Reviews with content warning for Sexism - The Witches of Moonshyne Manor

There are a lot of witchy books out there and I've read a fair share myself (some of them over and over and over again (*cough-cough*Harry Potter), but Marais goes in a wonderfully different direction with The Witches of Moonshyne Manor. For one thing, I don't think I've ever read a supernatural/paranormal book with 6 80+ year old women as the main characters! And it was honestly hilarious reading about that carefree dgaf of of the old.

I do think that after the initial craziness at the beginning of the book, there was a bit of a lull that dragged on until we started getting more of the flashback story. I really enjoyed how Marais wrote her twists where she didn't hide anything from you, except by not including extra details. From the very beginning Ursula is constantly saying how everything was her fault but the more details we're given, you think it's survivors guilt...until you don't anymore. She was also very clear on how diverse her characters were without it being in your face obvious every other page. I also really liked how everyone had powers but in different ways, though they could all do some of the same spells, there were certain things that only each individual could do which made them stronger as a group.

There were lots of fun, and intense life lessons interspersed with this rollercoaster of a story, which was awesome since it alluded to the long lives the women lived and all the things our elders have to teach us. But it also highlighted the fact that we may know a lot of things when we get old, we don't know everything and we should still listen to those younger than us to continue to learn.

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thereadinghammock's review against another edition

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The misogyny that undercurrents the entire plot kept me so distracted from anything else that went on. I want to know what happened with Ruby and what will happen to these witches, but right now I just couldn't.

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bessadams's review

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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takarakei's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This was a super cute cozy witchy book!! A group of older witches live together and are trying to save their property from literally the patriarchy. I honestly would love to end up living with all my besties in my old age like these women! There’s a little bit of mystery because one of their friends is gone for part of the book, until it’s revealed why but it’s a bit complicated.

I had a bit of trouble discerning some of the different povs on audio.

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stevie_in_the_stacks's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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uraveragelesbianreader's review

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adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was a really fun read! I read it back around halloween and quite literally devoured it all in one day in maybe about 5 hours. Usually I am not a big fan of magical realism, but this book I really enjoyed. I'll Strat my review with the good parts. The characters in this book are immaculate. All the relationships feel fleshed out and well earned and although I had complex and unique feelings about every character, there wasn't one I particularly hated (beyond the very clear villains but I will get to that shortly in the negatives.) The writing was clear and spoke to the characterization well, I never had trouble visualizing the scenes or the characters throughout the novel. All this is done while still not being aggressively complex or literary prose which I think actually helped this book more than hindered it. Never before have I been so compelled by so many of the relationships in one book, the friendships and the platonic relationships all flowed well and felt natural. They were flawed and occasionally harmful but never felt fully toxic or underdeveloped or that the flaws are unexplainable or unrealistic. The plot to me is mostly secondary to the relationships that are developed by it so if you're a person who prefers plot to characters, you may not like this book as much as I did. On the note of the plot at points it reads more like a buzzed article than a book but I actually did not find this to the detriment of the book because I feel it was intentional. This book does not have morally grey antagonists they are VERY morally bad, the main characters do have moral greyness but that is about it. It reads like an old 90s witch movie with a modern progressive twist and the plot is not logical but it is fun, and the message sent is important. This book has a lot of sex positivity as well as queer rep shown in very explicit way there is no messing around about the plot in that way. I found that a really enjoyable and unique part of this book, I haven't really seen a lot of fiction be this explicit in its exploration of things like the queer experience and sex so blatantly and it was refreshing. Very few books also focus this much on the relationships between women especially women in their older age. Its a very underrepresented group in literature and when they are represented it is oftentimes done in a way such as to make them the but of the joke but this book didn't feel like that. They talk about aging, specifically aging as it occurs in women very openly and very blatantly and it is never made to be gross or funny it just is. The relationships also feel organic and although they did not show us the development directly the hints we do get of the past allow the relationships to feel more organic especially because it is intermixed wonderfully with the main plot. Although I do think the main issue is resolved a little quickly for my liking and once again the final 50 pages I feel could've been stretched a bit more. However, I like the resolution and it felt rewarding and well built up to. Overall this book represents a wonderful demographic that we often don't see in media and although it can be a touch heavy-handed in its themes, that only serves to help the plot in the end. I would recommend this book for those looking for a uniquely touching witchy story about the relationships between women over time.

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