Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

29 reviews

imds's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Racism, War, Infidelity, Grief, Fatphobia, Car accident, Confinement, Violence, Murder, Outing, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent

ladythana's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Gaslighting, Deadnaming, and Outing

Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Death of parent, Violence, Murder, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Grief, and Forced institutionalization

antmalllow's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Brilliantly written characters. Frustratingly so. I actually wanted to strangle some of them at times but we move

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia, Animal death, Racism, War, Violence, Outing, Lesbophobia, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, Car accident, Sexual content, Infidelity, and Drug use

jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

A great witchy and queer book.  Incorporating not only political aspects but also bringing a trans witch into the picture which I’d never seen in a book before as it’s almost only ever exclusively gendered witches and warlocks.  

Dealing with coming out, queer identity and also transphobia and homophobia this book is very well written by an own voices author.  

It also openly discussed race issues in parliament especially in the uk and I can only say this is accurate to real life - I love how it questioned what people haven’t been willing to change in the past.  In the name of making their world more intersectional.   With a smashing ending I can’t wait for the next book and shocked by who the villain turned out to be.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment, Cursing, Xenophobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Medical content, Outing, Racism, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Transphobia

booknchaoswithmarz's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Cursing, Death, and Kidnapping

Minor: Abortion, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, and Panic attacks/disorders

bookishflower's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

 3.5*

Thank you Harper Collins/HarperVoyager and NetGalley for providing me with an audiobook arc in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about 'Her Majesty's Royal Coven' which is a shame because I was really looking forward to it.

Nicola Coughlan does an amazing job narrating the book, I don't think there is an accent she can't do! The politics of this book are really important and it is worth reading for that alone, however I found myself struggling with the pacing and writing style.

There were a lot of pop-culture references in this which don't normally bother me, but there is only so many times I can hear about the Spice Girls before I need you to 'stop right now thank you very much'. I also, unfortunately, found the writing style to be very blunt and I struggled to remain engaged even during tense moments.

Most of the action happens in the last 20% of the book, making the first half feel much longer than it is and the ending too rushed. I was tempted to DNF multiple times but instead just listened on double speed. However, I will say that once I got to the last 20% I enjoyed the book significantly more.

'Her Majesty's Royal Coven' is a low urban fantasy about witches with important queer political commentary, but the fantasy world building was lacking and as such felt more like a political essay using witches as a metaphor rather than a fantasy novel. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I was disappointed as this was sold as an 'epic fantasy' which it wasn't. There is nothing escapist about this. (Perhaps the world building will develop in the rest of the trilogy?).

Overall, I think this contains a really important discussion and is worth reading for the politics, but if you are not more interested in that than the fantasy aspect, you might struggle with 'Her Majesty's Royal Coven'. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Deadnaming, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Outing, Transphobia, Violence, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

Minor: Animal death and Body shaming

clowngirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Sexism, Racism, and Misogyny

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Deadnaming, and Death

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

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