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A review by charliauthor
Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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? No
5.0
Wow wow wow! That was a rush!
I’d had HMRC on my shelf for awhile, but not knowing what it was about, it took me a while to even consider reading it. When my friend Esme, however, read it and said she was enjoying it, it got bumped up to the TBR and I’m so glad that it was!
Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, or HMRC is about a group of five childhood witch friends who grow from Spice Girls loving little girls into powerful witches in contemporary UK. They have to protect mundanes (non magical people) from magical threats. One particular prophesied threat is on its way and they must band together to defeat it.
There are POVs from each of the girls and even though multiple POVs usually can get quite annoying, this didn’t feel that way at all. There are distinct characteristics in all of them some staple, some a little stereotypical but still enjoyable overall.
What I liked about this book, were the genuine surprises and plots directions. I didn’t expect this to have a heavy queer presence, which was both interesting, educational and somewhat political to an extent. The contemporary fantasy was a great setting for these social commentaries including focusing on transgender identity, as well as other types of queer relationships.
It was funny in parts, it was actually scary sometimes, as well as thought provoking. What I enjoyed about this was that these are not “11 herbs and spices” witches. These are genuine super-powered, mutant type witches and it was wonderful to see that action on the page.
The history and lore woven into the dialogue and world building was really cleverly done, and was just a compelling and page turning read.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the singular black witch and her stereotypical nature but her views are extremely real and valid in this setting. I can respect the direction in that respect but feel it could have come from a better angle.
That ending had my jaw, hitting the floor, voicenoting my friends and absolutely losing my entire shit; ready to move onto book two!
I’d had HMRC on my shelf for awhile, but not knowing what it was about, it took me a while to even consider reading it. When my friend Esme, however, read it and said she was enjoying it, it got bumped up to the TBR and I’m so glad that it was!
Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, or HMRC is about a group of five childhood witch friends who grow from Spice Girls loving little girls into powerful witches in contemporary UK. They have to protect mundanes (non magical people) from magical threats. One particular prophesied threat is on its way and they must band together to defeat it.
There are POVs from each of the girls and even though multiple POVs usually can get quite annoying, this didn’t feel that way at all. There are distinct characteristics in all of them some staple, some a little stereotypical but still enjoyable overall.
What I liked about this book, were the genuine surprises and plots directions. I didn’t expect this to have a heavy queer presence, which was both interesting, educational and somewhat political to an extent. The contemporary fantasy was a great setting for these social commentaries including focusing on transgender identity, as well as other types of queer relationships.
It was funny in parts, it was actually scary sometimes, as well as thought provoking. What I enjoyed about this was that these are not “11 herbs and spices” witches. These are genuine super-powered, mutant type witches and it was wonderful to see that action on the page.
The history and lore woven into the dialogue and world building was really cleverly done, and was just a compelling and page turning read.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the singular black witch and her stereotypical nature but her views are extremely real and valid in this setting. I can respect the direction in that respect but feel it could have come from a better angle.
That ending had my jaw, hitting the floor, voicenoting my friends and absolutely losing my entire shit; ready to move onto book two!