminent.

Harrow’s way of crafting a story – not just the narrative but the wordsmithing itself – is so quietly beautiful. I have highlighted so many passages in my ebook as standout that I might as well have highlighted the entire book. Her way with words has a way of stopping the reader every so often so that they can exhale, exclaim, and just admire the skill.

This is all to say… I was not let down by my expectations of The Once And Future Witches.

A theme that runs through both this book and it’s predecessor, The Ten Thousand Doors Of January, is the magic and power behind words and stories. It’s delightfully meta, as is the fairytale-like feel that both complements and contrasts the epic stories being told.

The Once And Future Witches is told in our real world, but a version of that world where magic exists. Existed. Will exist again. On several occasions I was in awe at the level of quiet detail tying this world into real-life history. A huge amount of thought and care has gone into crafting this story and grounding it in the reader’s reality. Familiar nursery rhymes and fairy tales are used as vessels to pass spells between generations, and real events in history – as well as countless famous myths – are tied in to the history of witching.

Placing a more specific label on this book beyond fantasy is difficult, as it contains so many genres and themes within it. There is witchcraft, obviously, and both the real and fictional history of stake-burning. There is a fiercely feminist theme throughout, manifesting most obviously in the suffragette movement and the various factions and divisions therein. The importance of sisterhood – familial or otherwise – is the main driving force of the narrative, as is love and the many forms it takes. There are feelings of a dystopian genre, and definite moments of adventure and peril. I don’t count myself as a particular fan of fantasy in many of its forms, however it turns out that I’m very much a fan of Harrow’s take on it.

Despite the ethereal nature of the book, important topics are explored – the racial divides of a city; the contrast between a woman’s movement that is for the “right kind of woman” and the women who get left behind by that; LGBTQ presence in history; the different kinds of magic that come from and belong to different cultures from around the world; the difference between the sharing and the taking of this cultural heritage. That empowerment belongs to all women is a central theme, and this is resonated in the disabled main character, a sapphic love story, interracial relationships, and multiple side characters of colour and characters who are LGBTQ.

At several points during my read I found myself examining the story and taking guesses as to where it was headed. For a long time the endgame was not obvious at all, but it is deliciously revealed bit by bit in a way that never feels contrived. When a couple of sizeable reveals happen, they are the kind that make you both smile and sigh in exasperation, because it turns out that they’ve been right in front of you the entire time. It’s almost enough to make you want to reread the story immediately to see how many glaring clues you missed the first time around.

This is a long book. Perhaps, maybe, it could have been trimmed slightly, but being able to remain in the world and magic of the Eastwood sisters for so long was also a blessing.

If you want to be completely entangled in a story about strength, bravery, love, resistance, empowerment, and of course, magic, then I cannot recommend this story enough. I cannot wait to see what the author offers us next.

(An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts are my own.)

A beautiful, captivating story of sisters, witches, women's rights, workers' rights, and so much more. One of the best books of 2020!