I wanted to love this, but I just liked it. I found the premise to be intriguing as well as the characters, but we didn't get enough! It felt like we were focusing too much on descriptions and details that could have been used to further develop the relationships in this book. While our main character, Lucky, had a beautiful relationship with her grandmother, I would have liked to have seen more development with the coven, as well as more character development of the other 5 witches. They all felt very one dimensional, there as placeholders to provide plot. I also felt like the ending was a bit anti-climactic and rushed, I would have liked something a bit more dramatic. Honestly, I feel like this book could have been a duology, I think there is enough lore, story, and interesting characters to explore. Overall, if you like witchy books and lush descriptions, then this book is for you,

Really enjoyed it. Fast-paced plot, great characters and relationships. Flash-back “how they got here” scenes added to the feel.

Now that I’m slowly finding my groove as a workin mama, I’m excited to get back to sharing some of the great books I’ve been reading! And VenCo by @cherie.dimaline is one of those goodies – it’s the story of Lucky St. James, a Metis millennial who discovers she is connected to an underground network of witches who have been waiting for centuries to restore themselves to their rightful power.

I alternated reading and listening to this gem on audio and it was a fun change from your traditional witchy read, with a much more modern take on what it means to be a witch. The characters were sassy and wonderful and I very much enjoyed that the focus was on the positive relationships among the women and them finding themselves and their power.

True to Cherie’s writing, VenCo gives you vivid storytelling, beautiful use of language, and strong badass characters that you can’t help but love. Oh, and that ending? Literal fire that fulfilled all my feminist revenge fantasy reading desires.

I recommend this one to anyone who enjoys witchy reads, but is looking for a fresh take, those who love girl power fuelled stories, and anyone who has not yet experienced the gloriousness that is Cherie’s writing.

Thank you to @librofm @harperaudio for my advanced listening copy and to @penguinrandomca for my digital ARC!

I will start of this review admitting I am a BIG fan of Dimaline's stories, having previously read 'The Marrow Thieves', its sequel 'Hunting by Stars' and 'Empire of Wild]' I approached Venco with a little bit of trepidation. While I enjoy stories that dip into magical realism and mythology, witchcraft has always fallen a bit flat with me. I should have realized I could trust Dimaline to give readers a delightfully modern, feminism-empowering story filled with fabulous kick-ass characters, great dialogue and wonderful soul-searching. At its heart, this is a story about finding family, self-appreciation and making meaningful connections, all wrapped up in a suspense-filled race to find seven enchanted spoons and bring the coven together before the spell is nullified and do battle with the coven's nemesis. I have my fingers crossed Dimaline has a sequel in mind!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy.

VenCo is tracking down the new Witches who must find Salem's spoons to join in on their coven.
This book felt like it would be great for woke people.

After reading The Marrow Thieves, I declared Cherie Dimaline as a favourite author. It was love at first sight, and VenCo swept me off my feet in a similar fashion. Strong female characters, witches, covens, funny grandmas, what’s not to love!

Dimaline has a talent for capturing beautiful, poetic descriptions of nature surrounding us. I always find myself underlining several passages per tome. A favourite from VenCo is when the coven walks into the forest in the Salem house’s backyard, with their lanterns: “The hum of insects was amplified and the noise of the city around them rubbed smooth. Certain spaces held the light of the passing candles in cupped leaves, and others absorbed every glimmer” (p. 130). Her use of imagery is not too thin, not too thick, just right every time. A powerful, necessary talent for strong world building.

VenCo is filled with strong female characters. Although all are colourful in their own way, Stella, Freya, and the Maiden shine through and hold a special place in my heart. The cast is diverse in their backgrounds, and I never confused them with one-another, which sometimes happen in stories with large protagonist groups. Here, each was given appropriate space to grow and exist.

Dimaline has given us a fresh new take on witches. I liked that the magic system was not so much an established system. Rather, every witch (and Tender, Booker, Oracle) bring their own local magic to the table. New Orleans practices, Indigenous practices, Salem practices, Ozark practices (etc.), all are intertwined and validated. Including witchcraft through its various manifestations painted a true representation of the magic found on Turtle Island. Never is there a question of which magical system is “true”. Dimaline synthesizes them all by placing Nature and the Land at the center of magic. Jay Christos summarizes it best: “The land. The land held magic like a giant sponge. It could hold it for centuries, and in isolation if need be”.

I cannot end this review without touching on Arnya the missing mother figure who, at the beginning of the story, appears to us as lacking in maternal instincts. In the end we learn that she has provided Lucky with all the tools she needs to survive and thrive not only as an Indigenous woman, but also as a witch. Indeed, Arnya gave Lucky magic of her own by teaching Lucky how to command her dreams, as well as the protective attributes of tree bark. This passing down of knowledge through the matrilineal line places Arnya and Lucky amongst the greater witch traditions.

VenCo is vastly different from what I have read from Dimaline before, but she never disappoints. What a privilege it is for us all that we get to read new Cherie Dimaline stories for decades to come!

Thank you Cherie Dimaline, Penguin Random House Canada, and NetGalley for the ARC.

I ended up really enjoying VenCo!! It took me a little while to get into this story but I definitely wanted to know what happened next and I love the whole whole witchy, female power vibe. There’s a coven of witches needing to find their final member, along with their magical spoon. Then there’s a witch hunter who is trying to stop them.
I didn’t fully connect to all the women in the coven but I love that they all found a family in each other. I also love Lucky and Stella’s road trip! It is awesome to see how they might have problems but they are always there for each other! Stella is actually awesome and even though she has memory issues I adore how she always knows that Lucky is her granddaughter and their mission is important.
Lucy has some great character growth throughout this book. I enjoyed how she goes from being kinda lost to becoming a badass and finding where she belongs. Her final battle is so good and had me cheering her on.
Given the ending there could be a sequel, and if there is I’m definitely going to read it!

I don’t know what magic Dimaline puts into their books but every single one leaves an imprint on my soul! This was so so good. I love how flushed out and unique all the characters were written. And the emotional, and spiritual, power of coming together as a community (in this case a coven) to take down the systems that are oppressing others. I really hope there’s another book for these characters!!

This book is phenomenal. I loved everything about it. The originality of the telling combined with the cast of characters was so thoroughly entertaining. I love Dimaline's use of the supernatural in contemporary settings. I enjoyed this in Empire of Wild, and found the use of it here very successful. The found family is wonderful and the adventure is well paced and exciting. I also enjoy her use of humour throughout. I am hoping there are more books in this world she has built.

While I really enjoyed the world and character building in VenCo, something about it just never really clicked for me.

After generations, the witches are once again on the cusp of reuniting the coven and ushering in a new era. When Lucky St. James discovers a spoon in the basement of her apartment building she discovers that she is witch number 6, and they have only days to find the seventh or the coven cannot be reunited.

I can't quite put my finger on what didn't work in this book. It was well written, I loved Lucky, Stella and especially the navigation of their relationship with age and cognitive decline. The magic system remained fairly unexplained throughout the book and I kept expecting to get more in the way of explanation than we did.

I definitely wanted more of the Oracle. They started us off and then really sort of vanished into the background for most of the book, which was too bad.

Lots of positives, interesting premise and book that just didn't fully captivate me.

VenCo is about a young Metis woman who finds an antique, silver, engraved spoon with an image and the word Salem on it. This starts her on an epic journey with her Grandmother, whom she cannot leave alone, to Salem, throughout the US, and eventually leading her down to New Orleans. She is in search of the owner of the last of 7 spoons which match the one she found. If all 7 spoons and their owners can be found in time they will form the VenCo coven. With assistance from the maiden, the mother, and the crone, Lucky must discover the owner of the last spoon before the Benandanti does, or else he will undo everything they have worked so hard for.
If you're looking for an epic, magical adventure, than this book is definitely for you!
Written by Cherie Dimaline, who's 2017 novel The Marrow Theives won the Governor General's Literacy Award, and was fan favorite for CBC Canada Reads 2018.

Highly recommended! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is my second book by Cherie Dimaline, and I've noticed that in her books, while the world around her characters is fascinating (the witchy world in VenCo and the post-apocalyptic world in The Marrow Thieves) it's really the characters that make her books exciting. Just like in The Marrow Thieves, I quickly fell in love with the characters in this novel, especially Lucky, her mother, and Stella. I especially enjoyed the ways they influence each other.

While I felt the pacing struggled at some points, I had a lot of fun reading this. There were some moments and lines in this book that made me laugh, and I found the way Dimaline described magic on the page compelling.

Empire of Wild is sitting on my shelf... I definitely think I should read it soon!

I enjoyed this book very much. I liked how the indigenous aspe ts of the MC's life were intermingled so easily with the rest of the story (as it should be). There is not much worse than issues crowbarred into a story just to say it's in there.
The reader is immediately dropped into Lucky's story, and I was engaged just like that *snaps* Stella is a frustrating delight, as a gramma that is, is she? senile? The rest of the Coven are quickly brought into the story, and blend together as a found family.
I surely hope that Ms. Dimaline is going to continue telling us stories in this world, I anxiously await #2.

Lucky St.James isn't so lucky at the start of this novel. She's working a dead end job, in love with someone who doesn't love her that way, and she's about to be evicted from the apartment that her and her grandmother have lived in for as long as she can remember. But all of this turns around when she fnds a special spoon that links her to a coven of witches based out of Salem. Suddenly Lucky and her semi lucid grandmother are travelling across Turtle Island in search of the 7th and final coven member in order to stop Jay Christos, a powerful enemy who is trying to snuff out the coven.

The story was interesting, unique and creative. It united a variety of different themes, ranging from feminism, LGBTQ+ belonging, and Indigenous identity. It was unique and fun to read even while grappling some sadder topics. That said, the plot is obvious - you ultimately know where you'll end up with this story and at times, the pace was a little bit slow, hence the 4 stars instead of 5.

It's a solid, fun read though and I would recommend it to friends looking for an entertaining witchy read.

Such a magical book! A witchy scavenger hunt, that shows the many different cultures and beliefs in magical mythology.

This book restored my faith in ARCs and helped me get over a reading slump. The mix of cultures, sisterhood, familial bonds, feminism, and magic was *chefs kiss*. I particularly liked that my hometown was represented and was actually described correctly.

We follow Lucky St. James and her grandmother Stella, who on the brink of getting evicted and having their whole life fall apart, get a mysterious offer that takes them on the adventure of a lifetime, leading to intrigue, sisterhood, and self-discovery. This book kept me wanting more and wondering what would happen given all the little hints from flashbacks and easter-eggs.

Overall an enjoyable read and one I definitely will be recommending to anyone who loves a twist on the Salem witch trials or even just badass witches in general.

VenCo by Cherie Dimaline. I've seen the trend in mainstream witchy novels but always assumed it wasn't for me. The early reviews on this one made me finally jump in. Dimaline is wonderful writer. Beautiful sentences in a delightful quest story full of quirks, humour, feminism, and lots of characters who are originals! Contrary to some reviewers, I don't think it was too many characters if the writer can keep them all afloat, which she can. The story is roughly that the coven has to find the old bewitched spoons to gather the witches to fight evil. Much rests on the shoulders of newly emerged witch Lucky, a young Métis woman from Toronto who brings her grandmother everywhere. Little bit of golden girls vibe too. Recommended. Thanks to writer, publisher, #netgalley for the opportunity to read this early in exchange for an honest review.

I started off enjoying the book, there was some suspense and promise of a good adventure. But then most of the story revolved around a single, linear chase. It made me think of the movie Mad Max in that way, which I was not a fan of... I find single chase plots quite boring if there are no substantial plot moments along the way. There was a lot of jumping back and forth between characters and past and present, which sometimes felt like all these stories were bring thrown in to move the story along, but I would just get distracted and confused and unable to really relate to / bond with the characters. Great representation and writing, but I just couldn't get hooked.

There were some things I enjoyed about this book - the scary villain, the interesting protagonist, and the quirky secondary characters. However, when I finished, I was left wanting more depth. I understand this might become a trilogy so I am hopeful Cherie Dimaline will continue to enlarge on this world and its history, given the number of unanswered questions (e.g. how did the spoons work? What does a Coven do? What exactly are the roles of the mother, maid and crone?). It was, in summary, an enjoyable read but not groundbreaking.

DNF at 22%. I tried to get into VenCo by Cherie Dimaline. A corporation of strong women who endeavor to put other women into powerful positions both in the world and in business AND a main character who is down on her luck and has a complicated relationships with her mother figures-- both of these aspects really appealed to me!

The language however, really disappointed me. I felt like I was reading something meant for a younger audience, with how flowery the descriptions were. I also found Lucky, the main character, to feel a bit young and to do things that made my thirty-year-old self cringe. Her views on life and the resulting narration felt... emo, for the lack of a better word. How she interacted with her crush at the video store (whispering "everything" into his ear, in response to his existential question and then putting her hood up and walking out) was the last straw for me. The second hand embarrassment kept me from continuing this read.

I am very grateful for this digital ARC, as witchy books are typically right up my alley! Perhaps I will recommend this one to my YA customers.