- The Coven by Lizzie Fry - 👑

Published : 25th February 2021

Publisher : Sphere Books

Format : Kindle, Audio, Hardback, Paperback

Genre : Fantasy/Thriller

Review #13/2021

{ 𝐚𝐝: 𝐩𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 / 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐜 }

* All words highlighted in Grey are affiliate links to either purchase from a range of sellers or links to the authors sites. Where ever possible I will try and provide different versions of the book on all purchase sites.

Synopsis

Let me repeat myself, so we can be very clear. Women are not the enemy. We must protect them from themselves, just as much as we must protect ourselves.

Imagine a world in which witchcraft is real. In which mothers hand down power to their daughters, power that is used harmlessly and peacefully.

Then imagine that the US President is a populist demagogue who decides that all witches must be imprisoned for their own safety, as well as the safety of those around them - creating a world in which to be female is one step away from being criminal...

As witches across the world are rounded up, one young woman discovers a power she did not know she had. It's a dangerous force and it puts her top of the list in a global witch hunt.

But she - and the women around her - won't give in easily. Not while all of women's power is under threat.

The Coven is a dazzling global thriller that pays homage to the power and potential of women everywhere.

Thank you @Sphere for this stunning advanced copy and totally unputdownable read

My Review

"We are all kernels in the earth. We are baptised by fire; fed by the water of life, powered by air. Connect us through the chain of being and bring us liberation from the ties that bind us."

The Coven is a magical fantasy read with a dystopian edge.

Told over five parts, the story starts in England with a prologue where we meet Li and Chloe Su. Li is putting away the laundry when she sees a bright green light under the door of her teenage daughters bedroom. Fear and panic prickle Li as she knows what is about to happen, she desperately tries to contact her husband, Daniel but she cannot get through so she slowly approaches the door to talk Chloe through what she has tried to keep hidden from her, her whole life. But it is to late, Chloe is totally overcome with magic and in an instant a bright green force shoots through them both and when Daniel arrives home after hearing his wife's panicked voicemail he finds Chloe standing in the centre of where his house used to be but is now an obliterated pile of rubble.

Adelita wakes up in a motel in America, she has Ethan, a rogue sentinel agent with her who has broken her out of prison after realising she is a crystal witch and who he is helping to escape for a higher purpose. He is part of The Brotherhood, a rebellion that is growing to help witches everywhere to become free. He knows he has to get Adelita to England to a coven called The Gathering, where a powerful Elemental witch can help them, he just isn't sure if they will make it considering they are now at the top of Americas most wanted list.

In a world where witches were once accepted and lived amongst, now are forced into hiding through fear of being imprisoned or worse killed for being a witch or related to a witch. The killing of a US President has triggered the rise of a Sentinel agency, originally banded to smooth the path between witches and 'Goody's' ( non witch ) their sole purpose now being to root out, capture or kill all witches, but especially those with elemental powers which are the most powerful, harnessing one of the four elements, air, earth, water or fire are now considered the most dangerous of all. Propaganda and lies spread by the powers that be have everyone believing that witches are evil and are only out to cause trouble. Through posters, social media and tv people are constantly encouraged to look out for the signs of a witch, to report them straight away so they maybe cleansed and cured.

In reality Elementals are murdered, Crystal witches are forced into the angel caves to be 'cured' and legacies of witches are imprisoned even though they show no signs of having any power. Kitchen witches are allowed to live as they are as long as they give up their magical ways and conform to new puritanical version of Christ set out by The Sentinel HQ.

The sentinel and witches alike are all hearing rumours of The One, the most powerful witch to ever live. The witch in question is nineteen year old Chloe Su ,and it soon becomes clear that not only is she more powerful than any witch that has ever lived but she also is beholding not just the one element like all elementals but all four as well as harnessing the power of the dark of the moon. But Chloe had no idea who she was, her mother kept her bound to protect her from being imprisoned or worse, killed and now Chloe cannot control the new surge of power that is flowing through her. By the hands of fate Adelita and Ethan bump into Chloe and her father, also now on the run and the four head off together.

Adelita soon discovers she has a strange connection with Chloe and they realise what ever it is they are meant to do, they are meant to do it together. Adleita guides Chloe through her magic, helping her to harness its power. The two women become top of a global witch hunt, and with the help of powerful witches at The Gathering and in Russia they soon learn that Chloe was always destined to unite with fellow witches and put an end to the persecution of witches once and for all. It's what she was born for and its what Adelita was destined for.

Why I Loved It

I absolutely loved this book. I have always been a fan of magical reads and thought I had read the best witchy books that were out there but this one tops them all!

Think The Testaments on a magical scale...

I was kept on the edge of my seat the entire way through and loved how the author allows you to connect with each character so by the time you reach halfway you are literally willing no harm to come to them so they can right the wrongs of the world and set the scales of justice back in to balance. I also loved the settings for this story, spread between America and England, my favourite had to be in Cornwall at The Gathering's coven, the author describes the back drop so spectacularly that you really feel you can see the words that are literally written on the page within your minds eye, especially the scenes where witches are using their power, I can not describe enough the description in which she details what is happening when all of the different powers are being used.

The characters were so well written that the four main characters all weave together and you grow with them, wether it is with Chloe as she learns to control her magic and accept her destiny or Adelita and Ethans spellbound bond that allows a love to gradually build between the two.

I would love to see this on the big screen, it would make an amazing and epic movie, Lizzie Fry's vivid and incredible imagery within her writing leaves you begging for more and googling her previous reads just so that you can immerse yourself straight into another story. One thing is for sure, this author knows how to write strong female characters and how to weave them into a totally unforgettable read.

If you loved The Testaments, The Handmaids Tale and The Vox then this one is for you.

This is a MUST read from me and my Book Of The Month for February.

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