Jaelyn reviewed Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson (Her Majesty's Royal Coven, #1)
Review of "Her Majesty's Royal Coven" on 'Storygraph'
5 stars
HMRC, a secret government coven of witches established by Elizabeth I, is an ageing bureaucracy healing scars after a civil war and the breakaway of a coven, Diaspora, tired of their less-than-intersectional attitude to witchcraft & sisterhood (derisively called by HMRC’s leadership as the “woke coven”. As a prophecy comes of The Sullied Child awakening Leviathan, the real threats come from corruption within.
Most of the characters are based at Hebden Bridge (Yorkshire’s Brighton or Portland?) mixing their life with mundanes (non-magic folk and a word I love now to apply to non-Queers – because they are very mundane) with their commitment to the sisterhood and Gaia. HMRC is in Manchester, Diaspora in London.
It gives voice to different waves of feminism as they grapple with intersectionality, race and transphobia. The first book having a strong thread of transphobes and feminism and the second focusing on the all-pervasiveness of misogyny …
HMRC, a secret government coven of witches established by Elizabeth I, is an ageing bureaucracy healing scars after a civil war and the breakaway of a coven, Diaspora, tired of their less-than-intersectional attitude to witchcraft & sisterhood (derisively called by HMRC’s leadership as the “woke coven”. As a prophecy comes of The Sullied Child awakening Leviathan, the real threats come from corruption within.
Most of the characters are based at Hebden Bridge (Yorkshire’s Brighton or Portland?) mixing their life with mundanes (non-magic folk and a word I love now to apply to non-Queers – because they are very mundane) with their commitment to the sisterhood and Gaia. HMRC is in Manchester, Diaspora in London.
It gives voice to different waves of feminism as they grapple with intersectionality, race and transphobia. The first book having a strong thread of transphobes and feminism and the second focusing on the all-pervasiveness of misogyny throughout human history, as well as a slice of cults of hatred. It also makes a few good jabs at the Tories’ current chaos which I a nice treat after the implicit jabs at JKR in the first book.
They have strong Queer, Trans and BIPOC representation, some lovely moral grey areas.
