“VenCo” by Cherie Dimaline
Métis millennial Lucky St. James is barely hanging on when she learns she’ll be evicted from the tiny Toronto apartment she shares with her cantankerous but loving grandmother Stella. But then one night, something strange and irresistible calls out to Lucky. She burrows through a wall to find a tarnished silver spoon, humming with otherworldly energy, etched with a crooked-nosed witch and the word SALEM.
Lucky is familiar with the magic of her indigenous ancestors, but she has no idea that the spoon connects her to a teeming network of witches across North America who have anxiously awaited her discovery.
Enter VenCo, a front company fueled by vast resources of dark money (its name is an anagram of “coven.”) VenCo’s witches hide in plain sight wherever women gather: Tupperware parties, Mommy & Me classes, suburban book clubs. Since colonial times, they have awaited the moment the seven spoons will come together and ignite a new era, returning women to their rightful power.
Review
While I liked this book I did end up preferring another of the author’s books I recently read, “The Marrow Thieves”. The main characters, Lucky and her grandmother, Stella, are the best part of the book and felt the most written. The other characters didn’t feel like they did much beyond tell Lucky things and they weren’t always helpful. Though I’m wondering if that was intentional given the ending resolution? I’m not entirely sure. Also a big deal is made over how the coven coming together is going to save the world but that’s never really explained how. Again could be the point but I think some things could have been explained better.
Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “VenCo”.
Book Details
- Author’s Website
- Cherie Dimaline
- Publisher / Date
- William Morrow, February 2023
- Genre
- Fantasy
- Page Count
- 386
- Completion Date
- July 12, 2023