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Book: “VenCo” by Cherie Dimaline
Publishing Info: William Morrow, February 2023
Where Did I Get This Book: The library!
Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: Lucky St. James, a Métis millennial living with her cantankerous but loving grandmother Stella, is barely hanging on when she discovers she will be evicted from their tiny Toronto apartment. Then, one night, something strange and irresistible calls out to Lucky. Burrowing through a wall, she finds a silver spoon etched with a crooked-nosed witch and the word SALEM, humming with otherworldly energy.
Hundreds of miles away in Salem, Myrna Good has been looking for Lucky. Myrna works for VenCo, a front company fueled by vast resources of dark money.
Lucky is familiar with the magic of her indigenous ancestors, but she has no idea that the spoon links her to VenCo’s network of witches throughout North America. Generations of witches have been waiting for centuries for the seven spoons to come together, igniting a new era, and restoring women to their rightful power.
But as reckoning approaches, a very powerful adversary is stalking their every move. He’s Jay Christos, a roguish and deadly witch-hunter as old as witchcraft itself.
To find the last spoon, Lucky and Stella embark on a rollicking and dangerous road trip to the darkly magical city of New Orleans, where the final showdown will determine whether VenCo will usher in a new beginning…or remain underground forever.
Review: Fall is winding down, with American Thanksgiving later this week and temperatures getting colder and colder here in Minnesota. But I still like clinging to the Autumnal feelings as long as I can, and that means I’m also reading books that just feel like Autumn. That was part of the reason I was drawn to “VenCo” by Cherie Dimaline, a witch story about women drawn together from all parts of North America in hopes of coming to their full strength to help change the world for the better. Witch tales always feel like Fall to me, and I liked the whispers of a feminist edge to this book. Seems like Autumnal reading to me!
I enjoyed the witch lore and world building of this story. Dimaline makes clear rules and mythos about how witches are called, what functions they serve, and how they interact with the world and with each other. I also liked the way that the coven/VenCo itself was structured, with seven witches working below three top witches that are called The Maiden, The Mother, and The Crone (a clear reference to the Neopagan Triple Goddess). I also liked the way that while there have always been witches, there have also always been witch hunters, and I liked the origins of the SALEM spoons that all of the witches in the coven find to serve as totems that bring them all together. While we don’t get to see a lot of overt magical moments outside of scrying, I did like the implications that these women come together and through their companionship they will bring out their powers while also finding the power of themselves, whether it’s a woman leaving an abusive relationship, or a trans girl becoming comfortable in her own identity and truth. What can I say, I like magical stories that place emphasis on women bringing their strength out through companionship with other women.
All that said, I did think that we could have used a bit more exploration into the characters themselves. While all the members of the coven get some back stories, once their back stories are told they are pretty shallow. I also would have killed to have more backstory for The Maiden, The Mother, and The Crone, as there were a LOT of questions about them that I had once the book was finished (there was a particular revelation that happened in the last two pages that I really would have loved to have more details about!). And going back to the note above about the moments of magic, I do wish that we had seen more of that instead of just the promise that once the witches come together as seven they will be able to solve the world’s problems. It was a lot of telling without a lot of showing, and I really wanted more by the time the book was finished.
“VenCo” is an entertaining witchy read. I had higher hopes than what was delivered, but it’s a cozy read for Autumn.
Rating 6: A fun and witchy tale brimming with sisterhood, “VenCo” is an entertaining fantasy, though it could have used a little more exploration of the characters and their depths.
Reader’s Advisory:
“VenCo” is included on the Goodereads lists “Coven Book Club”, and “Scary Mommy Book Club”.
The Library Ladies 