Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

Author: Alix E. Harrow
Publisher: Redhook
Released: October 13, 2020
Received: Own
Warnings: Sexism, racism, torture (implied), animal death, abuse, kidnapping

Why did I wait two years to read The Once and Future Witches?! Why!? It was SO good. I wish I had picked it up the first time I heard about it. Still, I’ve gotta say – it was worth all the hype I had heard about!

The year is 1893, and despite the best efforts of witch hunters, witches still live among us. How many? That is harder to say. Our story begins with three sisters – James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna.

Juniper is the youngest – wild and full of strong emotions (and the determination to take action). Agnes is the middle child, haunted by her past and the reason why she ran. Beatrice is the eldest, the wise sister who is likewise unable to forget what she left behind.

“That’s all magic is, really: the space between what you have and what you need.”

Once again, I am blown away by Alix E. Harrow’s writing. I originally fell in love with her work through her Fractured Fables duology (if you haven’t read that, please go pick it up!). The emotion and way she played with classical fairytale tropes were such a delight.

Those elements shine through The Once and Future Witches, though this beast of a novel also tackles several other subjects. Sisterly love, obligations, betrayal, women’s rights/suffrage, history, dominance, and perseverance. All of these themes (and several others) play a role.

Ultimately, I think this complexity made me fall in love with The Once and Future Witches. While it’s a massive book (the paperback is over five hundred pages), it doesn’t ever feel like it. Every moment has a purpose, setting a scene or revealing something new. It was easy to settle in and enjoy the story.

What was more challenging was controlling my emotions while reading. The contents of this book were designed to elicit a reaction, and it certainly succeeded! Name an emotion, and the odds are good that I experienced it while reading The Once and Future Witches.

Finally, let us address the message within The Once and Future Witches. While it’s a novel set in the late 1800s, many of the points made still feel very relevant. Given the publication date (and events around that time), I have to assume this was intentional. It made this historical fantasy novel hit all the harder.

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