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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
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
Coming soon to https://www.spiritboundpress.com/literary-craft-editorial?category=Literary%20Craft%20Editorial%20Review%20-%20Column
You may know Cherie Dimaline from her hugely popular, award-winning YA novel, The Marrow Thieves, and its recent follow-up, Hunting By Stars, but VenCo is her magical story centering witchy women everywhere.
Featuring a Métis millennial main character named Lucky, the story is about VenCo, a secret underground network of witches just waiting for the time when they can rise up and reclaim their power. That moment may be nigh as Lucky finds what could be the seventh spoon needed to unite the witches and reignite their flame. But Lucky and her grandmother must road trip to New Orleans, face a deadly witch hunter, and reckon with the past in order to determine the future.
This is a kaleidoscopic, evocative book that you might finish in one sitting. Or sit back and take it in slowly, with its charm, detail, and magic. Be it VenCo, The Marrow Thieves, or any of Dimaline’s books, you can’t go wrong with her electrifying, haunting, and signature voice.
You may know Cherie Dimaline from her hugely popular, award-winning YA novel, The Marrow Thieves, and its recent follow-up, Hunting By Stars, but VenCo is her magical story centering witchy women everywhere.
Featuring a Métis millennial main character named Lucky, the story is about VenCo, a secret underground network of witches just waiting for the time when they can rise up and reclaim their power. That moment may be nigh as Lucky finds what could be the seventh spoon needed to unite the witches and reignite their flame. But Lucky and her grandmother must road trip to New Orleans, face a deadly witch hunter, and reckon with the past in order to determine the future.
This is a kaleidoscopic, evocative book that you might finish in one sitting. Or sit back and take it in slowly, with its charm, detail, and magic. Be it VenCo, The Marrow Thieves, or any of Dimaline’s books, you can’t go wrong with her electrifying, haunting, and signature voice.
Great? No. Good enough, though. Entertaining. Fun. Quick. A little suspense, some heart, a good time.
My first ARC in a Goodreads giveaway and I was madly in love with The Marrow Thieves, so expectations were already high. I loved it but found the different non-witch roles to be confusing/need a bit more explanation in the story. Typical for Cherie Dimaline’s books, it made me feel things that reminded me to keep heart and hope. I hope this is the first in another series!
@williammorrowbooks
@cherie.dimaline
#VENCO
@williammorrowbooks
@cherie.dimaline
#VENCO
an interesting take on witches, covens, and evil men desperate to hoard power. Also, a thoughtful presentation of the stress of taking care of generations (either the next - or the ones that came before). Lucky's grandmother raised her - now Lucky has to look after Gran while trying to save the world.
4.5/5 stars. Wow this was an amazing book!! There was a lot of very heavy topics (tw: abuse in many forms, addicts, death, violence) throughout but I think they were handled extremely well and all of the characters brought interesting and different perspectives.
I do wish we had seen more about Freya's background though.
Another book where queer people are just people and not like the token thing about a book! Love it!!
Although I will say at times when the pov changed it was confusing whose pov it was.
I do wish we had seen more about Freya's background though.
Another book where queer people are just people and not like the token thing about a book! Love it!!
Although I will say at times when the pov changed it was confusing whose pov it was.
DNF at 140 pages.
This is so very disappointing! I enjoyed Empire of Wild and was looking forward to this novel.
Dimaline is talented and has a great sense of humour, but with this novel, she's overreaching her ability.
First of all, it's shallow. Theme-wise, plot-wise, character-wise...shallow. Think of the "we're the daughters of the witches they couldn't burn" meme and draw that out into a whole book. The meme is ahistorical and trite enough as it is, but 400 pages of misconceptions and bland Insta "feminism" is too much to endure. Other reviewers have pointed the historical errors already, so I'll simply add that I found myself repeating "Nope." out loud far too often. Annoyance is hardly the mood you want elicited when reading a witchy book.
Second, the characters are flat and inconsistent. Some characters also feel derivative (Arnya in particular). I've read better versions of these women in better novels.
Thirdly, and this is a style quibble that might not annoy everyone, there are too many metaphors and similes. This attempt to sound more...literary? not sure...reminds me of students who lard their writing with fancy seeming synonyms when told to develop their ideas. The prose is dialled up to 11, but the content isn't improved at all.
Overall, the moments of humour and enjoyment, which do happen, aren't worth the headache from all the eye rolling.
This is so very disappointing! I enjoyed Empire of Wild and was looking forward to this novel.
Dimaline is talented and has a great sense of humour, but with this novel, she's overreaching her ability.
First of all, it's shallow. Theme-wise, plot-wise, character-wise...shallow. Think of the "we're the daughters of the witches they couldn't burn" meme and draw that out into a whole book. The meme is ahistorical and trite enough as it is, but 400 pages of misconceptions and bland Insta "feminism" is too much to endure. Other reviewers have pointed the historical errors already, so I'll simply add that I found myself repeating "Nope." out loud far too often. Annoyance is hardly the mood you want elicited when reading a witchy book.
Second, the characters are flat and inconsistent. Some characters also feel derivative (Arnya in particular). I've read better versions of these women in better novels.
Thirdly, and this is a style quibble that might not annoy everyone, there are too many metaphors and similes. This attempt to sound more...literary? not sure...reminds me of students who lard their writing with fancy seeming synonyms when told to develop their ideas. The prose is dialled up to 11, but the content isn't improved at all.
Overall, the moments of humour and enjoyment, which do happen, aren't worth the headache from all the eye rolling.
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No