Amazing story of witches, covens, family (blood and found), and magic. A mystery and an adventure. Will be featured on an upcoming episode of Your Rainbow Reads podcast.

I want to love more Cherie Dimaline books so much! I loved The Marrow Thieves, but every book of hers that I have read since that time just has not worked for me. This is no exception. Here we have a group of witches (VenCo/Coven) seeking the 7th (and final) witch to complete the coven. There is a long roadtrip, visits to various magical beings (sort-of-witches, but not exactly witches?), and a build-up to an end that was unsatisfying. There were things to love - mostly the strong feminist, "we are the witches you couldn't burn" vibe - and some fun characters. I'm still unclear on the magic system (see magical beings above), the purpose of the spoons, or why the road trip (won't say more because *spoilers*). True lovers of strong urban fantasy may love this one. It just fell flat for me.

I really enjoyed this book filled with varied, strong women. It was a gorgeous book about magic and supporting the ones you call family. I enjoyed to sometimes vague magic system because it felt more real somehow. I also really enjoyed our villain, jay! He was evil but we learned his motivations.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my digital arc.

I have enjoyed several of Cherie Dimaline's books in the past, and I was really pleased to receive an early copy of VenCo from NetGalley. I liked this book a lot, and it had some fantastic prose, but it wasn't quite a 5-star read for me. I was immediately drawn in by the opening chapters focusing on Lucky (and her childhood with her mom), and I found the flashbacks to that time (that we see throughout the book) particularly engaging. I liked the cast of characters in the coven, but I had a hard time connecting with all the different points of view, and because of or in addition to that, the plot felt pretty slow. I don't mind an ensemble cast or a character-driven story, but it felt like the scope was maybe too broad here. I still want to know more about Lucky and her mom and grandma!
I'll definitely still be following this author in the future and checking out her books; I'm glad to see her getting more publicity in the States with this novel!

VenCo by Cherie Dimaline was a modern take on witches that is sure to find a passionate audience. For me personally, it was not my favorite of Dimaline’s work, where both The Marrow Thieves and Empire of Wild rank among some of my favorite books of all time, which may be why, although there’s nothing I could specifically pinpoint as an issue for me in this book, I did find it a bit of a disappointment. I didn’t personally connect with the characters in the way I usually do with her work, which made the rest of the plot feel hard to get invested in. I would still highly recommend this book to anyone who likes witchy fiction, and am looking forward to reading more of the author’s work in the future.

"You have to allow for change, because it is coming. Everything changes. That's how it begins."

Venco is a multi-generational journey, a suspenseful adventure, and an exciting scavenger hunt all at once. The plot moves pretty slowly at times—but makes up for it with interesting, three-dimensional characters and hard-to-predict twists and turns.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

VenCo is a fun, witchy, feminist story that covers so much ground while also making new ground. Very funny and very sensitive.

This book isn't what I expected, nor is it for my tastes exactly, but it was a decent read with interesting characters. Even though the villain was a terrible individual, I actually found his part of the story to be the most interesting.

I was so excited for this witchy adult fantasy from Cherie Dimaline, an author I've previously loved. Unfortunately, this story didn't work for me as well as I'd hoped. Though her writing is always lovely, It read very different in this book as compared to her YA series, The Marrow Thieves, but also to her most recent adult book, Empire of Wild. Somehow this book read more like a debut than any of her other works. The plot was unclear at times and I felt like we were never able to get a good sense of all of the characters even though many told their own stories and sometimes we read from their POV. We do get a great sense of Lucky's character and who she is at her core. Her story really tugs at your heartstrings. We also get a lot of personality from her grandma, Stella. Stella is probably one of my favorite characters in the book. Sadly, even though we learn a bit of the backstories of the other witches, we didn't see much of their current personalities. To be fair, at times we are not with all the witches but I wish we could have seen more. Dimaline did an excellent job of making me hate the villain of this story. He is a certified creep and, honestly, I felt disgusted reading from his POV.
My biggest issue with this story is that there is so much pressure and push for them to find the spoons and the witches, but I failed to see the reason? I never felt like I was given a reason why it was so important to complete the coven or what would really happen if they didn't?
This book felt like a 400 page prequel story for...something. It was like a flashback of 'how we got here' in the middle of another book. And with the way this book ended, I am very uncertain of what that could be. It felt like the story came to a close, but then there was an epilogue to open the story to a wider lens...but for what? Maybe in the future I will give this a reread and see if maybe I missed something that told me why the coven needed to be completed other than it would have to disband if it wasn't complete, but I don't think I did.
I will say that there is a lot of representation throughout the book, which was nice to see. There is, of course, Indigenous rep, but there is also LGBTQIA+ rep, some very important people are Black, there are multiple versions of witchcraft not just a typical lens, we also see a young person having to take care of their elders. A lot of very good things. I can't say that the rep is done well or not, as most do not apply to me. So I will definitely try to seek out reviews from diverse readers.
Overall, this book was okay. I think if this is going to be a series, that I would definitely pick up the next book (if only to see where the story is going). I'm happy a lot of people are loving this one! It just disappointed me a bit.
I would give this 3.5 stars out of 5.

This wasn't what I was expecting, but once I got into it I was hooked. I loved the diverse cast of characters, and I liked the non-linear timeline. The world building is rich and multifaceted encompassing feminism, social issues, trauma, indigenous rights and other social issues while weaving through magic in multiple beliefs and forms. While a bit dark for me at times, the book's found family and strong women made the book memorable and inspiring.

Lucky St. James lives with her grandmother, Stella, in a Toronto apartment that they face being evicted from. One night, Lucky feels drawn to a hidden passage in her apartment building, where she finds a spoon. Unbeknownst to Lucky, that spoon is the key to her future full of some amazing characters who have long been awaiting her retrieval of the spoon. The coven that waits for Lucky is made up of a group of diverse women from different backgrounds. It was nice to see the inclusivity in this book. The journey is a long one, so hold on tight and enjoy the ride!

Full disclosure: this book had a super slow plot start for me, so I had trouble getting into it. Stick it out though, because I ended up loving it.

4.5 (rounded up) out of 5 stars.

I received a free ARC from the author and NetGalley; and I am voluntarily leaving an unbiased review.

This novel unfortunately fell flat for me. I think I came into reading this with high hopes from all the info I was seeing on various sites hyping it up. It just never got to where I wish it was going. Also is it assumed that there is a sequel coming or was the last chapter a wrap up?

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC, this review is independant.

VenCo is a new take on the "getting the band back together" trope (which is one of my favorites!) with a splash of mystery and some great representation of women's power. We follow Lucky St. James and her tag-along grandmother Stella, across magical North America on a quest designed to complete the Salem coven and trigger the rise of a feminine power. The characters are nicely realized, and Dimaline provides them with richness and intersectionality to give diversity without a "collect them all" feel. I enjoyed the book overall, and was swept up in the story.

It reminded me strongly of NK Jemisin's The City We Became, with some elements of Gaiman's American Gods. Bringing in elements of history and adventure, we see many of our characters as avatars of a new or other world. This has some of the same drawbacks of, particularly, The City We Became, where some parts of the action slow to really drive a particular point home, with varying degrees of subtlety. I would recommend this book for those who enjoyed The City, American Gods and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

enco is the latest novel from Métis author Cherie Dimaline, known in large part for her award winning YA novel The Marrow Thieves and who also has written adult contemporary fantasy with her book Empire of Wild. Dimaline's works have dealt heavily with the indigenous communities of North America (not just Métis peoples) as they deal with life in the modern world...or oppression in near future ones, and are often harsh and brutal. But that harshness and brutality is to good extent, and her books tackle strong themes effectively and leave you with lasting impressions, especially as to the injustices that are very real around us. I imagined VenCo, a novel advertised as witches fighting against the patriarchy, would similarly hit upon such themes, and with some of the advertised blurbs mentoining it as being full of "adventure" and "funny", I was eager to give my advance copy at try.

Those blurbs turned out to be a bit misleading, as while there are humorous points, VenCo is a serious and often dark book featuring a Métis woman and her grandmother discovering a potential coven of witches and going on a chase for a final seventh wish - and a magical spoon - which could help them somehow dismantle a patriarchy that keeps women and people who don't fit into male stereotypes down. The book has a notably dark antagonist (see below trigger warning) that kind of keep it from ever being funny, but its lead characters are very charming and easy to enjoy and the plot largely works as it does hit upon its main themes. The book also avoids the way too common binary dichotomy of men vs women and makes clear that gender isn't a binary, and that the patriarchy keeps down trans, NB, and other individuals as well, with such characters considered possible parts of the coven as well, which I appreciated. That said, the setting felt very incomplete and the triggering material almost overshadowed this book at times, and didn't quite always feel necessary, which made it hard for me to really love VenCo.

TRIGGER WARNING: Sexual Assault/Rape, in an unconventional sense at least. The antagonist in this book is like the personification of the oppression of Patriarchal Societies, and he has magical powers that include mind-influencing and terrifying, such that even if he never explicitly on page rapes anyone (although he sort of tries at one point), he more or less arouses involuntary sexual responses from those who get in his way (and not in a "he's hot way", but like a "forces a male character to think about women and masterbate type of way" - I may not be describing this right, but I have no interest in going back and rereading that sequence) It's rough to read, and while it fits the themes...it might be a bit much. Also this novel includes homophobia, transphobia, sexism, and more of that ilk.


---------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------
Lucky St. James wishes life could be as simple as it seemed sometimes growing up, when she lived with her Métis mother, who scrounged Toronto for scraps for them to live on and enjoy during her childhood....before her mother died young. Now, Lucky lives with her loving but fading grandmother Stella, and is barely holding on - with an eviction notice just having come to their apartment. There seems little hope...until Lucky finds a metal spoon with the word SALEM and an image of a witch embossed on it in a long hidden tunnel in their building.

The spoon brings Lucky to the attention of VenCo, and specifically a group of five other women who have found similar spoons marking them as one of seven witches in a coven - a coven that together will have the power to break the Patriarchy and restore Women - whether they be cis, trans, or whatever - to their rightful place in society. But a prophecy suggests that Lucky will have to be the one to find the seventh and final witch and her own Spoon, and that they only have days to do it...or else the Coven will be lost forever.

Soon Lucky will find herself and her grandmother traveling through the United States and meeting other women involved in VenCo and Witchery as she attempts to find the last Spoon and Witch before time runs out. But Lucky is not the only one searching, and a powerful immortal witch hunting male, with monstrous powers of his own, is hot on her tail and if he catches her, it could spell the end for Lucky, Stella, and the chances for women everywhere....
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VenCo is the story of a world that is basically our own world - one where the patriarchy has set up systems that oppress women, non-binary peoples, and really anyone who doesn't fit into the stereotypical form of cis men. It's a story about women taking an instance of oppression as part of that patriarchy, a major symbolic one in the Salem Witch Trials, and forming it into their own symbol of resistance in the Salem spoons, and of them using their own witchcraft to slowly find a way to change theh world. And we see this in what little we see of VenCo, led by its trio of Mother, Maiden, and Crone, and in the coven Lucky and Stella wind up joining.

But largely, VenCo is an adventure story of Lucky and Stella on the road trying to find a MacGuffin, the seventh spoon and the witch it belongs to, before the patriarchy's representative, in the monstrous man Jay Christos, can stop her. And that adventure is well done thanks to Lucky and Stella's characters. Lucky is our main protagonist and it's super easy to care for her, given how understandable her position is: a girl who once had a childhood that was at times tough but at times filled with wonder due to the scrappiness of her barely getting by (and kinda homeless) mother who scavenged for things to enjoy, and who taught Lucky how to survive in this world, but now is a young adult herself on the verge of falling apart: she and her grandmother about to be evicted, the boy she is attracted to she can't quite spit it out to (and then he reacts poorly), and her own hope of a writing career seemingly has no chance of any success leading to her taking temp jobs that aren't quite good enough. Her grandmother Stella is warm, but losing her memory and Lucky finds herself burdened by this but unwilling to leave her behind, and so when VenCo comes calling with the possibilities of something better, she jumps....except that jump leads her on an adventure where she has no idea what she's doing and is always on the lookout for potential danger, even when she isn't quite aware of the evil chasing her. And Lucky is kind of original in her problem solving and in how she winds up dealing with the main antagonist in the end, which I really appreciated.

At the same time, VenCo struggles due to a number of factors. First, despite the book's plot summary and implications, the book never explains what VenCo does or how its people are organized, so they just sort of are there, even with the main coven's members all being women its easy to like and care about from brief backstory flashbacks. The book led me to believe we'd be dealing with an organization of women witches, but it's more like an outline of something that the book never quite fills in, making it kind of hard to care...especially when there's little payoff to the frequent interludes with the Mother, Maiden, and Crone. Secondly, and perhaps more o a problem for me, was the main antagonist, whose use of mind controlling magic, sexual mind controlling magic at that, is dark as hell and honestly is kind of a bit much...even if he never quite gets to literal rape on page, what he does is almost the equivalent, and I don't really think that was necessary, even if the final showdown works.

Basically, VenCo feels like a book whose setting and setup was incomplete and kind of skipped, and the antagonist's rape-happy-esque ways make it hard to read the skeleton of what remains, even if the lead protagonists are enjoyable. The result is a book whose themes are well taken and done okay, but isn't really one I'd be super happy to recommend.

✨ Review ✨ VenCo by Cherie Dimaline

I've been trying to review this for a week but just can't figure out where to start. So instead I'm going to quote Kelsi from goodreads who pitched...

"Have you ever wanted to read a book reminiscent of The Golden Girls, but it’s a witchy scavenger hunt around the country for magical spoons?"

SOLD.

Lucky St. James (Métis millennial) is fighting to keep her and her grandma Stella from getting evicted from the Toronto apartment when she finds a mysterious spoon, and they end up taking off and meeting up with Venco (COVEN) in Salem, MA. She sets off on a quest with the group of witches to try to complete their coven before time runs out. Chased by Jay Christos, an immortal witch-hunter, who's hot on their trail, they must find the remaining witches and spoons ASAP. They meet up with a series of witches across the US from rural villages to New Orleans in what was truly a fabulously thrilling quest.

The characters were just so lovable, and they lean into the characters diverse identities (single mother, trans, black, indigenous, queer, etc. etc.). I loved the group of witches they put before us.

Is this a series? No idea, but I sure hope so.

This book was an absolute delight.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: witchy fantasy / magical realism
Location: Toronto, Salem, New Orleans, and many places off the beaten path
Reminds me of: The Change but witchier
Pub Date: out now!

Read this if you like:
⭕️ diverse witchy stories
⭕️ badass multigenerational women
⭕️ cross-country quests

Thanks to William Morrow and #netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book!

The book turned out to be entirely different from what I expected from the blurb. I'm not saying it was a disappointment, just that the intro did not prepare me well for the book.

PROS:

- The relationship between all the women and the attention to detail about each women's life and struggle is done fantastically. Their pasts and journeys leading them to the witching world are well etched out.

- I especially enjoyed Lucky's relationship with both her mother and grandmother. Both Arnya and Stella are unforgettable, witty characters. I loved the focus on women from both the paternal and maternal sides of Lucky's family. Usually, feminist books tend to ignore the paternal side of the family and lay way more emphasis on the maternal family lines. I like how the author did not stick to this usual trope.

- The book has done an amazing job of showing a wide variety of representations, which include diverse characters from various races and gender identities. It also achieves the rare feat of paying homage to cultural traditions, e.g., Indigenous beliefs.

- Lucky is a character I can't help but root for, hoping she succeeds. I also can't help but appreciate how less of a whiny character she is. Despite all the problems and unknown factors, Lucky is thrust into, she still strives and triumphs.

- I loved how the final setting is in New Orleans. I just visited this place a month ago, and I can appreciate how if there is one city in the US that will be a fantastic backdrop for all this magic, it would be NOLA.


CONS:

- The flaw with VenCo is that it is hard to pinpoint the genre of the book. It's neither scary nor magical. It's neither thrilling nor emotional. It just dabbles in everything without much of a focus on anything, leaving the reader craving for something more.

- Also, 'VenCo' - the witty play with the word coven- drew me to this story. So, I was expecting a more corporate-style, well-oiled network of witches working together in the shadows of the modern world. But since that didn't happen and the powers/duties of the oracle were barely explored, I was disappointed. However, I hope there will be more of this in the next book.

- Jay Christos as an antagonist, fell flat. The fear of him and his reputation was well set up. But when it came to actions, he was not very successful. More than Jay himself, the idea of Jay sounded more appealing and threatening.

Really wanted to like this one but it was very slow to start and then rushed at the end. Some might like it but it just wasn’t for me. Thank you to NetGalley for chance to read and review this book.

What an awesome book! This is unlike anything I’ve read before. I connected to the characters & couldn’t predict where the story would go next.

VENCO

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.5/5)

Summary: Lucky St. James is a Métis woman living in East Toronto with her aging grandmother Stella, who has lapses in memory and occasionally wanders off. They are about to face eviction from their crappy apartment when Lucky finds an antique spoon in the laundry room that leads her to a fledgling coven in Salem, MA, backed by a shadow mega-corporation of powerful witches called VenCo. Lucky and Stella have to go on a road trip to find the final member of the coven before the prophesied deadline passes and before the ancient male witch hunters (called Benandanti) find them.

My thoughts: This was a fun, witchy romp with a diverse cast of characters (including a witch who wasn’t discovered until she finally comes out as trans!), a healthy dose of “fuck the patriarchy,” and a main character with the right mix of strength, intelligence, and vulnerability to make her a realistic heroine. You do get a little background into all of the characters from their POV, but I really hope there are more books (either sequels or companion novels) to expand the worldbuilding and better explain the Benandanti (where do their powers come from? How long have they existed?). The characters are all quirky, magical, and insanely likable, particularly Stella, she is a HOOT, but this ultimately fell just short of 5 stars for me because I need more from this universe.

VenCo came out on 2/7 and is available now basically everywhere! Thanks to @netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for the eARC. I am not being paid for this review, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Lucky St. James lives with her Grandma, Stella, in Toronto in an apartment from which they will soon be evicted. A similar flat in the same or nearby neighborhood is much more than she can afford on her wages as a temp, and her Grandma, afflicted with memory loss, increasingly needs full-time assistance.

Lucky despairs over her future when she feel a compulsive need to dig through the basement wall of her complex. In a tunnel said to be used as an escape route for a patient when the neighboring building was a psychiatric institution. Among the debris, she finds an ancient silver spoon with a caricature of a witch along with the word SALEM.

Unbeknownst to her, this spoon is a summons to a coven, a coven that must reach completion within days by finding its final, seventh member. With the help of VenCo, a massive organization to recruit women and place them in positions of power, Lucky finds her coven, but she and Stella must go on a road trip to find the woman with the final spoon. Not only do they have to move quickly, before the deadline, they are being tracked by a witch-hunter determined to eradicate witches and their power for good.

Lucky is headstrong and determined, but Stella is irreverent and hilarious, and their road trip, while high stakes, also is riotously fun. The other coven members are equally interesting and provide ethnic and generational counterpoints to Lucky and Stella, and the stories of how they met their spoons are really powerful.

Lucky uses both the knowledge she gains from her coven, but she also relies on the Métis traditions taught to her by her late mother, making the book a celebration of women and indigenous knowledge. I haven’t completely unpacked this, but the number seven appears multiple times, not just in terms of the number of coven members.

On top of all the rich thematic content, the pacing is perfect. Not only is there a ticking clock, there’s also a chase, and both raised my blood pressure while reading the book. The coven does not win every battle, and there are some distressing scenes you should prepare for.

Though the book has a very satisfying ending, it also screams for more. I hope that Dimaline returns to this universe.