The Ink Thief

^{Source: Cover of ‘Her Majesty’s Royal Coven’ by Juno Dawson}

Synopsis

Hidden among us is a secret coven of witches. They are Her Majesty’s Royal Coven. They protect crown and country from magical forces and otherworldly evil. But their greatest enemy will come from within.

There are whisperings of a prophecy that will bring the coven to its knees, and five best friends are about to be caught at the centre. Life as a modern witch was never simple … but now it’s about to get apocalyptic.

^{Source: Goodreads synopsis}

Review

I went into this book with different expectations to what I got in terms of the genre and actual content of the book. I expected something with feminist content, something “witchy” and fun to read. What I got instead, however, was a novel riddled with pitfalls and clichés and didn’t really feel like fun to read at all.

To begin with the positives, I really enjoyed this book at the beginning. The world building seemed interesting, with different groups/types of powers being common, and the divisions in levels of power depending on how many different types of power someone could wield. The political aspect was fascinating as well, because I haven’t come across a book that explores the political system of a community of witches in the modern age before.

I was also pleased by the representation in the book, with LGBT+ characters, POC characters, and characters who simply differed from the “norm”. I liked the way that social issues were touched upon, particularly with minority groups who are often sidelined or overlooked, not just in society itself, but especially in novels. I also really loved the inclusion of a trans character, Theo, ⁣ because you so very rarely see trans characters being represented well in literature, particularly fantasy literature.

However, halfway through the book, I felt like things began to fall apart. The novel is, rather unhelpfully, quite misandrist. There aren’t many male characters at all, and while I suppose in a novel marketed as feminist this is to be expected, the few male characters that are present in the novel are also portrayed as quite weak. Some are simply dislikable, while others are sweet but feel like props to the main characters, with no personality or purpose of their own.

Several other characters, who feel like they have potential, are simply mentioned and then brushed aside, which feels like a waste. A character who identifies as genderfluid/non-binary is mentioned and used to bring more diversity, and yet they seem to have no personality or purpose beyond their gender identity. This ends up becoming quite common throughout the book. This also ends up being the case with one of the main characters, whose character seems to simply boil down to the fact that she’s trans, and you don’t even really get to explore her journey or understand how she’s feeling/what she’s thinking as all of this goes on, because we never get to see things from her perspective. Another of our ensemble main cast has an entire coven that has branched off from HMRC to create a more inclusive and diverse culture for witches is also a victim of this lack of focus, being mentioned for only a few pages, before it is simply forgotten about.

The writing style also devolves throughout the novel, as does the plot and the characterisation. One of the characters, whom you might describe as a TERF, goes from simply being intolerant to utterly psychopathic, with no real reason or motive as to why. It feels disjointed, and the language used by this character is incredibly triggering.

Overall, I really wanted to like this book. It should have been right up my alley, with a modern setting, witches, a group of diverse women, LGBT+ representation and a trans main character in fantasy, and an interesting magical system and politics. But, unfortunately, I simply couldn’t enjoy myself while reading it. The second half of the novel felt disjointed, triggering, and made me feel really quite disgusted and upset, which were not the emotions I thought I’d be feeling. At one point, I wasn’t sure if I would finish this novel, but I did, and even the ending paragraph is disappointing, though clearly trying to set itself up for the next novel.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️