My Rating: ★★★★.5
Blurb:
At the dawn of their adolescence, on the eve of the summer solstice, four young girls--Helena, Leonie, Niamh and Elle--took the oath to join Her Majesty's Royal Coven, established by Queen Elizabeth I as a covert government department. Now, decades later, the witch community is still reeling from a civil war and Helena is now the reigning High Priestess of the organization. Yet Helena is the only one of her friend group still enmeshed in the stale bureaucracy of HMRC. Elle is trying to pretend she's a normal housewife, and Niamh has become a country vet, using her powers to heal sick animals. In what Helena perceives as the deepest betrayal, Leonie has defected to start her own more inclusive and intersectional coven, Diaspora. And now Helena has a bigger problem. A young warlock of extraordinary capabilities has been captured by authorities and seems to threaten the very existence of HMRC. With conflicting beliefs over the best course of action, the four friends must decide where their loyalties lie: with preserving tradition, or doing what is right.
Juno Dawson explores gender and the corrupting nature of power in a delightful and provocative story of magic and matriarchy, friendship and feminism. Dealing with all the aspects of contemporary womanhood, as well as being phenomenally powerful witches, Niamh, Helena, Leonie and Elle may have grown apart but they will always be bound by the sisterhood of the coven.
**Spoiler-Free Review**
I received this book from Harper Collins UK via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I've read a couple of Juno Dawson books in the past and I enjoyed Say Her Name so I was looking forward to reading a book by Dawson that wasn't a horror, but did have a spooky vibe. This 100% didn't disappoint.
The witchy atmosphere in this book permeates every page and character. Honestly, reading this book about all these strong women with solid female friendships just filled me with everything I needed for spooky season. This book felt like it embodied everything I wanted from a modern-day witch book. I really loved Niamh - she was so sweet and kind, but also a complete badass. Leonie's coven was great to see and it was interesting to explore the politics of this world through her newly-created coven.
Dawson also explores so many important topics within this world: feminism, racism, and LGBTQA+ rights, just to name a few. She handles these topics so well and sensitively. Theo is thought to be an incredibly powerful warlock until it's discovered that she identifies as a woman; the book cleverly explores the impact her gender has on the society of witches, because it doesn't seem like they've ever thought about how trans witches or warlocks can fit into their world comfortably. Reading from the perspective of someone who is a white supremicist TERF is incredibly frustrating (mostly because of how sadly realistic that sort of character is in our world), but we also get the perspectives of progressive women who support Theo and Leonie, and that is wonderful to see.
I really enjoyed reading about the politics of the witches' world and how it fits into the world we have now. I wish we'd seen more of the world, and the main character's pasts in the war. I would love to see a book about that showing how the four women were friends and how they grew into the women they are in this book.
My only issue with the audiobook arc that I listened to was that it was sometimes difficult to distinguish which perspective you were listening to. It would take a few minutes of the narrator talking before it became obvious who it was. Some of the side characters were easy to get muddled up with as well because they weren't given enough time on the page for the reader to remember who they were in relation to the main characters. I'm really looking forward to get a physical copy to see if it's easier to pick this up on re-read rather that listening to the audiobook.
Overall, I really loved this book and it's perfect for the autumn/witchy season. If you're looking for a fantastic urban fantasy with great queer representation then I highly recommend picking this book up. I already can't wait for the sequel, especially after that cliffhanger ending.
No comments:
Post a Comment