Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
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
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I loved the premise of this book, but the execution ending up leaving me rather disappointed.
First off, there were some things I loved. The diversity in race and age of the witches, the inclusion of trans witches (FINALLY breaking the gender essentialism so many witch books play into), a range of romantic and sexual identities, and explicitly addressing how colonialism, capitalism, and kyriarchy are not only completely invested in the oppression of anyone not deemed white and male enough but also destroying the planet as a whole. Dimaline put a lot of thought into the world building here and it shows.
Onto the negatives. Unfortunately, for a book that explicitly states that it's about coming together to change the world, the actual plot is about a Chosen One who mostly defeats the specific Big Bad through her heretofore unknown exceptionalism. The other coven members play minor roles in the story, and I wish they had been a lot more fleshed out as characters in their own rights, rather than just supporting Lucky's journey. In fact I would have been much happier if all the villain PoV chapters had instead been devoted to the rest of the coven members, and the Oracle.
There are several times throughout the book that characters stress "connection to the land" and community as the core of magic, but the final magical battle takes place in New Orleans, a place Lucky has no connection to at all, and which is reduced to the most touristy version of itself here.
Much of the plot of the book hinges on dramatic irony and characters choosing not to tell others information that is important for them to know. This is completely unresolved in one case (the Oracle and the coven) and in another, the betrayal and justified anger are literally brushed away in one line of explanation rather than explored as an impediment to the trust that the coven relies on.
Finally, this book is completely centered on the Western world being the pivotal key to solving the entire world's problems. Even in the end, when we are treated to glimpses of other witches, none of them are outside Western culture. For a book so focused on effects of colonization, I would have hoped for at least a moment of recognition that other places exist and matter.
Overall, I enjoyed the read fine but was left wanting more out of it.
First off, there were some things I loved. The diversity in race and age of the witches, the inclusion of trans witches (FINALLY breaking the gender essentialism so many witch books play into), a range of romantic and sexual identities, and explicitly addressing how colonialism, capitalism, and kyriarchy are not only completely invested in the oppression of anyone not deemed white and male enough but also destroying the planet as a whole. Dimaline put a lot of thought into the world building here and it shows.
Onto the negatives. Unfortunately, for a book that explicitly states that it's about coming together to change the world, the actual plot is about a Chosen One who mostly defeats the specific Big Bad through her heretofore unknown exceptionalism. The other coven members play minor roles in the story, and I wish they had been a lot more fleshed out as characters in their own rights, rather than just supporting Lucky's journey. In fact I would have been much happier if all the villain PoV chapters had instead been devoted to the rest of the coven members, and the Oracle.
There are several times throughout the book that characters stress "connection to the land" and community as the core of magic, but the final magical battle takes place in New Orleans, a place Lucky has no connection to at all, and which is reduced to the most touristy version of itself here.
Much of the plot of the book hinges on dramatic irony and characters choosing not to tell others information that is important for them to know. This is completely unresolved in one case (the Oracle and the coven) and in another, the betrayal and justified anger are literally brushed away in one line of explanation rather than explored as an impediment to the trust that the coven relies on.
Finally, this book is completely centered on the Western world being the pivotal key to solving the entire world's problems. Even in the end, when we are treated to glimpses of other witches, none of them are outside Western culture. For a book so focused on effects of colonization, I would have hoped for at least a moment of recognition that other places exist and matter.
Overall, I enjoyed the read fine but was left wanting more out of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Violence, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Colonisation
Moderate: Transphobia
Review: Venco
✨: 4/5
Genre: contemporary fantasy
1️⃣ emoji: 🥄
Format: physical library
Modern day witches operating undercover all over the world: the witches in Salem are trying to find the last two members to form their coven. Each member has found a souvenir spoon with “Salem”. Lucky St. James in Canada finds her spoon in her grandma’s basement, and is found/ brought into the coven. She now has a few weeks to find the last member of the coven, and is basically sent on a magical scavenger hunt across the US. Meanwhile, an ancient vampire-like male chauvinist witch hunter is pursuing her, ready to find the last spoon first and destroy the coven.
➕ Read if you like the modern witchy vibes— ie pick up three birch twigs, light the herbal incense, say some mumbojumbo, and whichever lands closest to the fire is pointed in the direction your desires are. The storyline was intriguing and fast paced, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! Nice found family as well.
➖ From the back summary, I was expecting more of a cozy fantasy…it wasn’t necessarily dark, but I wouldn’t say it was all that cozy either. There was some serious stuff and topics in there.
#VenCo #coven #Salem
#MNbookstagram #MNreads#bookstagram #bookshelf #bookstagrammer #bookstore #booksofinstagram #bookshelves #bookslover #booksandcoffee #booksbooksbooks
#bookshelfie #bookstagrampl #booksofIG #Booksy
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-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:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
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:
Yes
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
2.5 stars. I absolutely loved the concept but the pacing is all over the place. The plot was moving along once Lucky received her "job interview" but once we reached Salem and got chapter-long backstories on how all of the others found their spoons (not to mention flashbacks to the history of the spoons' magic AND the inner monologue of the big bad), it got really bogged down & exposition-heavy at a cruicial point when we know they're on a tight deadline.
I also didn't like the ending, with the reveal of who the final witch is, but that's just a personal thing. It felt like a cop-out, like we were close to the word cap and needed to wrap everything up quickly.
Overall, I would read more by Cherie Dimaline but this book's juxtapositioning is all off.
I also didn't like the ending, with the reveal of who the final witch is, but that's just a personal thing. It felt like a cop-out, like we were close to the word cap and needed to wrap everything up quickly.
Overall, I would read more by Cherie Dimaline but this book's juxtapositioning is all off.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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:
Yes
Did I like it? Yes
Do I recommend it? Yes
Do I recommend it? Yes
Positives
I really enjoyed VenCo as a story about feminine solidarity. While I felt at times they slowed down the plot, I ended up being happy to go along for the ride in the first half of the novel as we were introduced to all of the witches. It got to the point where I was anticipating hearing all of their character stories. I especially loved Stella and how the novel involved women of all ages.
Negatives
Besides the overall question about what a new coven could do to help the modern issues facing the world (ableist, gender, racial discriminations, climate change, income disparities, war, etc), which never gets answered for the characters or the reader, I had a couple other issues with the book.
While there is a lot of lgbt representation, much of it still takes place within the boundaries of the gender binary. There aren’t any explicitly nonbinary or genderqueer concepts or characters mentioned. We just have evil witch men and good witch women.
Branching off from that, I feel like the gender themes the novel does focus on (inequalities and violence against women and their children, as perpetuated directly by men or the structure of the patriarchy), would have been more nuanced if there were a foil for Jay (aka evil man witch). There were several nice gay men and a brief interaction with a man (whose crime is being uninterested in our main character) but no consistent foil for what a positive relationship between men and women looks like or could look like. This has the unintended consequence of suggesting there can’t be a good relationship between people of opposite genders.
This is hands down the best book I've read so far this year 💜 I love it so so much! The writing style is exquisite and I loved the wordplay and references and foreshadowing woven throughout. I curled up on a rainy Sunday with a cup of tea and didn't stop reading until it was finished 🥰 It left me feeling empowered to become a better version of myself, in an unhinged, joyful, powerful, inherently femme way.