A review by withlivjones
Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

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.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings