Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

24 reviews

supernova_reader's review

emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.0

Well done. I picked it up because I was told it is an interesting and insightful portrayal of female friendships and how they evolve with age and though life. I wasn’t let down in the slightest. Also pleasantly surprised at the serious topics covered in the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Torture, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Colonisation, Child death, Violence, War, Sexism, Racism, Outing, and Infidelity

extinctpanda's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.75

It was a bit too good vs evil for me, I like a bit more nuance. And I didn't love the writing style, though it grew on me as it went on. However, I did find the story fun, and I liked the characters. I think it also covered some important/interesting themes that I haven't seen in fantasy very much at all, especially adult fantasy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Transphobia

Moderate: Cursing, Outing, War, Kidnapping, Death, and Blood

Minor: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Abortion, Classism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Car accident, Child abuse, Lesbophobia, and Death of parent

grrrlbrarian's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Abortion, War, Torture, Self harm, Outing, Murder, Gaslighting, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Eating disorder, Vomit, Racism, Terminal illness, and Dysphoria

wyrmbergsabrina's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.25

I don't read a huge amount of contemporary adult novels, so one about witches in our world, I was up for. I'm going through a big witch phase at the moment and a large dose of nineties nostalgia, so this felt right.

Meet five friends (yes, I'm not miscounting) who have, as time has passed, drifted a little. They are still (mostly) friends, but they're older now and we all know being friends as teenage girls is never quite the same once you pass 25. And they are all witches. So far, straight forward.

But then there's this prophecy looming, end of the world stuff and judgements are made in fear and a lot of the shit that goes down could have been avoided if people weren't well, people. Yes even witches are still human.

There's a lot of talk about women and what that means, and how you are a woman. HMRC is written by Juno Dawson know there's going to be these conversations. And frankly it's handled as you'd expect, really well. Arguments are torn down and anyone reading this would wonder why we still need to say Trans rights, but of course, people are people. And people do shitty things when they don't want to be the ones in the wrong.

Which nicely sums up the last third of this book.

This is the start of a series, and I'm looking forward to where this goes. The current politics are very on the nose; nice dig at the PM (who is never named but we all know who it is) and I'm pretty fond of the main characters already. And this is just the beginning of the big nasty that's been foreseen. (Because oracles always get everything nice and clearly, don't they)

Yes there are some tropes, but all good books have them (that's why they are used) The pop culture references are there, but I've read a lot more in other books, and frankly, this is my generation being written about. I was that 16 year old singing along to Say You'll Be There. It was our short hand to life, and that's what it's in here as, recording a moment between friends, a moment in our lives when things were simpler.

Over all I really enjoyed HMRC. How close this world is to our own, how it could easily be real, right now. The friendships between the women feel real (remember they aren't teens) yes we do behave like this, but the world of sisterhood felt special, something that we should really be aiming for in our world. And maybe that's why I'm going through a witch phase. I want the support of my sisters in the world. 

Anyway, HMRC, bottom line - enjoyable, political, building up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Kidnapping, Outing, Violence, and War

Minor: Emotional abuse and Infidelity