
The Once and Future Witches
Alix E. Harrow
2020 · Fantasy
How it reads
The Once and Future Witches is fantasy (historical fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is hopeful. Whatever it puts its people through, it believes things can get better. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.
It's set in a big city setting, in the historical past, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are identity, power and politics and justice. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something hopeful
- you want a complete story in one book
- you want to be sure it ends well
Maybe not if…
- you need something melancholy or dark
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- fantasy
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- early career
- Setting: place
- big city
- Setting: time
- historical
- Mood / feeling
- hopeful
- Pace
- moderate
- Tone / weight
- balanced
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- third person, several viewpoints
- Publication era
- recent
- Popularity
- moderately known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Themes
- identity, power and politics, justice
- Ending style
- resolved and happy
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
The City We BecameN. K. JemisinShares: fantasy, hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace
Spinning SilverNaomi NovikShares: fantasy, hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace
ThornIntisar KhananiShares: fantasy, hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace
A Master of DjinnP. Djèlí ClarkShares: fantasy, balanced tone, historical fantasy, moderate pace- The Ballad of Perilous GravesAlex JenningsShares: fantasy, balanced tone, moderate pace, resolved and happy ending
- I, MedusaAyana GrayShares: fantasy, balanced tone, moderate pace, resolved and happy ending
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