Review: Her Majesty’s Royal Coven (Her Majesty’s Royal Coven #1)

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven (Her Majesty’s Royal Coven #1)
By Juno Dawson

Published By: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: July 21, 2022
Date Read: August 4, 2022
Genre: Adult – Fantasy
Source: Audio Edition for Review from Netgalley
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 448

From Goodreads:
A Discovery of Witches meets The Craft in this the first installment of this epic fantasy trilogy about a group of childhood friends who are also witches.

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.

As soon as I heard about Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. I have been a huge fan of Juno Dawson for years, and absolutely loved so many of her contemporary books. As a huge fantasy lover, I couldn’t wait to read her first fantasy novel… I was not disappointed. I really, really enjoyed Her Majesty’s Royal Coven. It is epic fantasy with all the raw grittiness that you should come to expect from a Juno Dawson book.

I was lucky enough to receive the audiobook of Her Majesty’s Royal Coven to review and I am so glad I listened to this one. If you’re an audio lover, I highly highly recommend it! It is narrated by Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan… and my goodness, she does a fantastic job! Considering the multiple points of view, I worried about the same narrator doing all of them, but Nicola does a wonderful job of bringing them all to life, and I was never confused about who was talking when. I loved her narration, it was fantastic.

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven is political, gritty and real. It tackles so many real issues, like family issues, transgender individuals and relationships. I loved how Juno tackled these real issues while the book still being humorous. I really loved her storytelling and character development in this book. It is, in my opinion, her best book to date! I loved every single moment of it.

The ending of this book had my jaw on the floor. I was so shocked, I couldn’t believe what was happening. I ended up listening to the last few chapters with my hands over my eyes… as if that was going to stop me from hearing it LOLZ! It was just absolutely superb storytelling and before you ask me… yes… it was a cliffhanger! As I’ve only ever read standalones from Juno in the past, I didn’t realise how mean she was with the cliffhangers. I cannot wait to get my hands on the second book… it cannot release soon enough! This is a must-read! I loved it.

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