Harrow’s spectacular debut, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, was one of celebration – a celebration of portal fantasies, of secret histories, of favorite books and tales, most of all of the protagonists’ capacity to find and claim their own stories. Read Full Review >ĭespite its vampires, assassins, and a viciously conspiratorial patriarchy, the main sensibility I took away from Alix E. With themes of intersectional feminism, motherhood and the deep scars of trauma, Harrow provides readers with an intoxicating mix of fantasy and reality that will speak to both the powerless and the empowered, igniting a new fury within all who read it. Combining an imaginative and fully realized system of magic, stellar worldbuilding and characters who grow, expand and subvert readers’ expectations on every page, The Once and Future Witches is the perfect brew of magic and power. Framing the reclamation of magic against the very real (and timely) struggle for the vote, the author reminds us what fantasy does best: allows readers to see how different characters respond to adversity and apply their learnings to our own problems. It reads like magic itself, riddled with secret spells and surging with power and activism. Harrow writes as if she is possessed, crafting secret societies, forming uprisings and, somehow, writing believable and relatable female characters at the same time. At over 500 pages, The Once and Future Witches is no brief foray into Salem and witchcraft, yet I read the entire book in one breathless sitting. They couldn’t be more different from one another, but their shared history and hopes for the future bring them together at a comfortable but emotionally charged pace. Alternating perspectives among the three sisters, Harrow pens a story of hurt and betrayal, but also one of all-encompassing sisterly love. The words and ways are powerful, and Harrow proves she has both. I yearned for them to find that which they’d misplaced. I rooted for Bella, Agnes, and Juniper every step of the way. I found myself lingering over some of Harrow’s figurative language, which made the associative networks in my brain sing.
The Eastwood sisters are deftly characterized, and glorious in their imperfections the world is imaginatively built and the tale entertains.
I would’ve liked to spend more time with the members of the New Salem Women’s Association and watch them interact with the Eastwood sisters’ coven. A book about suffrage and spells became a book about spells.
If I had just one criticism to level against the novel, it would be that the suffragette story thread was dropped early on. an homage to the endurance of stories and storytelling. Harrow’s story lies firmly within the feminist tradition, reflective of the social commentaries of modern feminist thinkers like Kate Manne and Rebecca Traister and reminiscent of women’s recent and growing exercise of their political power.
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