Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

74 reviews

minervacerridwen's review against another edition

dark mysterious relaxing tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I enjoyed this book in the way that I enjoy a good action movie: there were lots of exciting and tense moments, good dialogue and good visuals. This helped to make this into a quick read that made me feel a lot of emotions, if only fleetingly. If it were made into a movie, it might be one I'd love to watch: a mix of almost silly James Bond action with the old magic world many people of my generation grew up in but had to leave behind due to its issues - with a good dose of queerness and some racial awareness added in.
The metaphors, painfully relevant to our current society and the rising transphobia in the UK, were delightfully unsubtle. However, sadly, the book seemed to come with its own set of issues. I was puzzled by how a book that's rooted so firmly in the theme of inclusion apparently still views being non-binary as something weird and "difficult to get right", without that ever coming back to bite any of the characters. And then there was the ending...

Major spoiler here, in case you're someone who clicks open spoiler tags automatically: I hope it will be addressed in book 2, but I really didn't like how the "solution" was to give Helena the death penalty, for no other reason than that that was "how things were done". I'm pretty sure (or at least hope) it will have consequences for what follows in book 2, but now it seemed to be treated very lightly. The final chapters felt very rushed and more like bait to draw you into the second book than like a proper ending to the first book. The very final event, however, intrigued me enough that I will have to admit that this baiting technique probably worked on me.

Please mind the content warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Transphobia, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Hate crime, Racism, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, War, and Classism

emmajh91's review against another edition

challenging tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Transphobia, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Hate crime, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

chrisb913's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Please check trigger warnings.

I really wish I liked the book better.  Unfortunately the villain of the story was so realistic and believable I found myself upset and pissed for most of the story. On top of that, for a book all about sisterhood and feminism, for 2 of the main characters to be so meh about letting one of their "sisters" be treated like absolute garbage because they don't want to upset her? Where was the outrage?

Lastly, that ending was just utter crap. I do want to read the 2nd book and HOPEFULLY the character development in book 2 will turn the series around (or at least be present).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, War, and Classism

mossbelle's review

adventurous medium-paced

3.5

🌶

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Racism, Torture, Transphobia, Car accident, Death of parent, Outing, and Toxic friendship

sassyykassie's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Transphobia

Moderate: Animal death, Misogyny, Sexism, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Outing, and War

shannenscribbles's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Torture, Transphobia, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

katcass's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Transphobia

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Car accident, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death

thebuzzcutreads_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Death, Forced institutionalization, Outing, and Toxic friendship

rowan92579's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Sexism, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Homophobia

readwithria's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven was the political, witchy-sisterhood book I didn’t know I needed.

I really enjoyed this book, and the characters took the cake. The POV characters, their children and wards, their partners, and all of the side characters felt so fleshed out and real. Their relationships were so fun to read about, even the bad ones.

I will say that it wasn’t until well into the book that I felt like I understood how the magic system worked. The delineation between the different types of witches and what they can do, plus the elemental aspect of witchery, made for a lot of information that I still don’t fully grasp.

I’m very excited to read The Shadow Cabinet! 4 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Transphobia, Violence, Murder, Outing, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Fire/Fire injury