Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Las brujas de Su Majestad by Juno Dawson

74 reviews

rorikae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

4.5

'Her Majesty's Royal Coven' by Juno Dawson is an emotional fantasy about a group of childhood friends who have felt their friendship tried in their adult lives.
Niamh, Helena, Elle, Leonie, and Ciara all grew up together as budding witches. As kids they were fast friends but as women in their mid-30s and after the fallout of a war, life has changed for all of them. Helena is head of Her Majesty's Royal Coven, Niamh is a veterinarian living in a small town, Elle is taking care of her two children, and Leonie has started her own coven dedicated to marginalized witches. Ciara is in a coma after the events of the war. When Theo, a teenager with incredible magical power is discovered, Helena fears that they are the prophesized Sullied Child that will destroy the witches. Niamh on the other hand just sees a young child with too much power who has never been shown care in their life. With differing views, tensions begin to rise as they each determine what is the appropriate step forward. 
Dawson has written an adult fantasy that is hard to put down while dealing with a number of different subjects. It is clear that this book is in large part inspired by She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and her transphobia. Dawson delves into a number of different subjects while creating a cast of characters that it is easy to love. She also does a good job of showcasing how a belief in how things should be can escalate into full bigotry. There is a twist at the end of this first book that makes me excited and terrified for where this story is going next. Dawson's writing is straightforward but the plot and characters made this a story I had a hard time putting down. If you are looking for a fast paced fantasy set in our world and dealing with many of our current issues, 'Her Majesty's Royal Coven' is a great book to pick up. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Transphobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: War

Minor: Abandonment

cozyscones's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Deadnaming, Death, Transphobia, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Racism, Kidnapping, and War

le_mur's review against another edition

adventurous reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Murder, and Outing

Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, and Toxic friendship

thisisris's review against another edition

2.75

This summary for this book sounded really good… and then it really missed the mark. 

The book is really slow paced and I often found myself getting bored. I listened to the audio book at 2x the speed just to try and speed things up.

The book included a lot of important social issues as plot points but it felt like they were crammed in there without any tact or thought. 

Overall I was pretty disappointed because this concept had a lot of potential to be fantastic. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death and Abandonment

shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Abortion, and Outing

cozywithraven's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The characters that alternate as narrators are all pretty diverse, but I got pretty annoyed that almost every chapter made a point to label something as problematic. The final .... Fight(?) Was a pretty big disappointment for how it was being built up, and the final twist felt like it contradicted the magic system and plot. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Homophobia, and Transphobia

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Death of parent

amberinpieces's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Racism, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Outing, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Classism

kathaarinaa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Torture, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic friendship, 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

---

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

coffee_booked's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Transphobia

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Abortion, and Fire/Fire injury