Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

46 reviews

emmajh91's review against another edition

challenging tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Transphobia, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Violence, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Hate crime, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Dysphoria, Confinement, Alcohol, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, War, and Toxic friendship

chrisb913's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

Please check trigger warnings.

I really wish I liked the book better.  Unfortunately the villain of the story was so realistic and believable I found myself upset and pissed for most of the story. On top of that, for a book all about sisterhood and feminism, for 2 of the main characters to be so meh about letting one of their "sisters" be treated like absolute garbage because they don't want to upset her? Where was the outrage?

Lastly, that ending was just utter crap. I do want to read the 2nd book and HOPEFULLY the character development in book 2 will turn the series around (or at least be present).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Homophobia, Infidelity, Bullying, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Racism, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, and War

blacksphinx's review against another edition

tense medium-paced

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

2.0

On one hand, I feel like the main message of this book is important and I'm glad its been so successful. But I bounced off of the extremely causal prose hard, and it was difficult to read so much misogyny directed at women by other women (please stop calling each other cunts holy shit!) 

(I am also very tired of books that go "covid happened but we used magic to make it go away" ugh! And blaming the anti-vax movement on warlocks is so distasteful.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Death of parent, Hate crime, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Outing, Grief, and Misogyny

Moderate: Car accident, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Bullying, Cursing, Medical content, Classism, Lesbophobia, Racism, Confinement, Dysphoria, Violence, and Gaslighting

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, War, Ableism, Abortion, and Emotional abuse

TW: transphobic, misogynistic, and ableist slurs. Internalized misogyny. Mention of drowning.

mossbelle's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

3.5

🌶

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Outing, Death, Car accident, Transphobia, Torture, Racism, Infidelity, and Death of parent

rivercat0338's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, and Transphobia

Moderate: Death, Bullying, Car accident, Cursing, Blood, Confinement, Fatphobia, Alcohol, and Infidelity

Cliffhanger ending

mareish's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Infidelity

kaleidoscope_heart's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, and Death

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Car accident, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

lorriss's review against another edition

emotional mysterious

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Transphobia, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Car accident, Confinement, Deadnaming, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Violence, and War

Moderate: Medical content, Miscarriage, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Alcohol, Classism, Colonisation, and Infidelity

Minor: Child death, Excrement, Lesbophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Slavery, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

17kmcollins's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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 and Violence

Moderate: Death

Minor: Infidelity and Death

hobbithopeful's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Juno Dawson never disappoints, this book is the perfect potion of feminism, witches, and transphobia. (Weird to say I love a book so much that has transphobia, but trust me it's worth it)
I went into this book not sure what to expect, I've only ever read Dawson's nonfiction works before, so I wasn't sure how that would translate to a fantasy story. I did kind of expect (or hope!) for there to be elements of queerness, identity, and transness explored. To say I was blown away would be an understatement! Her Majesty's Royal Coven explores transphobia, feminism, race, the corruption of power, and fear.
People always seem to forget that hate doesn't just appear out of nowhere one day. People don't just turn around and decide to be evil and hateful. It is more like a slow shift, people fall down different pipelines, or don't deal with their past trauma. Maybe they are around unhealthy environments that unintentionally (or intentionally) push an agenda of power and fear. The characters in this are all still reeling from the Witch civil war, and grieving in their own ways. Whether that leads them to insulate in their own communities, push people away, or become power hungry tyrants all depends on the individual and their support system.
I feel like I am making this sound like some dark and emotional book that is going to lead you traumatized, and that couldn't be further from the truth. While there are a lot of difficult topics and themes, at its heart is such a thread of hope and found family. Proving that no matter what happens, as long as you allow yourself to trust and be loved everything might just turn out to be okay.
This is a book that I want to bring out of my pocket when there are conversations around representation and intersectionality. (Look kids it's possible for a white author to write good representation!)
I am a self professed cliff-hanger hater, this is the only exception where I can say it was done well and I enjoyed it. (Though I am lucky to be in possession of the second book, so there was definitely a cushion there)
I would 100000000000000000000000% recommend this, perfect for anytime of the year be it spooky season, or just something to really fall into, I can't wait to read the second book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Transphobia, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: War, Infidelity, and Child abuse