Rating: 3.5 stars
From the official plot description:
At the dawn of their adolescence, on the eve of the summer solstice, four young girls--Helena, Leonie, Niamh, and Elle--took the oath to join Her Majesty's Royal Coven, established by Queen Elizabeth I as a covert government department. Now, decades later, the witch community is still reeling from a civil war and Helena is now the reigning High Priestess of the organization. Yet Helena is the only one of her friend group still enmeshed in the stale bureaucracy of HMRC. Elle is trying to pretend she's a normal housewife, and Niamh has become a country vet, using her powers to heal sick animals. In what Helena perceives as the deepest betrayal, Leonie has defected to start her own more inclusive and intersectional coven, Diaspora. And now Helena has a bigger problem. A young warlock of extraordinary capabilities has been captured by authorities and seems to threaten the very existence of HMRC. With conflicting beliefs over the best course of action, the four friends must decide where their loyalties lie: with preserving tradition, or doing what is right.
I really wanted to like this book, but due to some of the characterisation and plotting, and certainly the way the book ended, I merely think it's OK. The book tells the story from the POVs of all the main witches. Niamh is a country vet, Elle is a housewife trying to get used to the idea that her eldest daughter is manifesting powers. Helena runs HMRC and has to deal with politics and power struggles, while Leonie is trying to run her smaller, intersectional coven, whilst panicking slightly because her girlfriend seems to want to start a family.
Both Niamh and Helena lost their romantic partners during the magical civil war and are still mourning them in their ways. Niamh's twin sister has been in a coma since the war and is kept under constant supervision. Elle mostly wants to forget about her magical nature. Now there is a terrifying prophecy looming, and a young troubled teen seems to be at the centre of it. Helena and her coven are convinced this person may bring forth the apocalypse, Niamh, who no longer wants to work with the coven, thinks they just need some stability and understanding, having clearly suffered a lot in their young life. As the plot develops, their diametrical views on young Theo will create a lot of conflict between them.
Intersectional feminism is clearly important. TERFs are horrible. Juno Dawson is obviously allowed to feel and write whatever she wants regarding these things, but I didn't particularly enjoy some of the twists and turns this story took as a result of her needing to work through some things. I've heard that the second book is better, though, so I will give her one more chance.
Judging a book by its cover: I don't think I'm particularly fond of this cover, or the alternative cover which is black, white, and red, with a turquoise font. The neon pink is certainly eye-catching, but I certainly didn't get this book because of the cover.
Crossposted on Cannonball Read
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