I think this book was one that i had the wrong expextions going in but for what i got it was a soild read. I would def say this book was more a modern/ urban fantsay but with some very heavy topics that juno dawson does so well. Th lgbtq elements in this story was so fuild and I loved it but i sometimes got a bit lost in whoes head i was in at points but i really liked it and hope the audibook help for book 2! ( )

I think this book was one that i had the wrong expextions going in but for what i got it was a soild read. I would def say this book was more a modern/ urban fantsay but with some very heavy topics that juno dawson does so well. Th lgbtq elements in this story was so fuild and I loved it but i sometimes got a bit lost in whoes head i was in at points but i really liked it and hope the audibook help for book 2! ( )

***Shout out to all the ignorant bigots whining and using "woke" as a pejorative. Genuinely embarrassing!***


Look...I'm trans and I want to like this book. It's gods damned Queer witches for goodness sake!

And yet...

While I think the author comes from a place good intentions and the message that TERFs are bad and trans lives matter is very important, the book is fundamentally bioessentialist, talking about how their god likes women more, literally citing chromosomes like they are fucking midichlorians! I just can't with shit like this and the unsuccessful attempt to pull off some Derry Girls-esque references and vernacular.

I DNF'd and got my Audible credit back just 15% after feeling uncomfortable, checking the reviews and talking to some trans/ non-binary friends who also had serious issues with the book.

Maybe, just maybe. Some of the awful gender stuff is addressed later in the book and series, but this was a a brilliant premised and well-intentioned book that was clearly trying to by a positive mirror to the awfulness of JK Rowling and the shitty elements of the Harry Potter, but with a nightmare prison (All prisons are a nightmare and should be abolished, but this one is particularly grim) and child abuse that is all but handwaved away, not to mention the weird gendered stuff, it is unsuccessful.

A real shame. ( )

I'm always up for a witchy read, and even more so if it's a queer one! In this respect, Her Majesty's Royal Coven completely met and surpassed my expectations. Honestly, if I'd written this review immediately upon finishing it, I had been so caught up in it, it probably would have been 5 stars. Yet, as I gave myself some time to reflect a little bit more on it, I realised there were quite a few things that didn't quite work well for me.

The book is centred around Niamh, Helena, Elle and Leonie, a group of friends who have known each other since they were children and, at one point, were all inducted into Her Majesty's Royal Coven, a secret coven of witches protecting the UK from magical threats. Yet, a long war and painful events have left their scars, none of the women is left unscathed, and their friendship is more fragile than ever. The arrival of a mysterious child, Theo, is linked to a prophecy that may destroy the coven itself: dormant tensions will rise to the surface and lines will be drawn in what promises to be a war to eclipse all others.

The story is told in alternating POVs and right from the start I immediately warmed up to Niamh. When we meet her, she has retired from HMRC to conduct a simple life as a vet, at least until trouble comes knocking on her door. Niamh was by far my favourite character and she felt like the best-developed one too. She is well-rounded and complex, fiercely loyal and ready to use her considerable powers to defend those who need help and fight for what she feels is right. I enjoyed every moment spent with her!

In contrast, none of the other characters felt quite as well-developed. I'll keep it vague to avoid spoilers, but one of the witches has quite a dramatic personality shift at one point which, while it certainly serves the plot, felt just a bit too radical in a way that was unexplained. I was also sorry not to spend more time with Leonie and her new coven, which she founded as a more inclusive coven after breaking away from HMRC. The book is steeped in political and social issues, especially those of representation, so to devote so little time to the more inclusive coven and its founder felt a little... off. This is only the first book in the series though, so this may be developed further in future books, but I would have liked to see some of that here.

With only a few exceptions, the secondary characters are also quite thin and mostly interchangeable. This is always a risk when there's a big cast of main characters, but I felt it a lot towards the end of the book when I realised I actually kept mixing some people up and could barely remember their names, let alone any other distinctive traits. This is especially true of the male characters, who are virtually non-existent except as causes of the suffering of the main characters. Now, I'm the first to champion female-centred books and to recognise the harmful role of the patriarchy in society, but the way relations between people of different genders were handled here seemed a bit too simplistic and reductive.

I don't think it's a big spoiler, but one of the characters identifies as trans. I loved this (and this character!), and having this kind of representation is so, so important. However, a lot of the conversations between different characters end up being centred on whether trans women are women, but we barely ever hear directly from this character about her experience and feelings. One POV character is also a TERF and a fair bit of time is spent with her, which is very uncomfortable and might be triggering for some.

Still, the story is extremely engaging and kept me wanting to come back until the ending (that ending!), even despite the multiple UK-centred pop culture references which were cute at first but grew old pretty quickly. I also partly listened to the audiobook for this and that was amazing! Nicola Coughlan is a brilliant narrator and SO good with accents, I could have kept listening to her for many, many more hours.

So, while this wasn't exactly the super-empowering queer feminist witchy urban fantasy of my dreams, Her Majesty's Royal Coven is a highly engaging, page-turning book with some memorable characters and a good start to a series. I'll be looking forward to reading the next book!

Content Warnings: This book contains mentions of death, violence, racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, war, kidnapping, confinement (prison), and domestic abuse.

I received an advanced review copy of this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way. ( )

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