The Once and Future Witches

What readers think

Readers consistently praise Harrow's incandescent prose — sentences saturated with fairy-tale cadence and genuine emotional weight — and the inventive magic system that hides power in everyday women's knowledge: nursery rhymes, embroidery, and lullabies. The three sisters are widely celebrated as distinct, flawed, and deeply compelling individually, even when readers feel the Maiden/Mother/Crone framing slightly flattens them. The most common criticism is that the pacing front-loads worldbuilding and political detail, with the plot accelerating sharply only in the final third; some readers also note that Black characters (particularly Cleopatra Quinn) are sidelined despite being vital to the story. The trans-inclusive women's circle is praised as naturally woven in rather than token. Winner of the 2021 British Fantasy Award.