Y'all know I love my witches. This is another Fairyloot novel. I might not have discovered it if it didn't come with my subscription.
This novel begins with a prologue setting up the main characters as a group of friends in the nineties. They're witches and love 90s pop culture. I didn't think it was necessary, because there were so many references throughout the book that could have accomplished both their found family relationships and their love of the culture.
From the start of the novel, I had trouble keeping up with each character and who was who. This is a challenge when you have a large cast of characters. I found that most of the voices weren't varied enough for me to understand who was who until about midway through the book.
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I loved seeing how the author adapted a Charmed-esque world into modern society.
One of the friends from the group is now the High Priestes of Her Majesty's Royal Coven--a secret society that is in the background of everything that's happened over the last century. Others have left the coven since a war ten years ago, and one of them even branched off to form their own coven - Diaspora.
One thing I have to highlight is the diversity in this novel. You had characters of color, LGBTQ! rep, and one of the main storylines was about a young character coming to terms with their gender. I thought it was really good. I would love to speak with trans people that have read this book to see what their perspective of the novel was good. As a CIS woman, I can't truly understand or relate to that journey, but I thought it was well done, except for the magical fix at the end (this could be really harmful to trans people).
Overall, the political intrigue and loose ends have convinced me to read into the next novel.
My only complaint is that there were a lot of events that happened ten years prior to this--a whole war, in fact--and I sort of wish the series started there instead of here.
Abbie