Thank you to Juno Dawson, PENGUIN GROUP Viking Penguin | Penguin Books, and NetGalley for giving me an eARC of Human Rites in exchange for my honest review.

Human Rites is the grand conclusion of the Her Majesty's Royal Coven trilogy. This book follows several POVs as they all try to beat Lucifer. This book picks up shortly after the end of the second book, with many of these characters struggling. In some ways, I liked being able to see these characters go on this emotional journey, but in other ways, it hurt my heart. We got to see Ciara come so far in this last book to just be hated when her secret is revealed. Do I get it? 1000%. Do I with we got to see more of her though? Absolutely. This book will pull at your heartstrings from all angles. These characters are put through the ringer, and not a single one is left untouched by the end of the book.

While there was some magnificent character development, not only for this book but for the trilogy as a whole, the plot was even grander. This is definitely a plot-focused series with sprinkles of character development thrown in there. While the concept of "defeating Lucifer" is not new per se, this book does take a fun twist on the topic. This book took me on a journey, and from the very beginning, I was unable to predict where we was going next with the plot. When the plot twists, we reveled, some of them made sense and I could have seen coming, and some came out of left field. I could not put this book down from the moment I picked it up through the very end. The ending as a whole was bittersweet. I thought the ending fit the emotional roller that we were put through and made sense for the series as a whole. However, some of the things made me so sad to see. I wanted to see certain things for certain characters that I was unable to see happen. I get it 1000% I think it would have felt too easy if those wishes happened, but I can still dream? Overall, a great conclusion to a great series.

It’s bittersweet to bid farewell to the witches of HMRC. These books have provided such an enjoyable journey, and the conclusion of the series was no exception. This final installment was filled to the brim with excitement! I genuinely believe it wrapped everything up nicely. I always appreciate a strong female-centered narrative that champions social justice. Truly, they embody the spirit of girl power, even when they’re embracing their mischievous sides.

Human Rites is the conclusion to Her Majesty’s Royal Coven trilogy, starting immediately after the absolutely illegal cliffhanger from Shadow Cabinet, the prior volume. Reading Queen B before is not necessary.

I won’t spoil anything, but this does provide a satisfying ending. However, as some other reviewers have pointed out, there are a lot of loose threads to tie up and a lot of POVs, so we get to spend relatively little time with many characters. This lessens the emotional impact and makes some of the resolutions feel too quick. In particular, the commentary on girl power and gender dynamics felt rather rushed and muddled. A large portion of the book is also dependent on a particular dynamic – a witch ability we haven’t seen before– and it didn’t feel developed and integrated into the rules we know about the world.

Still, this is probably my second favorite book in the trilogy, first being Shadow Cabinet. If you enjoyed the other volumes, you’ll likely enjoy this one too.

The third and final book in Juno's Royal Coven series did not disappoint!

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. I appreciate it!

Human Rites” by Juno Dawson is a powerful and satisfying end to a brilliant trilogy. Every character goes through real growth and transformation—and honestly, who doesn’t love witches? Especially queer witches. A perfect read for Pride Month. 🏳️‍🌈🧙‍♀️

I am still attempting to give this book a fair rating. The series started off strong but with each book my interest is slowly warning. All the characters are amazing but the continuation of this plot is no longer for me. Thank you so much for the arc!

First, thank you to the publisher for a chance to read this book early. What a fun read! This series was a WILD ride full of bonkers plots, real-world problems, and a group of friends who are so fun. Lots of twists and turns, some of which you can see, some of which are just WHOA! (true of the whole series). Anyway, grab a cup of tea, a cozy blanket, and curl up in your favorite reading spot for this one.

The coven is back together, but it isn’t whole. Lucifer chose Niamh, Ciara, Leonie, Elle, and Theo to fulfill a prophecy and they have been changed in different ways. Each of these witches must overcome what was broken to discover the strength they need to help the prophecy end in the witches' favor. What will each of these women endure along the way?

Human Rites is the third and final book in Her Majesty’s Royal Coven series. My thoughts about this book are mixed. The overarching story was interesting, yet it felt like Dawson had a checklist (or a story bingo card) that she was trying to cover along the way. The story was also hard to follow with the different points of view and time travel interspersed. I would have given it a higher rating if the extraneous items were removed and the story more concise.

Human Rites, the third and final book in the HMRC trilogy, ends the series on a bang.

It's hard to review the last book in a series without spoiling the books that come before it, but let me just say that the last 35% had me in a CHOKEHOLD! I had to interrupt reading this book for work trips so many times, but once I finally had uninterrupted time to sit and read I flew through the back half of this book.

Pick up the HMRC series if you love
- queer found family
- sisterhood
- milennial pop culture references
- growth and healing after trauma
- motherhood in all its forms
- self discovery

Thank you to Penguin for the eARC and the opportunity to leave an honest, voluntary review. Human Rites is out July 1st wherever books are sold!

Oh gosh I really have loved this series and I've been DYING for this final book but whew there were a lot of plot threads to resolve here and I wished I'd re-read the first two before this. (And/or that books had a "previously on..." feature! There were SOME reminders built into the text but gosh a lot has happened to these girlies!!!)

Still a very satisfying conclusion!

Absolutely amazing, I loved every single second of this book! Perfect ending to one of my absolute favorite book series ever!

"With Her Majesty's Royal Coven in shambles and the fate of the world hanging in the balance, the sisterhood of friends and witches must find a new way of putting together the pieces if (wo)mankind is to stand a chance, in this final chapter to Juno's "irresistible" series (Lana Harper.)

Niamh, Ciara, Leonie, Elle and Theo. Five very different witches with one thing in common: they were unwittingly chosen by the dangerously charming Lucifer, the demon king of desire, to fulfil a dark prophecy: Satanis will rise and the daughters of Gaia will fall.

The coven is reunited - but broken. Niamh is back from the dead...but she hasn't come back alone. Elle mourns a son she never had. Ciara languishes in a prison for witches, and Leonie reels from a very unexpected surprise.

Meanwhile, Lucifer offers fledgling witch Theo a deal: if she helps him, her coven - her family - will be spared. But the magic he asks for will take her out of London - out of time, entirely.

The final confrontation between good and evil in the spectacular conclusion to the saga of Her Majesty's Royal Coven."

If, like me, you loved the Doctor Who episode this season "The Interstellar Song Contest" well did you know the writer of that episode writes awesome books too? Yeah, this is her!

I read all three of the books in Her Majesty’s Royal Coven trilogy in a week, and Human Rites was an excellent conclusion to a spectacular trilogy.

For me, one of the best things about these books is the way that Juno Dawson writes. It feels so cinematic, as if I’m watching a movie playing in my head. There’s just the right amount of description to let me imagine the settings, people and emotions without getting too bogged down in the details. It’s a valuable balance that really made these books easy for me to just fly through. Additionally, I love that the characters are multi-faceted and aren’t easily slotted into pure “good” or “evil” buckets (other than the literal devil). It is always impressive to me when an author can take a character that did terrible things and redeem them in a way that makes me wonder if maybe they weren’t that bad after all!

Speaking of evil characters, while I loved Her Majesty’s Royal Coven and The Shadow Cabinet, I really struggled with the “bad guy” in both - in Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, it felt like the villain was transphobia, and in The Shadow Cabinet, it felt like it was misogyny. And on a personal level, I generally read fantasy to escape, and the plotlines in those books felt too real in the world we currently live in. Obviously it is important for books to tackle these subjects, but for me, it can be difficult to read. However, Human Rites has a purely evil big bad guy that the coven is fighting, and I really enjoyed the turn away from the more realistic issues to the fantastical, especially with some of the scenes later in the book.

I loved the coven banding together to have their final battle that all three books had been building to. The journey the women have had over the whole course of the trilogy really made the whole experience very emotionally impactful. The way the pieces fall into place is amazing. Plus, we get answers to so many questions in Human Rites - I was impressed that it didn’t feel like anything got dropped!

A few brief complaints: I did feel one character/magical ability was a bit of a cop out (but only if I think about it too much). Also, because there are so many storylines to tie up in Human Rites, I did feel that some characters got the short end of the stick. For example, Helena’s daughter’s very brief appearance didn’t really feel fleshed out enough to make it worth it. But these are minor quibbles for what was otherwise a very impressive ending that kept me thinking about the books for weeks after. I really think readers are not going to be disappointed, and if you haven’t started the Her Majesty’s Royal Coven trilogy, this should be your sign to check it out!

Human Rites had some big shoes to fill as one of my most anticipated reads of 2025 and the final book in a strong contender for one of my favorite series ever. Without giving any spoilers away Juno wrapped things up in a really smart and satisfying way. I read the second half of the book in one sitting, gripped and needing to get to the end. Having this last installment of Niamh, Ciara, Leonie, Elle and Theo was bittersweet, I'm better for having (fictionally) known them but sad now there is no more new HMRC adventures for me to read.

I have a small gripe with how lesbianism is portrayed in the book. Although I know it doesn't come from a place of malice, if a cis woman had written a book with the phrase 'gold star lesbian' in it twice I would have promptly closed the book and written the author off as a TERF. I also wish the phrase 'lesbian bed death' would meet an untimely end.

Anti-Climatic Conclusion of a Regressively Anti-Feminist Witch Story
Juno Dawson, Human Rites: Book 3 of the HMRC Trilogy (New York: Penguin Books, July 1, 2025). Paperback: $19. 464pp, 5.5X8.25”. ISBN: 978-0-143137-16-0.
**
“With HMRC in shambles and the fate of the world hanging in the balance, the sisterhood of friends and witches must find a new way of putting together the pieces if (wo)mankind is to stand a chance, in this final chapter… Niamh, Ciara, Leonie, Elle and Theo. Five very different witches with one thing in common: they were unwittingly chosen by the dangerously charming Lucifer, the demon king of desire, to fulfil a dark prophecy: Satanis will rise and the daughters of Gaia will fall. The coven is reunited—but broken. Niamh is back from the dead…but she hasn’t come back alone. Elle mourns a son she never had. Ciara languishes in a prison for witches, and Leonie reels from a very unexpected surprise.” Referring to an unstated “surprise” is a common trope in fantasies, as it refers to a mystery without giving any details: given room to keep referring to it in foreshadowing and never really deliver a significant “surprise”. This set up of having something strange happening to the plotlines of the lead characters sets up these surprise-carrots for all. “Meanwhile, Lucifer offers fledgling witch Theo a deal: if she helps him, her coven—her family—will be spared. But the magic he asks for will take her out of London—out of time, entirely. The final confrontation between good and evil…”
The conclusion of this novel highlights the problems with this trilogy. The lead character is shown to just be realizing that avenging the deaths of some, or all her friends would be against the set rules of magic, so she learns she cannot do anything other than raise a few “gray clouds” to storm out her rage against the perpetrators of the murders. There is a bunch of empty dialogue that explains this non-action, and talk about this desire to enact vengeance without any need to insert dramatic actions that would have resulted from going ahead with vengeance.
The final note in the blurb refers to a struggle between “good and evil”. There are a few mentions of “evil” across the text itself, but mostly these are to the “devil” or the character of Lucifer who is driving these women to commit “evil” in exchange for keeping friends safe. This exchange of safety for murder or other evil act doing is a common trope in fiction, and films. Though this trade is an absurd one, as in reality no rational person would opt to commit crimes in exchange for safety, as contacting the authorities to unravel this plot would be the rational solution. It is an easy plot-setup that forces lead characters to carry the violent actions in the plot, while the Devil can remain in the shadows. Otherwise, the leads might have had nothing to do, as the villain would be the one doing various evil things, and they could not kill this villain (at least not until the end of a series). The goal of “evil” is to birth “him” or an evil-spawn, while good’s goals seem to be to stop whatever evil wants: at which they keep failing because they end up helping these plans. This birth-of-Satan scheme is too common in fantasy and horror to be interesting. The women are accused of allowing themselves “to be the vessel of the devil himself”. This idea of a witch as witchy because she is sleeping with the Devil comes from Medieval European narratives, and has not progressed since. This plot is certainly not progressively feminist, as it suggests sex and procreation are themselves sinful, and worthy of being condemned to death for thus sinning.
Pennsylvania Literary Journal: Spring 2025 issue: https://anaphoraliterary.com/journals/plj/plj-excerpts/book-reviews-spring-2025

First off, what a great title? Layered and completely applicable. I really enjoyed the first two books in this series, even though they both ended in phenomenal, unexpected cliffhangers. I could not wait to get this third book and conclude the trilogy and it exceeded my expectations!

Despite how much was squeezed into this book, the majority of the characters had satisfying arcs (really, all but one, but that one felt pretty glaring) and the ending felt just right. I half expected the ending to leave some questions unanswered and to feel incomplete, since there was so much going on in this book, but it made a lot of sense without being over the top perfect for everyone involved.

Like the first two, this book is filled with magic, girl power, found family, female friendships, lots of laughs, and a few tears.

Human Rites is a powerful and emotional end to an amazing series. Juno Dawson really knows how to mix magic, friendship, and real-world struggles in a way that hits hard. The characters feel so real, and their stories had me completely hooked.
It can be dark in places, but there’s so much heart. The bond between the witches, the personal sacrifices, the twists,everything came together perfectly. I did not want it to end, but the ending felt right.

Obsessed. I love this series. This a must read. I could not put this down. I’m so thankful I got the ARC. I have this preordered to get the physical book to add to my shelf. More people need to read this!!

Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Group, for the ARC of this title. This is the third (sort of fourth) book in the Her Majesty's Royal Coven series by Juno Dawson. There are three books in 'contemporary' time and one novella that is historical about the creation of HMRC. The series has been described as The Spice Girls meets The Craft and it has somewhat stuck to that idea in that a group of women with a long-standing friendship and magical powers take on the forces of evil. At the same time, the storylines are eerily relevant to some of the horrific issues we are dealing with in the world currently.

There are definitely dark moments in the story, but Dawson's writing always has a glimmer of hope and a way of seeing the light through even the toughest of emotional times. As the story of HMRC comes to an end, we are left with a feeling that the women, and a few supportive men, have more power than even their magic - that their friendship and relationships, while not always easy and occasionally toxic, provide even more inner strength, which provides exactly what they need to win in the end.

It's difficult to write a synopsis without giving spoilers. So I'll just say that Theo is still struggling with her reality and her destiny which seem at odds. The ladies are gearing up for the fight of their lives and are ready to put it all on the line.

“It's just that regular women have more power than we've ever, ever been told we can have. What if the biggest lie there ever was was that women are weak? Why did men want us to believe that? So we'd think we needed them? So they could control us? Look how big they made these statues. They're fuckin' titans. What if this is what women are?”

@junodawson pulled of something that, personally, I feel is so difficult in writing which is a solid trilogy of books where each one is as good as, if not better than the previous. “Human Rites,” the final in the #HerMajestysRoyalCoven trilogy, was a trippy, wild, and thoughtful wrap-up (can there please be more?!) to these wonderful witches.

With Levithan set to rise any day, our witch coven must seek out the tools to destroy the aspects of Satanis before they come together. Drawing on their pasts, each witch must work to discover their inner power they have had all along to overcome the apocalypse. With new witches and old allies, the world of witches is set for a biggest fight of their lives to save Gaia from ruination.

Dawson really went all out in this final book, and it is hard to talk about my favorite aspects without giving away some major plot points. In a way, it seems like she saved her best tricks for this book, moving out of quaint Hebden Bridge for a world tour of sorts. Her characters continue to be nuanced and rich, their flaws and fears driving their actions as if they were real people. While Ciara and Niamh’s relationship is perhaps the mos interesting dynamic, I really came to love who Leonie was, the outsider of these outsiders; she really became the focal point of this story for me, and rightfully so.

I’m sad this series is done (again, are we sure?!), but I’ve already shared it with so many people looking for a witchy story to look to for representation. Truly a winning series.

Rating: 3.5/5
Series Rating: 4.5/5

Special thanks to @netgalley and @penguinukbooks for this eARC