I think this will appeal to all the ex-Harry Potter fans out there who have (justified) reason to be angry with JK Rowling. For me, a person who has still yet to read more than one Harry Potter book, I can only recognize it for what it is on its face: a contemporary fantasy about witches that are gathered, for the most part, into one coven and put into service for Her Majesty the Queen of England. The magic is not so much witchy as it is fantastical and X-Men-ish. The witches teleport and read minds, etc. They also do this in secret--the world of the mundanes (ie muggles) don't know what's going on underneath their noses, especially that war that is heavily alluded to at the beginning of the book. When a boy witch is found with staggering powers (rare for a boy witch) the coven takes him under their suspicious wing to investigate, lest he be a vessel for a demon that's trying to end the world.

I am sure something interesting was up with all of this, but I am unfortunately in that camp that was bored by the first half. I nearly made it to about 40%, but I couldn't focus on the story and the characters never jumped off the page for me. None of it felt cohesive and the writing felt a little too immature. So while I fully see this as a kind of rebuttal to JK Rowling, I am just not the reader for this book.

Her Majesty's Royal Coven is the first novel in a series by the same name, written by June Dawson. It's perfect for readers that enjoyed A Discovery of Witches.

Helena, Leonie, Niamh, and Elle were all proud to sign up for Her Majesty's Royal Coven, which dates back to the time of Queen Elizabeth I. Yet a civil war quickly changed the landscape of their job and perhaps their future.

Helena is now the High Priestess and the only one of the four still actively involved in the Coven. Meanwhile, Ellen has moved on to a new life, where she tries to pretend there's no magic in her blood. Leonie defected to a different (more inclusive) coven, and Niamh became a vet.

Ohhh! If you love politics mixed into your magical fantasies, I got the book for you. Her Majesty's Royal Coven is the perfect blend of the two while tackling many other surprising subjects.

It made for a delightfully dense read, with lots of twists and intrigues. This is no light fantasy novel; it's a book that will make you think and feel. I adore that; I cannot wait to see where the rest of this series leads.

I also love how different all four characters wound up being. This gave us several viewpoints on the world. We saw magic from several lenses, which helped showcase the corruption that can stem from power. It was very well done.

Four girls in their youth take an oath to join Her Majesty’s Royal Coven - a coven of witches who have been serving the Queens of England since the time of Anne Boleyn. Fast forward to present day and those young girls are grown - some still in the service of the Queen, others in different covens and yet others who have drifted away from covens and witchcraft altogether. But there is a threat on the rise and these women must remember what they were to each other in their youth and work together to save their future.

This is the first in what is to be a trilogy - however, there is a significant amount of back story that was hard to follow - making me question if it was actually the first book! Dawson has done an impeccable job of addressing many of the hot and loaded topics of the day: gender, LGBTQ+, power, feminism, etc. A fun and enlightening read - very much looking forward to the next one!

I thought this book sounded so cool! And it is: it has social issues, gender issues, witchy issues...but also, it has major slog issues. I had to slog through about 35% of the book until I looked at the reviews. Apparently the first half of the book is so dull, but if you make it to the back half, things heat up! But also, they're kind of dull still.

I'm in the dull category. I fast forwarded through the book and skimmed, touched on a couple of the main parts, but I thought the book was kind of all over the place. I appreciate the author writing a fantasy, witchy, queer book, but I just couldn't bring myself to keep reading it past about 45%. I have so many other books I'd rather be reading, and I don't have time to "make" myself read a book.

I think if this is your favorite genre, if you are looking for a dark, queer, fantasy, it'd be worth working your way through it. It just wasn't worth it to me, sadly.

This book was amazing. I coudn't put it down. It was magical. Higly recommended! The characters, the plots, the writting: wonderful and perfect.

If this is not a nice letter of fuck off to J.K.Rowling I don't know what is.

One of the best contemporary books about witches I have ever read. The characters are all well portrayed, each with her own life and secrets dealing with small important issues. Family, friendship, sisterhood, womanhood.

The plot is strong and very gripping, Theo's story is compelling and Helena was a perfect villain, a woman who represents the past unable to evolve, her transphobic speeches will make your skin crawl mainly because those are things that are thought and said by so many Terfs out there. Turning her into the villain of the story was a nice touch.

I loved all those pop 90s culture references and the cliffhanger was bitter but expected, I suspect there will be some major comebacks in the next one and I look forward to reading it.

Her Majesty's Royal Coven is a story about systems and freedom. About ingrained systems that are held up, institutions, over time and which - in some ways - resist change. This idea that they are exclusionary, not listening or acknowledging voices, like marginalized ones. It's about these systems of power and also to celebrate voices and forces of change. Of people who are able to see when to speak out, and those who have made spaces of their own. It's a multiple POV story surrounding this core of friends who have drifted apart.

I enjoyed watching the character's lives unfold, specifically as they began to intersect more and it was clear they were keeping things from each other. But I do feel like some perspectives took more of the center stage. Maybe that's because of the ending and how it's set up for this series, but I felt like some of my favorite characters didn't get as much time as I would have liked. Even more than that, one of the characters is incredibly transphobic.

I am not trans and so I cannot speak to these comments, but I can say that it was incredibly difficult to read. I realize that these sentiments are those shared by some people within our society - this TERF sentiment that pervades certain spaces - but it just felt like in a story which is supposed to feature a trans minor at the heart of it, that it was difficult to read. The story of her search for recognition and specifically as a girl is so central to the plot of the story and so this POV felt even more hostile.

Honestly, I really did not enjoy this at all but the I think the political message behind the novel and the direct fuck you to TERF.K. Rowling was interesting enough to warrant it more than a 1 star. Unfortunately though, I hated the writing in this and I just could not get into this book at all. I had a feeling from the first couple of pages that this would not be the book for me, but I wanted to push through because the premise sounded so interesting. And it was - but Dawson has a writing style that I really just could not jive with. Also, and I am sure this was intentional, the novel was so campy and cliche. The amount of millennial references and nodes to Spice Girls.... I was just rolling my eyes. I did absolutely adore the growth of Theo in the novel and how she becomes her own person. She was probably the only character I liked and rooted for. Everyone else was hella boring. I am really sad that I didn't love this book because, like I said, Theo's journey with her identity and the conversation the book has about trans community's struggles. Hopefully, I can read more Juno Dawson in the future.

Her Majesty's Royal Coven is urban fantasy that makes a statement. Juno Dawson tackles some big issues here - some important issues - and this book is certainly timely, considering some of the opposite views that have been publicized recently. With that, we spend some time in a certain character's head, and there were times when I had to just set the book aside and walk away to clear my head. I guess you could say that particular point of view left a bad taste in my mouth. I'm trying to be vague here to avoid spoilers, so I'll just say that I enjoyed the other points of view, the time inside the heads of more fair-minded characters, but the one was almost too much for me. Don't let that deter you, though, because the message here is an important one, and I'd say the book is definitely worth the read.

This book!! I'm so glad this book was written. It is a fresh and new take on the contemporary witch story and the magic realism that creates the world in this book is 10/10. I loved the characters and the magical community and witch lore that this book sets up and I feel like I really understood the community. The book took a bit of an unexepected turn with who the "villian" turns out to be and the plot twist that happened at the end shocked and intrigued me more than an ending to a book in YEARS. I will definitely be reading the next book.
Overall, I only give this book 3.5 stars because it was slow for a lot of the middle and the amount of british slang words I had to look up became very bothersome. But the story, worldbuilding, and characters were great and I can't wait to read the rest of this series.

This book ends in the tricksiest, most gut-wrenching cliffhanger. I need a sequel POST HASTE. I loved the world of this book, the politics, the intrigue, the interpersonal dramas, all of the macro and micro conflicts. It’s a big queer book for June and I am delighted to have read it during Pride.

I enjoyed this book very much. The core of the story is a woman and lesbian-affirming coven of powerful witches is confronted with the question of whether a trans woman suits or destroys their centuries-old tradition. (There's also a healthy amount of prophecy and potential apocalypse) Two factions battle to determine the fate of a powerful trans girl. The best thing about this book is the relationships-- particularly between the protagonist and the witchling, which gave me Arthur and Lucy vibes (House in the Cerulean Sea) and will bring me back to this book.

What did I just read?!

This book was quite the ride and I could not get enough! This was a multiple perspective story following a group of friends and the aftermath of a great magical war. For the most part I enjoyed reading from each of the character's very different perspectives but don't even get me started on Helen. There are just some characters that you can't help but hate. She wasn't even a lovable villain or morally gray character. Technically one could argue that she wasn't even the villain in the book but she sure made it very hard to not hate her. Her story kept me reading though because I couldn't even believe the hate that was coming out of her mouth. I had to know what she was going to get up to next and I kept hoping that someone would just punch her. I enjoyed the magic that was present throughout the book as well. I have read many a book were the witches and/or wizards relied on spells to do magic but this was not the case here. The characters in this book use elemental magic which is something I am not too familiar with but I look forward to reading more books with this type of magic system because I found it fascinating.

This was a great book to read during pride month and I am so glad that I picked it up. I could not read it fast enough and after that cliff hanger I need book 2 ASAP!!! I feel like I will still be thinking about this book for days to come.

A big thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for gifting me a digital copy of this book.

I liked this book a lot, it was interesting and creatively plotted. There exists a group of witches called the HMRC, Her Majesty’s Royal Coven. The group was started by Queen Elizabeth 1 and was off and on until Queen Victoria brought it back. It’s a covert department of the British government. As young girls, 4 friends took the oath together.

A recent civil war has left the country’s witches and warlocks rebuilding their covens. Helena is in charge of the HMRC. When an extraordinary young boy is discovered who possesses extremely strong powers and might be the fulfillment of a prophecy, she sends him to her old friend Niamh to determine if he’s an existential threat to the HMRC.

What Niamh discovers puts her at odds with the HMRC, her friend Helena, and others who fear both the prophecy and the boy. Niamh and her childhood friends Leonie and Elle must literally battle witches and warlocks.

Can the three friends find common ground through their coven bonds? Does an existential threat really exist? You’ll have to read the book to find out! This is the first book in a series, and I’m excited to read the next book! 4 stars.

Synopsis

If you look hard enough at old photographs, we're there in the background: healers in the trenches; Suffragettes; Bletchley Park oracles; land girls and resistance fighters. Why is it we help in times of crisis? We have a gift. We are stronger than Mundanes, plain and simple.

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.

Juno Dawson explores gender and the corrupting nature of power in a delightful and provocative story of magic and matriarchy, friendship and feminism. Dealing with all the aspects of contemporary womanhood, as well as being phenomenally powerful witches, Niamh, Helena, Leonie and Elle may have grown apart but they will always be bound by the sisterhood of the coven.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

The start was a bit of a confusing whirlwind - by starting with a snippet of childhood and a bunch of names bandied about with very little context, I was left wrong-footed at the start - but once we made it to present day and settled in with our grown-up characters all living their own lives, it was much easier to follow. It was also very slow. There's little to no major plot movement for about half the book as we focus instead on the complicated relationships between our main cast.

And then Helena is revealed to be a TERF and it was all downhill from there. Props to Dawson for really digging in and putting forth every single transphobic argument in the TERF lexicon and summarily tearing it down. But when the matriarch of a coven of (female) witches decides that summoning a literal demon is preferable to letting a trans girl be a witch instead of a warlock, I had trouble reading it. Someone less sensitive to those particular arguments may be much more appreciative of this story than me.

Omg LOVED this!!

I don't even know how to process my words or that could be the sudafed. This chest cold will be gone soon I hope but this is some sweet relief.

Five best friends from childhood who are also witches. We start in a very sweet 90's scene. Then jump right into a scene from present day when they still speak but their grown up lives have pushed them away - a high priestess, a rival coven for those that are BIPOC and LGBTQ, a vet who speaks to animals, a nurse who heals and one who's locked up. There's way more to them than that as they struggle to handle a crisis that arises with an oracle and a very strong young man warlock

There were so many historical references and political power plays and just witches canon. I don't know what's real and what's not but I adored it. It felt so real. The magic, the feminist system, the history of witches in the world and the fear of them. But what about trans girls?

The fear of men in their society is so huge that those that can't understand, fight it. But trans women aren't men. Feel privileged you are comfortable in your own skin, not everyone is.

I need to buy this book for my shelf!! I love this pink cover and I found this wall the other day in the SF ferry building. But the black cover is gorgeous too! This is such an amazing witch book to add to my collection!!

Thank you penguinbooks and netgalley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

Juno Dawson tells a story of magical realism that is all too apt for this day and age. HER MAJESTY'S ROYAL COVEN has all the magic of Harry Potter but none of the TERF of JK Rowling, and instead shows the lengths that many women will go to in order to exclude trans women.

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven is a dark and twisty paranormal story that will have you on the edge of your seat.

This is the first book in Juno’s new paranormal witchy trilogy centred around a group of witches who live very different lives but are brought back together when a deadly prophecy is foretold. The book is told from four POV’s: Niamh, Leonie, Helena, and Elle, who were friends when they were children but had grown apart. They are all very different characters. Juno created main characters with a lot of depth, raw, and definitely moral grey at times. I enjoyed reading the book from all their POV’s, but Niamh was my favourite, and I was glad her character had more of a presence in the book than the others. Niamh is such a wonderfully complex character who is a very kind-hearted woman at her core. She is willing to take a stand to do what is right even when it is hard. She is also really bad as a witch when she wants to be, which I just loved. The fight scenes that she is in had me at the edge of my seat.

Juno does a great job creating this secret witch world that exists alongside the mundane (muggle) world. The history that is described in the book is rich and full of wonderful details. I loved how she linked real-life examples (Salem witch trials, natural disasters, etc.) with the coven’s history. It is always interesting seeing how each author puts their own uniqueness on the paranormal world. This book has similarities to other witch books, but it is different enough to keep its readers interested and wanting to learn more about the world within this book. Juno does spend quite a bit of time focusing on social and political issues centred around the 2SLGBTQ+ community. This actually becomes the primary catalyst for conflict in the second half of the book. The book’s first half focuses on a prophecy that says an unknown child will bring about the end of days. Then in the second half, the main conflict change to whether a transgender child should be allowed in the witch’s coven. I loved how Juno focused on issues around the 2SLGBTQ+ community, but the overall story felt a little disjointed. I felt like there were two competing storylines one that was around this demon that was set on destroying the world and another around transgender issues.

Overall, this is a great book and the cliff-hanger at the end of the story will have you going online to see when the next book is coming out.

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven is a book that is both entertaining and thought-provoking.

Thank you, Penguin Random House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Listen, I love a book that calls TERFs out while exploring the ideas of morality, family, duty, and loyalty. Reading fantasy is relatively new to me, and I've found that the more high fantasy something feels, the less rooted in something that can ALMOST come across believable, the less I can get into a story. Her Majesty's Royal Coven is that perfect sweet spot between fantasy and reality, where it feels like you could just about step into the world and find your way.

On top of that I really enjoyed the writing style, the sentence structure and dialogue all felt natural and smooth. Our customers are going to eat this one up! Juno Dawson's style is exquisite!

I absolutely adored this book! It's urban fantasy taking place in a world where a coven established by Queen Elizabeth I helps manage affairs.
The book focuses on four witches who grew up together and are following different paths. A prophecy has been put forth about a so-called Sullied Child that could prove to be the end of the world as we know it. The Sullied Child in question is actually a transgender teenager with a lot of power.
I loved the history involved. Elle is a descendant of one of the Pendle witches, the diversity involved and the social issues presented. It could have been preachy but instead it's just an absolutely amazing story. I can't wait for the next book in the series..