Reviews with content warning for Cancer - VenCo

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VenCo by Cherie Dimaline

9 reviews

blacksphinx's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

Of all the things that rubbed me wrong about this book, from its rah rah girlboss girlpower vibes, to it's paper thin antagonist, to

fixing dementia with magic

, it's the fact that the covid pandemic is canon to this book and not once is a character shown taking any precaution against it. "Oh but you see, the book takes place in 2022 so it's not an issue anymore!" As of the time I'm writing this review in late 2023, over 1,000 Americans have died directly from covid each week for the last 11 weeks in a row. If the author didn't want to deal with the thought of masks or air filtration or testing, all she had to do was remove a single sentence confirming the pandemic existed. That's it! But no, her thinking about the pandemic was as shallow as her thoughts on feminism and capitalism.

The main thing it had going for it was that at least this girlboss book has a genuinely diverse cast of women who are allowed to be girlbosses, including a trans woman and many women of color, that was a nice touch. However, I have never known a trans person who would immediately offer up their dead name to a stranger like that. It was just a mess.

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ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

“…she carried the spoon back to her side of the bed and studied it in the light of the remaining lamp. The top of the handle was embossed with a witch—sharp hat, sharp nose, broom, the whole ugly getup—and it looked like she was pointing directly at Lettie. ‘I see you. Feels like you see me too.’ The wind, now safely outside the closed window, whistled a response.”

TITLE—VenCo

AUTHOR—Cherie Dimaline

PUBLISHED—2023

PUBLISHER—William & Morrow

GENRE—urban fantasy

SETTING—Turtle Island (Toronto, Salem, the SW)

MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—witches, #HexThePatriarchy, souvenir spoons as magic objects, dreams, nightmares, & visions, fate & intention, Indigenous realities, matrilineal (not necessarily blood-bound) heritage & legacy, “the right bloodlines & teachings—the right time & place”, one of the few proper uses of “the chosen one” trope, intersectional feminism (diverse rep. incl. a trans woman character), road trip, lovable grandmother character, magic that is actually real magic

“On either side of the cobblestone path to the porch were small ponds with white marble statues of robe-draped women pouring water from slim vessels. And on each statue's right shoulder sat a small yellow bird, watching her pass. She nodded to them, then stopped to introduce herself. ‘I am the daughter of Arnya St. James, defender of women, drinker of gin, fighter of assholes, a fierce half-breed from a long line of fierce half-breeds who took no shit and gave no fucks. I am a witch and I am here.’ She supposed this was her version of making the sign of the cross before going into battle reminding herself what she believed in.”

My thoughts:

WRITING STYLE—🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗 (I would have personally preferred it to lean a little more to the literary but arguably it was perfectly suited to its genre & the overall project of the book.)

CHARACTERS—🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖 (Really excellent except for that the villain was very one-dimensional, which I usually don’t like, *but* arguably it worked here, & in fact, *this* particular kind of villain *is* always going to be one-dimensional due to the nature of his particular villainy…)

STORY/PLOT—🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖 (Excellent. I was absorbed the entire time. I did sort of guess the ending but it was one of those “I *really* hope that this is where this is going” things and so I was very satisfied to see that that was indeed where Dimaline was taking her story. Honestly though I’m a little sad that this isn’t the start of a series. 😆)

BONUS ELEMENT/S—Stella. 🥹💖 Also really loved all the settings from Toronto to Salem, and Pennsylvania Dutch Country & the Ozarks to New Orleans.

PHILOSOPHY—🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 (Easily one of the best I’ve seen in a work of witchy genre fiction and the absolute *best* description of how [real] magic works: “…The magic’s not in the person. The magic is in the place. It just takes the right kind of person to pull it up. …See, belief is something that makes change. It’s why prayer benefits people, as long as the people doing all that praying believe... And when something is constant on the land, like rain or song or even footsteps, the land soaks that in and changes... But then you need the people who understand the ways to pull that soak right back up out of the land. That's where study comes in, where the witchiness needs to be. And not all people can get to some kinds of magic.” Flawless. 😚👌🏻)

PREMISE—🌕🌕🌕🌚🌚 (While this does seem on the surface like just another witch book…👇🏻)

EXECUTION—🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 (…👉🏻 the originality, insightfulness, depth, and integrity with which this particular story was told & the way these particular characters were crafted, sets this work apart from others like it.)

I would recommend this book to readers who like witchy reads but are tired of seeing the same-old same-old within the subgenre. This book is best read as an alternative to Alice Hoffman’s books. 😁

Final note: This would make an *epic* movie/tv series. 🤞🏻☺️

“Witches were not all killed by fire. We *are* the fire.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Season: Fall

CW // HP references, cancer, death of parent, grandparent with memory loss, transphobia, dead-naming, sexual assault (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)

Further Reading—

WHITE MAGIC by Elissa Washuta
NEVER WHISTLE AT NIGHT edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.—TBR
THE BOOK OF WITCHES edited by Jonathan Strahan—TBR
A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES by Deborah Harkness
LEGENDBORN by Tracy Deonn
SLEWFOOT by Brom—TBR
THE WITCHING HOUR by Anne Rice
TOIL AND TROUBLE edited by Jessica Spotswood & Tess Sharpe

Content Warnings

elsebeok's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? Yes

4.0

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maregred's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

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bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

4.5

Content Warnings

irenemarie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny 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

4.25

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foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

”She said I needed to get my ass in motion, because they’d had to wait for me.”
“Wait for what ?”
“Until I could call myself by my real name. In order for them to find me, I had to find me first.”

Cherie Dimaline did it again! This is the third book I’ve read by her and it might be my favourite. It’s more similar to Empire of Wild in the sense that it features badass Métis women and their interactions with the supernatural. But what I loved the most about this one was Lucky’s strong relationships with the matriarchs in her family and the immediate, all-encompassing support of the coven.

This book is also told in multiple POVs, which is my favourite form of storytelling and made me feel much more connected to the characters than I would have if it was only through Lucky’s perspective.

Something happened near the end that absolutely made me burst out bawling with happy tears. And honestly if you’re looking for a feel-good feminist, witchy read filled with women reclaiming their power, I couldn’t recommend this one more.

Thank you so much to Tandem Collective Global and Penguin Random House Canada for this gifted copy!

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careinthelibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Cherie Dimaline is one of my favourite authors. Not just because she writes compelling characters and emotional stories, but she just really seems like a good, nice person. So when I heard she had a new urban fantasy title coming, I was excited despite the fact that I tend not to love urban fantasy.

This is fun! I really loved the characters. Lucky, Stella, Freya. These "crafty ass witches" (and one's elderly relative) are the stars of the show. I'll admit that the plot wasn't my favourite, but that's more a me problem. Dimaline injects so much humour and heart into this through the dialogue. I love the way these characters talk to each other. She really knows how to make them feel real. They're likable, believable, and they're what I looked forward to when I was picking it up each time.

I didn't really get into the villains in this book. The Benandanti felt flat and those chapters I skim read, wanting to get back to the characters that I preferred. The fact that the villains weren't impactful meant this was a light read for me which I did appreciate. It didn't feel dark or like something I needed to prepare to process. The villains are definitely bad, but the tone remained fun, witchy, and mysterious. The explosive ending plus the twist (though I did see it coming, I still loved it) won me over a bit more.

I liked the structure of this. We meet Lucky and spend enough time getting to know her that we care by the time the plot takes off fully. I liked the sections about the other witches and their spoon origin stories. It was easy to pick this up and read big chunks of it at a time, which is saying a lot considering my burnout from work, current events, and general winter malaise. As I said above, the details of the plot wasn't my thing necessarily as I don't tend to pick up urban fantasy often, but I liked the pacing, humour, characterization, and ending. Cherie Dimaline is such a talented author and I'm sure fans of urban fantasy will love this.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC.

Content Warnings

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

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tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Before getting into the ins and outs of the plot let me just say that, as always, Cherie Dimaline is a phenomenal writer. She is fantastic at creating vivid imagery without being flowery in her writing. Without even having to try, an image will come to mind while reading, and that is undoubtedly the mark of a skillful author. To evoke imagery in such a way.

For the story itself, I wanted to give four stars, and really felt it would be in the first 40% of the book, but dropped down as the story progressed. The story is full of intrigue from start to finish. We wonder who these characters are, how they play together and what their roles will be, and who is the holder of the final spoon. Histories mesh and collide, as they work as individuals in a much larger organism. However, although those elements work for an entertaining, vivid, and unique story, they fell a bit flat to me. Without giving anything away, I saw the ending coming a mile away. There were so many characters it became hard to keep track of everyone and their backstories. The world building also required a lot of explaining and questioning, because the characters in fact don't know what they're doing most of the time. They're working on a goal that is surrounded by a lot of mystery. Although it didn't come together for me, I do believe plenty of others will be happy and fulfilled with it. I suspect this book will be either a hit or miss for readers all coming down to preferences.

What was most exciting was the individual characters and who they are as people. There is so much diversity in a way that didn't feel like tokenism. There are so many queer characters and characters of different ethnic/racial backgrounds. Although their identities are a focal point for all of them, it isn't the base of their journeys. They exist in their current lives and in their identities while working on their goals which remains part of the big picture. It was a pleasant balance.

I was also quite fond of the overall messaging too. About women empowerment, community, and overcoming an oppressive patriarchy. There's a lot of sexism in the book but it is tackled in every decision and action each woman makes.

Overall, I think this will be a lot of people's new favorite book. For me it wasn't a total hit, but I liked it well enough that I will recommend to friends.

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