Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - VenCo

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

VenCo by Cherie Dimaline

27 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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rorikae's review against another edition

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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 against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

5.0

My favorite Cherie Dimaline book so far

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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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ceallaighsbooks's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

“…she carried the spoon back to her side of the bed and studied it in the light of the remaining lamp. The top of the handle was embossed with a witch—sharp hat, sharp nose, broom, the whole ugly getup—and it looked like she was pointing directly at Lettie. ‘I see you. Feels like you see me too.’ The wind, now safely outside the closed window, whistled a response.”

TITLE—VenCo

AUTHOR—Cherie Dimaline

PUBLISHED—2023

PUBLISHER—William & Morrow

GENRE—urban fantasy

SETTING—Turtle Island (Toronto, Salem, the SW)

MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—witches, #HexThePatriarchy, souvenir spoons as magic objects, dreams, nightmares, & visions, fate & intention, Indigenous realities, matrilineal (not necessarily blood-bound) heritage & legacy, “the right bloodlines & teachings—the right time & place”, one of the few proper uses of “the chosen one” trope, intersectional feminism (diverse rep. incl. a trans woman character), road trip, lovable grandmother character, magic that is actually real magic

“On either side of the cobblestone path to the porch were small ponds with white marble statues of robe-draped women pouring water from slim vessels. And on each statue's right shoulder sat a small yellow bird, watching her pass. She nodded to them, then stopped to introduce herself. ‘I am the daughter of Arnya St. James, defender of women, drinker of gin, fighter of assholes, a fierce half-breed from a long line of fierce half-breeds who took no shit and gave no fucks. I am a witch and I am here.’ She supposed this was her version of making the sign of the cross before going into battle reminding herself what she believed in.”

My thoughts:

WRITING STYLE—🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗 (I would have personally preferred it to lean a little more to the literary but arguably it was perfectly suited to its genre & the overall project of the book.)

CHARACTERS—🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖 (Really excellent except for that the villain was very one-dimensional, which I usually don’t like, *but* arguably it worked here, & in fact, *this* particular kind of villain *is* always going to be one-dimensional due to the nature of his particular villainy…)

STORY/PLOT—🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖 (Excellent. I was absorbed the entire time. I did sort of guess the ending but it was one of those “I *really* hope that this is where this is going” things and so I was very satisfied to see that that was indeed where Dimaline was taking her story. Honestly though I’m a little sad that this isn’t the start of a series. 😆)

BONUS ELEMENT/S—Stella. 🥹💖 Also really loved all the settings from Toronto to Salem, and Pennsylvania Dutch Country & the Ozarks to New Orleans.

PHILOSOPHY—🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 (Easily one of the best I’ve seen in a work of witchy genre fiction and the absolute *best* description of how [real] magic works: “…The magic’s not in the person. The magic is in the place. It just takes the right kind of person to pull it up. …See, belief is something that makes change. It’s why prayer benefits people, as long as the people doing all that praying believe... And when something is constant on the land, like rain or song or even footsteps, the land soaks that in and changes... But then you need the people who understand the ways to pull that soak right back up out of the land. That's where study comes in, where the witchiness needs to be. And not all people can get to some kinds of magic.” Flawless. 😚👌🏻)

PREMISE—🌕🌕🌕🌚🌚 (While this does seem on the surface like just another witch book…👇🏻)

EXECUTION—🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 (…👉🏻 the originality, insightfulness, depth, and integrity with which this particular story was told & the way these particular characters were crafted, sets this work apart from others like it.)

I would recommend this book to readers who like witchy reads but are tired of seeing the same-old same-old within the subgenre. This book is best read as an alternative to Alice Hoffman’s books. 😁

Final note: This would make an *epic* movie/tv series. 🤞🏻☺️

“Witches were not all killed by fire. We *are* the fire.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Season: Fall

CW // HP references, cancer, death of parent, grandparent with memory loss, transphobia, dead-naming, sexual assault (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)

Further Reading—

WHITE MAGIC by Elissa Washuta
NEVER WHISTLE AT NIGHT edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.—TBR
THE BOOK OF WITCHES edited by Jonathan Strahan—TBR
A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES by Deborah Harkness
LEGENDBORN by Tracy Deonn
SLEWFOOT by Brom—TBR
THE WITCHING HOUR by Anne Rice
TOIL AND TROUBLE edited by Jessica Spotswood & Tess Sharpe

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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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sariereads's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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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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