Harrow’s prose is heightened and stylized, but it rarely strays into garishness (rarely, not never).

There’s still a lot to like about The Once and Future Witches. I’m thus inclined to believe the story starts too early-cutting at least a quarter of the novel would have done wonders for the book. I can’t quite decide if the story starts too late or too early it’s hard to get a read on the relationship between the sisters because the novel opens after that relationship has fractured, but it’s also unclear what type of story is being told until 25% into the book, and the plot doesn’t start moving until 50% (which wouldn’t be as big of a problem if the first half had been spent digging deep into the characters, but most of those pages are empty calories). This is at least partially a symptom of the awkward chapters which open the book. The arc of the novel makes it clear that Harrow’s intent is bring these characters from the realm of reality into the realm of fable, but they pinball between both from the beginning and I struggled to penetrate the carapace of archetype and really get a sense of who the sisters were as people.

Connecting to these characters was difficult for me because they inhabit a liminal space between fable and reality-sometimes the sisters feel as if they stepped out of a fairy tale, and sometimes they feel like people you would meet on the street. That story, which takes place in 1893 in a world where witchcraft is real but largely extinct, follows three witch sisters: James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna (they loosely adhere to the archetypes of the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, although Harrow somewhat undermines this). But they do click, and the shaky footing upon which the book begins stabilizes into a strong story as it enters its endgame. The Once and Future Witches is the picture of the painting-the scope is a shade too small, lacking crucial context, and the stakes and the characters don’t quite click until late in the novel. You feel like you can’t fully appreciate it without seeing it in person, but you can still recognize the artistry. The picture isn’t great: the painting isn’t fully in frame, and it’s slightly out-of-focus. Imagine someone goes to an art museum and takes a picture of a remarkable painting. Her follow-up, The Once and Future Witches, doesn’t quite capture the same magic-but calling it a sophomore slump doesn’t give it enough credit. Harrow’s debut, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, made it clear that she was a writer to watch. I received an ARC of The Once and Future Witches from Redhook Books in exchange for an honest review.Īlix E.

The once and future witches book review