Reviews with content warning for Murder - VenCo

"VenCo" by Cherie Dimaline is a story of a Métis witch and the coven who has found her, fighting time to come together. It's part roadtrip, part mystery, and part revenge. It's view of magic is intuitive and historical and the characters are survivors growing into their own power. It's not cozy, but you root for the characters and their revenge is righteous. I'm hoping there's another #book coming.

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apple_atcha_reading's review

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad 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? No

4.0

Read via audio on Libby loan.

I have a lot of thoughts about this story. I really enjoyed the found family aspect, of all these women coming together from all corners of North America to create a community centered on uplifting women and marginalized groups, who have historically been preyed on by white supremacy, the patriarchy, and vengeful men.

Stella was the true stand out character for me. Her development as the story progressed was one of my favorite elements of this story. To some it may have been more clear where Stella and the overarching story was heading, but I was pleasantly surprised and teared up when the big reveal took place at the end. I loved the relationship Lucky and Stella had. Having aging family members myself, it felt realistic the way Lucky deeply loved and cared for her aging ailing grandmother, but simultaneously wished she could make her someone else's problem.

What I appreciated the most of the overall story was the diversity of characters within the coven. Different backgrounds, ages, sexualities, there were so many wonderful characters to get to know as we learned the history of the coven and the spoons. I enjoyed the stories each woman told about their discovery of their spoon, and how it led to them joining the coven, allowing their confidence to blossom surrounded by people who understood and wanted them to succeed.

The pacing and depth of this novel is the only reason it’s not a 5 star read for me. I struggled with the pacing around the 65% mark and on, because to me it felt off kilter or somewhat rushed.

There was a sense of elements being rushed, like there was just too many sub plots or characters to give them the time they deserve. Not to say I didn't enjoy what Dimaline wrote, this is my observation and wish for more. My biggest qualm is about the last chapter or two, where I desperately wish we had more context or exposition explaining the what and why about the characters and the spoons. Maybe we'll get a sequel following up with the aftermath of the collection of the spoons

(and international covens??)

? One can hope, but I also like my stories to be nicely packaged with more concrete endings.

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mcc004's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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susanatherly's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful tense fast-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

4.5

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blacksphinx's review against another edition

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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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rorikae's review

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adventurous emotional 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

4.5

'Venco' by Cherie Dimaline is a contemporary fantasy steeped in family and collective magic.
Lucky St. James is struggling to take care of her grandmother, Stella, who has been dealing with memory problems. One day, she finds a spoon stuck in a wall in their laundry room and suddenly, she is pulled into a world of magic where a group of witches have been searching for the people to complete their coven. Lucky is number 6 and the witches only have a few days to find the final spoon and the final witch. Heading off on a road trip, Lucky will have to take care of her grandmother while also battling an ancient evil for the final spoon.
Dimaline continues to create incredible characters that are the backbone of her stories. Lucky and Stella (plus all of the witches) read like real people with all of their strengths and faults. In much the same way, the big bad of this story, who is truly terrifying, also feels eerily real. This story is quite specific, rooted as is in a timed hunt for a specific object and person. This specificity allows for the characters to blossom. This story celebrates family and the connections present in community. I would have loved to learn more about the larger organization of VenCo. This story is much more focused on a small group within the larger organization.
This story does feel like there is a much larger world that could be explored and I would love to see Dimaline return to this world and these characters. At times, it did feel like it was leading toward the start of a series but the story does wrap up neatly (with possibilities for more if the author chooses).

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zombiezami's review

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

5.0

My favorite Cherie Dimaline book so far

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