The worst thing about sequels is that you can’t really review them without spoiling way too much that happened in the first book. And trust me, there’s a lot that happens in The Shadow Cabinet. Well, if you thought the first book would leave you speechless, just you wait until you’ve read its follow-up.
Dawson takes everything that worked so well in the first book, Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, and makes it stand out even brighter. At times provocative and sharp, at others funny and filled with queer joy, this book is sure to keep lovers of the first book very happy. Told from a variety of different characters, the threads of the story are woven together even more intricately and alliances (as well as friendships) shift as we dive deeper into this magical world.
While I will say that this had some moments that dragged a bit (middle-book syndrome and with that many pages it was bound to happen, we all know it), the slow build-up was warranted once you see how everything unfolds and sets up for the conclusion.
As always, Dawson’s talent of tackling contemporary topics in a fantastical setting truly makes this story stick with you. The way misogyny is handled in here via groups of men that believe a witch’s place is wherever they deign it to be was done so well—and it’s as rage-inducing and aggravating as it is in real life. The power imbalance is frustrating and you can’t help but want to riot right along with Ciara, Leonie, Elle, and Theo, whose fierce protectiveness of each other and unapologetic desire for a just world drives the story to its inevitable end.
This entrancing mix of feminism, queerness, magic and power-hungry villains makes for an intoxicating reading experience. The Shadow Cabinet takes the irresistible themes of the Her Majesty’s Royal Coven and amplifies their reach well beyond the pages of the book.
The Shadow Cabinet is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of June 20th.
Will you be picking up The Shadow Cabinet? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
In the second installment of Juno Dawson’s “irresistable” fantasy trilogy (Lana Harper), a group of childhood friends and witches must choose between what is right and what is easy if they have any hope of keeping their coven–and their world–from tearing apart forever.
Niamh Kelly is dead. Her troubled twin, Ciara, now masquerades as the benevolent witch as Her Majesty’s Royal Coven prepares to crown her High Preistess.
Suffering from amnesia, Ciara can’t remember what she’s done–but if she wants to survive, she must fool Niamh’s adopted family and friends; the coven; and the murky Shadow Cabinet–a secret group of mundane civil servants who are already suspicious of witches. While she tries to rebuild her past, she realizes none of her past has forgotten her, including her former lover, renegade warlock Dabney Hale.
On the other end of the continent, Leonie Jackman is in search of Hale, rumored to be seeking a dark object of ultimate power somehow connected to the upper echelons of the British government. If the witches can’t figure out Hale’s machinations, and fast, all of witchkind will be in grave danger–along with the fate of all (wo)mankind.
Sharp, funny, provocative, and joyous, Juno Dawson’s sequel reimagines everything you think you knew about her coven and her witches in a story that spans continents and dives deep into the roots of England and its witchcraft. Ciara, Leonie, Elle, and Theo are fierce, angry, sexy, warm–and absolutely unapologetic as they fight for what they believe in, all in the name of sisterhood.
