Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - VenCo

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

VenCo by Cherie Dimaline

15 reviews

apple_atcha_reading's review against another edition

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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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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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spicycronereads's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This is not your usual witchy tale. It has familiar elements, such as characters discovering that they have previously unknown powers / heritage, but magic is almost secondary in this novel that is more about family, both biological and found.

There is a mystery plot and there are magical elements but really the plot centers on a kick*ss group of womxn working together to support Lucky, the multiracial indigenous main character who is tasked with finding a 7th witch to complete their coven. I found elements of Lucky’s backstory with her deceased mother Arnya difficult to read, but also found them extremely relatable, given my own parents’ substance abuse issues. All of that made her relationship with her grandmother Stella all the more special (again, relatable, as my maternal grandmother took us in more than once). And the family she finds among the developing coven rounds out her biological family in a really sweet way.

It wasn’t quite clear to me what VenCo actually does but it doesn’t really seem to matter. The epilogue lays the groundwork for a sequel - perhaps it will become more clear in a follow up. And perhaps we will see more of the magic. There are some really great moments pitting indigenous spells / knowledge against oppressive colonial magic.

Lucky is asked if her mother and maternal grandmother were witches and she answers “Better, they were indigenous women.”

Definitely a fist pump moment.

No spice in this book but I wasn’t expecting any since that is not really the genre. There is one briefly described seggs scene and a few other allusions / 4play but it is of dubious consent and undertaken by the antagonist (who is actually a villain, rather than a morally grey anti-hero type). So zero 🌶️.

Lots of diverse representation in this book - age, gender, and racial. Characters range from high school age well into se our citizen terrain. Lucky’s newfound coven is quite racially diverse and also includes a trans woman.

Overall I enjoyed this witchy tale that had multiple departures from the typical witch discovering her power plot.

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samantha1960's review

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious 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? No

5.0

A fun modern take on magic! Dimaline has the perfect voice to balance fantasy and reality making her characters relatable and loveable. A perfect read for the autumn season 🕯️🔮

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howlinglibraries's review

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2.5

DNF @ 65%

I wanted so badly to love this book, but the writing was such a struggle and I finally gave up when my buddy read partner finished it and told me it didn't get any better. I loved the indigenous representation, the inclusion of a fantastic trans woman, casual queer rep everywhere, and the relationship between Lucky and her grandmother Stella... but none of that was able to redeem this book from the fact that it suffered from poor pacing and far too many characters and perspectives. I think VenCo tried to do too many things in too few pages and that ultimately hindered the entire book from succeeding.

✨ Representation: Lucky is Métis, Freya is trans, multiple side characters are queer and/or BIPOC

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carbs666's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.5

Hope for a better world in the form of a group of weird and powerful women/femmes is exactly what I needed right now. ✅️ I love Dimaline's style, easily slipping between lush metaphor and plain but evocative language that drops readers directly into the story. I really liked how a deadline is deployed to bring tension into the narrative but it isn't used as an excuse to skim over important lore or introduce any characters that are less than perfectly formed. Overall, this intergenerational story of power, found family, and purpose is an excellent page turner. Makes you wanna go out and save the world.

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jackie_marion's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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libraryraven's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

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valodniece's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

At first I thought it was going to be merely average, a witchy road trip and not much else, but the ending really did wrap things up with a nice feel-good bow that I hadn't seen coming but that made all the sense in the world.

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