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Juno Dawson is a #1 bestselling Sunday Times novelist, a screenwriter, a journalist, and a columnist for Attitude Magazine. Before her adult fantasy debut with Her Majesty’s Royal Coven Trilogy, the British author wrote such global bestsellers as This Book is Gay and Clean, the first in the London Trilogy. She also writes for television and movies in the UK and US, and has the first official scripted Doctor Who Podcast, Doctor Who: Redacted. She currently lives in Brighton, is an occasional actress and model, is part of a queer cabaret collective known as Club Silencio, and was the face of Jecca Cosmetics Play Pots campaign. 

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven opens with five girls hiding in a treehouse. We meet these girls the eve before they were to swear their oaths to HMRC, Her Majesty’s Royal Coven; when Helena, Niamh and her twin Ciara, Elle, and Leonie would stop being girls and become witches. Then we jump 25 years to present day where Helena is leading HMRC as High Priestess, Elle is a full time nurse and mother, Leonie has organized her own coven for POC called Diaspora, Niamh is a veterinarian living in the town they grew up in, and Ciara has been in a coma for years after she was on ‘the wrong side’ of the civil war where a warlock called forth demons to overthrow HMRC and all it stands for. But, even though the final traitor has been just caught by HMRC, the oracles are in a tizzy about another evil, the prophesied Sullied Child, a boychild who will call forth Leviathan and destroy the world, witchkind, and mundanes alike. When Helena brings Niamh to meet the imprisoned Sullied Child, all Niamh can see is a fifteen year old boy, alone, and scared of his powers he knows nothing about. Niamh decides to bring him to her home, away from HMRC to teach him how to control his talents, all while also teaching Elle’s daughter, Holly, who had recently come into her own magic.

The magic of Dawson’s writing is that she brings the struggles of the real world and puts a spotlight on them with women who are more powerful than men. What is it like for Elle to be married to a man who doesn’t know she’s a witch with magical healing powers? Or, like what it means for Leonie to create a coven, a safe space, for witches of color that goes against the hierarchy and magic rules of HMRC. What is the value of a secret if a sentient witch could read your mind? And what is the place of trans-witches within and outside of HMRC, what does it  mean to be a ‘real witch’?

I can’t wait to pick up book two in the Her Majesty’s Royal Coven Trilogy, The Shadow Cabinet, which was released in June of this year. Book three doesn’t yet have a release date, but I’ll be looking forward to that one as well. I’m giving Her Majesty’s Royal Coven 4.5 rounded up to 5 stars. I will probably be re-reading it as a refresher before book 3 comes out, but I definitely don’t love the feeling of being dangled towards book two so imminently.

What do you do when you start a series of books that aren’t complete?!

~Ashley

Readers, I’m not sure what is happening, but color me excited that Ashley is the one here saying a probable rereading refresher is in our future!  Ashley gave a fantastic synopsis of the plot, and I want to talk about bit more about the themes included in this magical realism title.  But first, y’all I am SO here for witches living among us making things happen on the DL.  I am here for a chunk of society where women are in charge for a change, and I am here for a thorough exploration of power of all kinds.  While I am here for all of it, all of it at once, and more, makes for a lot in a book.  

I think perhaps I am experiencing some expectation fail with  Her Majesty’s Royal Coven.   Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it, and am looking forward to book two (even if the ending was eyeroll inducing), and will 1000% be joining Ashley on this rereading before book three.  However, I wanted a deeper exploration of the relationship of the friends, or more humorous dialogue, or perhaps fewer themes going on at once so there could be a deeper exploration of one or two.  Perhaps some of this is coming, but perhaps not.  Either way, this is good data for me because I wanted more character development here, and Her Majesty’s Royal Coven is very focused on action, even with all the character-driven themes.  

Here two paths diverge in a wood, and I’m taking the one where Her Majesty’s Royal Coven gets 3.5 stars, which I’m rounding to three.  The writing was good, the plot was fantastic, but it left me wanting.  I’m interested in book two and what Dawson does next (book three and beyond), but other than in preparation for subsequent titles, I won’t be revisiting this title.

What is a book that helped you learn about yourself as a reader?

~Nikki 

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