Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

58 reviews

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

I think this is my favourite book of 2023 so far. I loved the premise and luckily the execution really lived up to my hopes for it. I found the structure and bureaucracy of the magic system so interesting and I became very attached to some of the characters. Juno Dawson also does a great job mixing urban fantasy and contemporary social justice issues. I listened to the audiobook which was brilliantly narrated by Nicola Coughlan. I sometimes don't feel like I'm as invested in stories I listen to rather than read with my eyes but I was so absorbed in this. The different character POV chapters felt so distinct because Coughlan's accents were great. Although I usually hate

a cliff-hanger ending

I can respect it and I'll definitely be picking up the next one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Outing, and War

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and War

Moderate: Fatphobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation

Minor: Emotional abuse, Gore, and Vomit

beccaand's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Transphobia, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Outing, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Car accident

marleywrites's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

Omg! This book was slow to start but by the end I was pulling my hair out it was so good. So many new questions popped up in the last few chapters. I will definitely be reading the sequel!

I gave it 4 stars because I loved some of the characters and hated others, which shows it was good writing. There was a lot of tension and I loved the world building. I want to know more about the witches’ history. 

I didn’t give it 5 stars because the pacing at the beginning took some getting used to. It was a bit slow to start. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia and Murder

annelihghh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Transphobia, Blood, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit

elementaldragons's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this book. It has very hard conversations, and please check the content warnings before reading.

It was quite slow to start, but got me very invested in the characters. Most of the characters, I adored with one major expection. You'll know exactly who if you read it. Then, once the action picked up, it didn't stop and boy does it end on a cliff- hanger. I am going to need book two as soon as it comes out next year.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Blood

abominablesnowaro's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fatphobia, Transphobia, Car accident, Murder, Outing, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

clairew97's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

anapthine's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

4.75

Thank you Net Galley and HarperCollins Audio for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First off, Nicola Coughlan was incredible at narrating this book. I was in awe of how well she portrayed the many characters just by voice. The accents were amazing, the way she made me feel when listening to this audiobook, how she made you sympathise with each character - just everything was perfect. 

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven is a low fantasy novel set in a small Yorkshire town in the UK. Niamh comes across a child who is misunderstood and shields them from the dangers. This book is about friendship, trust, love and understanding. The diversity and LGBTQIA+ representation in this novel is beautiful, along with the many different stories told. The trans rep is compelling and gorgeous. I loved this novel so much. Also a complex villain? That makes it even better. 

I would recommend this to everyone, I think there is a bit of everything. Do read the content warnings before starting as there are some major mentions of transphobia, racism, violence, (and white supremacists). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Infidelity and Vomit

kelecoo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

I wish I could put into words what I loved about this book. Some of it is: the multiple perspectives, the emphasis on fierce female friendship, good good witchery, the perfect amount of world building, and some steamy scenes without the whole book being a romance. Delicious.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Transphobia, Blood, and Outing

The transphobia is pretty fierce, however only one character is vitriolic, the rest are very supportive and good allies.