Reviews with content warning for Outing - Das begabte Kind

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven was the political, witchy-sisterhood book I didn’t know I needed.

I really enjoyed this book, and the characters took the cake. The POV characters, their children and wards, their partners, and all of the side characters felt so fleshed out and real. Their relationships were so fun to read about, even the bad ones.

I will say that it wasn’t until well into the book that I felt like I understood how the magic system worked. The delineation between the different types of witches and what they can do, plus the elemental aspect of witchery, made for a lot of information that I still don’t fully grasp.

I’m very excited to read The Shadow Cabinet! 4 stars.

Content Warnings

queencatroyal's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I love how this presents women that are firmly over 30, its difficult to find books that celebrate women over 30, especially urban fantasy. Plus I found the plotline with Theo very interesting

the way it explores terfism is very interesting, but also feels like our world. There is no allusion in Juno's writing, she hits us straight in the face with an issue taken directly out of our world

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maddox22's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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

3.0

Content Warnings

warlocksarecool21's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.5

Overall, I thought it was a fun book that played with the common lore around witches. The strength of this book was the relevant discussion around intersectional feminism and the pervasive transphobia that has cropped up in both the social and political consciousness of this day and age. I think it does a good job exploring why some people, white cis women especially, cling so hard to transphobic rhetoric and how they’re actually hurting themselves in the process. The book also touches on the perils of white feminism and why it is necessary to approach the dismantling of the patriarchy and white supremacy with an intersectional feminist lense. While I definitely appreciate that the author tackled these issues, as transphobia is rampant right now, I do think it’s presented in a way that’s meant to be for a reader who’s never really considered these things before. I definitely think that it’s important to have these kinds of books, but I think if you’ve already engaged with queer and feminist theory (and if you’re queer and/or BIPOC) you probably already understand all this and might think it’s a little heavy-handed. It’s a definitely a response to the bigotry of a certain British children’s fantasy author and the rancid politics of the UK recently, so I understand why the author took the approach they did. You still might appreciate it but I did feel that this book is not necessarily for younger queer people and experienced activists.

All that being said, I did really enjoy Theo’s character and how Niamh stepped up to care for her (and raised hell on her behalf). They were my favorite part of the book and I thought their bond was very sweet. I also loved seeing Theo’s journey of self-discovery and the trans joy that she experiences. I enjoyed the other characters (except Helena🤢) but I didn’t really resonate with them. They did have distinct personalities, but I feel like their problems were just a little too millenial for me to care about and I think the writing was generic enough that I wasn’t further moved to be invested in them. I do hope Leonie’s character is centered more in the next book, I think her story has a lot to say and I wanted to see more of her Diaspora coven (which is for non-white witches).

My rating is lower, because the writing was kind of cliche at times. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun and witty, but nothing really groundbreaking. I think if you like watching blockbuster movies you’d have fun with this. I will probably read the next book because I was not expecting the cliffhanger at the very end. Again, it’s a fun witchy book with social commentary, and if you haven’t thought much about transphobia and feminism you might find it to be reflective.

(There is a lot of graphic transphobic rhetoric in the perspective of one of the characters, Helena, so be aware of that if it might be upsetting to you.)

Content Warnings

lorriss's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious

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

courtnoodles's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-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

2.0

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hematthews's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

Content Warnings

neni's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

I really wanted to give this book a higher rating because the whole concept is, in theory, quite cool and full of promise. However, the execution failed spectacularly in several ways:
1 - The biggest flaw for me was the writing. I'm aware this can be somewhat of a personal preference, but the writing style felt juvenile, empty and overly descriptive. There were often massive chunks of info-dumping about the world-building that could have been introduced in other ways, as well as long descriptions of common place objects/concepts intersperced with unnecessary pop culture references that just added clunk to the flow of the story. This is a great example of "telling, not showing". Everything was told to us in the same tone, so that descriptions of outfit colours and characters emotional status felt like they had the same weight.
2 - I went into this not knowing anything at all about the story, so I was quite surprised by the themes in the second half of the book. Not in a negative way. Trying to be as spoiler free as possible here, I think this was an interesting setting to explore the "arguments" that get thrown around when approaching the subject, and I wish we could have focused more on this instead of trying to do 10 other things with the story and the characters. It felt like the author wanted to cram as much representation and equality issues as possible in there, while also keeping it fun and light, and also dramatic and adventurous at the end. It all just felt shallow and not developed enough. I would have prefered to see Theo's story developed in a more sensible, complex way, instead of having the theme thrust upon the reader out of nowhere and have one of the main characters turn into an obnoxious Disney movie Villain half way through. I think it took away from the emotional connection the reader might have had with the characters, and it all ended up feeling a bit like those run of the mill adventure action movies you go see in the theater and immediatelly forget after. Then again, if you're looking for a fun fast read about LGBTQIA+ witches I suppose this isn't a bad choice.
3 - That ending! Brought the writing down half a point I'm sorry to say. I HATE it when author's do that. Just completely unnecessary, out of the blue, plotwist cliffhanger just so the reader feels compelled to immediately jump into reading the next book. I'm sorry. That's cheap af and I will not be continuing on.

Finally, and this isn't really a criticism, more of a funny observation - after the developments of the second half of the book, I cannot, for the life of me, not picture J.K.Rowling anytime a certain white rich TERF bitch is in a scene and that's kinda funny and probably on purpose lol

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