Review by carucath97 - Her Majesty's Royal Coven

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carucath97 's review for:

Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

2.75

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Oooooh, I have MIXED feelings about this book.....

In summary it was a very enjoyable read (with some issues but nothing deal breaking) until the very final chapter than soured the whole experience for me :( (Maybe the sequel will make it 'worth it' but it just made me angry rather than intrigued)

MASSIVE SPOILER

OH MY GOD WHY DID NIAMH GET KILLED OFF!!! Like the story had ENDED!!! There was already some set up for the next book but the overall story had wrapped up nicely and Niamh was finally HAPPY!!!! She had a quasi adopted daughter and a new beau, why kill her off in the final chapter??? Like it just felt so spiteful! It was NOT a fulfilling conclusion to the story!!

Needed to get that out of my system before I wrote anything more, well, measured.

Okay, I will start with things I liked about the story

I like how the premise could be summarised as
'TERF witch would rather get possessed by a demon than let a trans girl into her coven'
because it is true but also it is kind of funny in a dark way
The writing style is nice and... breezy? Like I got a bit nervous at the 477 page length but I managed to plough through the story much quicker than I expected
I liked the history of how witches exist in this world and also how they navigate the world of 'mundanes', I appreciated the 'historical' info but that there was enough NOT explained (magical systems don't need explaining)
Niamh, my Irish witch. She was such a good character, she is arguably the 'main' protagonist of the story and is so kind and empathetic but also not a pushover who can do some messed up things when pushed far enough (boy does she get pushed through a lot in this story)
Leonie, while not quite as prominent, is also a lot of fun (mostly) and I really like her girlfriend too
Helena is a deliciously hateable character, more tragic for having been friends with the main characters and her descent is very believable and tragic (but you still want her to get her comeuppance)
The overall plot (besides the final chapter) I thought was plotted well and came together in a satisfying conclusion (again, besides the final chapter)

Things I didn't like

While I do like Leonie, it felt like sometimes she was a mouthpiece. Like she'll talk about her struggles as a Black woman in Britain and how this extends to witches (this is interesting) but it will be so.. preachy? Even if she's talking to her girlfriend. Like it's more like a political statement rather than how she as a character really FEELS about it? I dunno, the sentiment I 100% agree with but the way it was delivered bothered me. I think it also bothered me that ONLY Leonie (the only Black AND only queer POV character) ever talks like this
The book felt weirdly... gender essentialist? Like witches and warlocks are rigidly defined (this is not something that is examined in any way) plus it's also weirdly sexist in that witches seem to be said to pretty much always be stronger than warlocks (because 'men are stronger than women' I guess except that's a spectrum rather than EVERY man being stronger than EVERY woman)
And when there is a boy who is a powerful warlock it turns out he is actually a trans girl, so because SHE is a witch that's why she is so strong
Minor thing but the book is also a touch enbyphobic, Leonie has a coven that is gender inclusive (witches AND warlocks can join) and also a 'witch' who uses they/them pronouns. Um, witch is a gendered term in the story (meaning woman) so why is someone who is non-binary being called a 'witch' as opposed to a gender neutral term (like 'mage' or 'magic person' or something that isn't witch (woman) or warlock (man))
There are way too many 1990s/2000s pop culture references, I am 28 so I was too young to really 'get' a lot of them (the Spice Girls thing especially was really confusing, why are they fighting over which Spice Girl they get to be?)
Oracles being bald and blind... I dunno, it felt a bit ableist? Why are only these types of witches physically affected by their magic and no other type? None of the POV characters are oracles and they are treated with some wariness by the main characters so it like, rubbed me the wrong way but not sure why?
The final chapter
Helena Vance also shouldn't have been killed off, she canonically comes from a wealthy and influential family so surely she should be in prison like Hale is?
Helena having been hinted as being a victim of domestic violence was not needed and I hate the trope of 'bigoted character is at least partially like that due to trauma'
Theo gets outed several times against her consent but she's okay with it I guess?

Okay, despite the dislikes seeming more than the likes it really was an enjoyable read. A lot of these things are more things I thought about in hindsight rather than while I was reading. I also have a lot more to say but not sure how to articulate it tbh.

Read at your own caution I guess?

Content Warnings