Skip to main content

The Will. The Words. The Way.

I started 2020 by reading The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow, and although this past year has been hard for so many, for me, it was also one of adventure. I was accepted to my dream university, but prohibited from pursuing that particular adventure by events that we are all well aware of. I briefly lost my job, but became closer with my coworkers because of it. And I was hurt deeply by someone I trusted, but eventually moved on.

I cannot say that Harrow's magical words from her debut novel were the reason behind all of these adventures, but I must admit that I was inspired by January to become more resilient, so I find it fitting that I start 2021 with Harrow's second novel, The Once and Future Witches. 

The Once and Future Witches

Juniper, Agnes and Bella are three sisters that were separated, but somehow found each other again in the city of New Salem, a place where women who rally for the right to vote are accused of witching. "But witching is nothing if not a way to bend the rules, to make a way when there is none." After finding each other, the three sisters embark on a journey to find freedom, love, forgiveness, and of course, magic. Although they are initially skeptical about the existence of witches, they know that they need only the will, the words and the way to find magic again.

Alix E. Harrow is such a tremendous writer, that it is impossible not to become enthralled by her creations, and I hope she will have another novel for me to read at the start of next year! She writes about women finding their own paths, of being true to oneself and finding freedom, and although there might not be witches in the world, there very soon will be. This book was a perfect way to start the New Year, and I am eternally grateful to Santa for bringing this book to me. 4.5 stars!

Thank you, my faithful readers, for sticking with me! If you have any comments, suggestions or review requests, please comment below, email me (theopinionatedbookworm@gmail.com), or follow me on Instagram (@theopinionatedbookworm1).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The House of the Spirits

A good friend of mine once told me, "if a book has a rating of 4 or more stars on Goodreads, it is probably a safe bet that you will like it." This is why I almost always choose my books by their Goodreads rating, a strategy I am currently rethinking after reading The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. With an average rating of 4.23/5 on Goodreads, I thought I was going to love this book, and for the first four chapters, I did. However, as the story progressed I started to struggle, which has led me to believe that when choosing books I might need to employ tactics that do not solely rely on Goodreads ratings. The Patriarch Isabel Allende's novel takes place in early to mid twentieth century Chile, and tells the story of landowner Esteban Trueba, a man who went from rags to riches using nothing but his mother's honourable last name. Esteban is a classic example of an upperclass patriarch; he believed that by going back to the land of his mother's fami...

The Kings and Queens of Old

For as long as I can remember, I have had a deep, nearly obsessive, fascination with the past. The stories I was drawn to were ones of kings and queens, knights and wizards, myths and legends. Regardless of the truth behind these stories, the language and the heroic characters that populated the tales created a romantic attachment that lasts to this day.  Even now, I prefer stories of fantasy and adventure to those of real life, and in admitting this I feel like I have failed in my duty as a bookworm, as I only just finished reading The Lost Queen by Signe Pike, even though it was published in 2018.   The Lost Queen I have to sincerely thank Netgalley and Atria Books for giving me access to this ebook, because it was truly a wonderful adventure. The story begins when Languoreth, daughter of a King who still follows the Old Ways of their ancestors, is a child who just lost her mother and must learn to navigate womanhood in a changing world. As the years pass, Languoreth ex...

The End of the Reading Rut

This reading rut I was in was a painful experience that unexpectedly came to an end when I picked up Seven Days in June  by Tia Williams. I was taken on an unexpected journey, torn open while reading about the love story of Eva and Shane. Now that the story is over, I wish it had never ended. 7 days to fall in love, 15 to forget Fifteen years after Eva and Shane first fell in love, they meet again during a writers panel hosted by a mutual friend. Although they had not spoken to each other since their love ended, they were forever in each other's thoughts when writing their respective novels, a fact that only they were aware of. Even after so many years, their feelings are still electrifying, but one question remains, can they overcome the events of the past? Sometimes, reading a romance novel can seem formulaic, but this story broke every formula I have ever experienced in my literary adventures. Each chapter told me something about Eva and Shane that I genuinely did not expect. On...