By Larissa Page
Cherie Dimaline has made a name for herself writing gritty, genre-bending stories, from the dystopian world in The Marrow Thieves and Hunting by Stars to the modern retelling of traditional Métis story in Empire of Wild. With VenCo, Dimaline tries her hand at something a little different than before: witches.
A coven must be formed, using enchanted spoons found by women who become members. Time is not on their side and an ancient enemy is at their door. When Lucky St. James finds a spoon in a very odd place, she gets pulled into a different world, and has days to complete an important task. She, with the support of the rest of the coven, must find the final witch to complete the circle.
There is no doubt that Cherie Dimaline is a skilled storyteller. Her writing is engaging and accessible, and her characters are both damaged and loveable. The relationships she writes are what kept me going through this book. Lucky and Stella are stars, Meena and Wendy are heart, and the rest of the coven is so important, too. I do wish I had gotten more from the rest of the coven. While we are given peeks into the lives of Freya, Morticia, and Lettie from before they found their spoons, I wanted more. I wanted more of their histories, but I wanted more of them from their place within the coven as well. I felt particularly drawn into the story of Lettie, only to be left wanting to know her better.
I did feel the world of magic in this story was underexplored. I found it so interesting that I wanted more details. I will be happy to have those details in another book (like a sequel, or even more stories on each of the characters), but I felt left wanting to know what each character’s magic did and how it worked. What is this coven, once formed, meant to accomplish in more concrete terms? I also wanted to have a better understanding of VenCo or perhaps other covens from around the world. The world of magic Dimaline has created is potentially very interesting and intricate and I want to know more about it, especially with the secondary levels of magic that support witches.
This story features road trip-style adventure, a really solid grandmother-granddaughter relationship, solid smash-the-patriarchy themes, and a new world of magic to be introduced to. For lovers of witchy reads, this one does provide, with room to speculate. You’ll love it in particular if you love feisty, unconventional, no-nonsense grandmothers.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.