Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - Las brujas de Su Majestad

Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Las brujas de Su Majestad by Juno Dawson

470 reviews

araebird's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

It took me a while to get into this book, but I was really excited as I love a witchy story. The beginning reminded me of the premise of 'The Cursed Child', but then very quickly it was not like that at all (actually the exact opposite in the most meaningful and ironic way). If you're going to read this book, after you get to know Theo a little bit more, I would highly recommend diving into the background of the author a little bit more. After I did this, the story was so much more meaningful and heartbreaking.

I so admire how Dawson turns being trans into a LITERAL SUPERPOWER throughout this story. The fact that Theo is so strong because she is a trans girl is so empowering and insightful, and an incredibly profound perspective to have on being trans (coming from a very humble cis-woman)

. I'm very excited about the world that Dawson is creating, and am really looking forward to the next one!

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petitpoucetreveur's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

What a book ! I mean, this was so great, I'm actually rather speechless. Witches at their best (and worst...), go pick it up ! It's written so well ! The topics of sorority, womanhood, inclusivity, transidentity are discussed with care and vulnerability and honesty, it blew my mind. Really great. The characters felt so vivid in my mind, I heard their voice and cared for them (except one, and they know who they are) so quickly. It could have read hundred pages more, but I guess that's what the sequel is for. That's what I'm looking for in my fantasy novel (though I guess it's more urban fantasy or whatever) and I think more people should read such inclusive book.

And that final cliffhanger ???? I swear, I screamed in my pillow

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kynajayne's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

I did enjoy this, the magic system and social justice themes were well executed. I look forward to reading more of the world.

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blacksphinx's review against another edition

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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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kellys_bookcase's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

A strong first book in a series. The characters are well fleshed out, so you can understand their motives, even if you disagree with them. I accidentally spoiled the end for myself, so I can't comment too much on the twist - but I probably wouldn't have seen it coming!

You know it's a good book when the only real criticism you have is that Busted didn't debut until 2002!

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fronk10's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? Yes

3.5

I’m not sure if it’s just because the other books I’ve read this year were so wonderful, but this was really missing something for me. I loved the world building and thought all the witchy-ness was excellent. I adored the characters, and will always support such a brilliant example of queer joy. But there was nothing that grasped me and made me excited. A good book, and I would recommend, but perhaps just not for me.

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withlivjones's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This was a fun read. I liked the exploration of the complicated nature of childhood friendships and sisterhood, especially when friends grow up and their fundamental beliefs start to clash. I also liked the explorations of topics like grief and motherhood. The story was gripping, even if it took some time for it to get really good. I feel like this would be a good read for people who loved the world of Harry Potter but want to read something with more LGBTQ+ representation and/or that is not written by a TERF.

That said, it’s definitely not a perfect book. As I mentioned, it does take a while for the story to get going and the beginning is quite slow-paced. I found Helena as a character to be fairly one-dimensional compared to the others, the way her transphobia consumed her entire personality and motivations - when imo more of a focus should’ve been on her desire for control and unwillingness to be wrong driving her towards these beliefs and actions - felt quite heavy-handed. Even if her being an abuse victim had been explored further than just being vaguely mentioned, that would’ve fleshed out her character quite a bit. She served her purpose in the story but I think she could’ve been an even more interesting character (while still being a nasty TERF).

The rest of my criticisms were pretty much contained in the final 50 pages of the book, hence the spoiler warning. First, I felt like Theo’s “metamorphosis” felt really… neat? Like it was such a quick resolution for her character and kind of sends a message that trans people who don’t pass or haven’t started their transition are somewhat lesser than trans people who do pass? I’m not trans so I don’t have any authority on the subject whatsoever and I would be really interested to hear opinions on the scene from actual trans people, but personally something about scene just didn’t sit right with me. Secondly, I did NOT like the complete 180 that Snow does in her final scene. I get that grief can radically change people but I still don’t think it could’ve made Snow go from being supportive of Theo when she first talks about her to Helena to straight up calling her a slur in that last scene? Finally, the ending frustrated me - it just felt like an unnecessary cliffhanger when there were already enough unanswered questions to lead to a sequel. Overall, though, the other 90% of the book was really enjoyable and a lot of fun.

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readingelli's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.5

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lolarosekm's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

i liked this book for the most part, but there were certain descriptions (mainly of outfits) that felt very wattpad-esque.

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junekay's review against another edition

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I just could not with the prose. Got the feeling it was going to be heavy handed, reivews confirmed that. Reviews for the second one did not make me want to invest the time to finish this one. Good message and potential, but executed poorly.

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