Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - Her Majesty's Royal Coven

I really wanted to give this book a higher rating because the whole concept is, in theory, quite cool and full of promise. However, the execution failed spectacularly in several ways:
1 - The biggest flaw for me was the writing. I'm aware this can be somewhat of a personal preference, but the writing style felt juvenile, empty and overly descriptive. There were often massive chunks of info-dumping about the world-building that could have been introduced in other ways, as well as long descriptions of common place objects/concepts intersperced with unnecessary pop culture references that just added clunk to the flow of the story. This is a great example of "telling, not showing". Everything was told to us in the same tone, so that descriptions of outfit colours and characters emotional status felt like they had the same weight.
2 - I went into this not knowing anything at all about the story, so I was quite surprised by the themes in the second half of the book. Not in a negative way. Trying to be as spoiler free as possible here, I think this was an interesting setting to explore the "arguments" that get thrown around when approaching the subject, and I wish we could have focused more on this instead of trying to do 10 other things with the story and the characters. It felt like the author wanted to cram as much representation and equality issues as possible in there, while also keeping it fun and light, and also dramatic and adventurous at the end. It all just felt shallow and not developed enough. I would have prefered to see Theo's story developed in a more sensible, complex way, instead of having the theme thrust upon the reader out of nowhere and have one of the main characters turn into an obnoxious Disney movie Villain half way through. I think it took away from the emotional connection the reader might have had with the characters, and it all ended up feeling a bit like those run of the mill adventure action movies you go see in the theater and immediatelly forget after. Then again, if you're looking for a fun fast read about LGBTQIA+ witches I suppose this isn't a bad choice.
3 - That ending! Brought the writing down half a point I'm sorry to say. I HATE it when author's do that. Just completely unnecessary, out of the blue, plotwist cliffhanger just so the reader feels compelled to immediately jump into reading the next book. I'm sorry. That's cheap af and I will not be continuing on.

Finally, and this isn't really a criticism, more of a funny observation - after the developments of the second half of the book, I cannot, for the life of me, not picture J.K.Rowling anytime a certain white rich TERF bitch is in a scene and that's kinda funny and probably on purpose lol

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abominablesnowaro's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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renettereads's review against another edition

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challenging informative fast-paced

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

3.0

“It was 00.53. Still the Witching Hour, she thought ruefully. A common misconception; any hour’s grand for witching.”

After one of the most brutal magic wars, Helena Vance finds herself in charge of Her Majesty’s Royal Coven - a secret force tasked with the protection of the Queen’s safety against magic. When the prophesized Sullied Child is believed to be found, Helena finds herself on opposing sides with four witches she believed her sisters.

I had originally given this book 3.5, but have since dropped it to a 3 star read because I sort of felt a little cheated by it. To me it seemed very much a story centred around magic and a magical coven who were about to come up against something evil. What I got was something where the majority of the main characters weren’t even involved in the organisation the book is literally named after. There wasn’t a tonne of magic and to be honest, a lot of this book read like a panel discussion on transphobia. I know Juno Dawson writes a lot of non-fiction and I could see that from the writing style here. There obviously isn’t anything wrong with it, and it perhaps suited this particular urban fantasy, but I personally like prose that feels subtle and lyrical instead of an opinion piece.

In saying that, I can’t deny that the social issues discussed here are of great importance. I also felt as though making ignorance the main evil here was particularly clever, but I couldn’t get away from the fact that the token Black character felt super stereotypical and that there were quite a few body shaming issues that irritated me.

Although gripped – and I admittedly will read the sequel because this book ended on a cliffhanger – I just felt as though I had wanted something really fun that turned out to be a bit of a slog. I did enjoy Theo’s story and Niamh was a great character, but everything else honestly felt a little meh to me.

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jadehusdanhicks's review

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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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bookishflower's review against another edition

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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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extinctpanda's review against another edition

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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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