Human Rites by Juno Dawson
Fantasy
July 1, 2025, by Penguin Books

Review by Kate

I read all three of the books in Her Majesty’s Royal Coven trilogy in a week, and Human Rites was an excellent conclusion to a spectacular trilogy. 

For me, one of the best things about these books is the way that Juno Dawson writes. It feels so cinematic, as if I’m watching a movie playing in my head. There’s just the right amount of description to let me imagine the settings, people and emotions without getting too bogged down in the details. It’s a valuable balance that really made these books easy for me to just fly through. Additionally, I love that the characters are multi-faceted and aren’t easily slotted into pure “good” or “evil” buckets (other than the literal devil). It is always impressive to me when an author can take a character that did terrible things and redeem them in a way that makes me wonder if maybe they weren’t that bad after all! 

Speaking of evil characters, while I loved Her Majesty’s Royal Coven and The Shadow Cabinet, I really struggled with the “bad guy” in both – in Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, it felt like the villain was transphobia, and in The Shadow Cabinet, it felt like it was misogyny. And on a personal level, I generally read fantasy to escape, and the plotlines in those books felt too real in the world we currently live in. Obviously it is important for books to tackle these subjects, but for me, it can be difficult to read. However, Human Rites has a purely evil big bad guy that the coven is fighting, and I really enjoyed the turn away from the more realistic issues to the fantastical, especially with some of the scenes later in the book. 

I loved the coven banding together to have their final battle that all three books had been building to. The journey the women have had over the whole course of the trilogy really made the whole experience very emotionally impactful. The way the pieces fall into place is amazing. Plus, we get answers to so many questions in Human Rites – I was impressed that it didn’t feel like anything got dropped! 

 A few brief complaints: I did feel one character/magical ability was a bit of a cop out (but only if I think about it too much). Also, because there are so many storylines to tie up in Human Rites, I did feel that some characters got the short end of the stick. For example, Helena’s daughter’s very brief appearance didn’t really feel fleshed out enough to make it worth it. But these are minor quibbles for what was otherwise a very impressive ending that kept me thinking about the books for weeks after. I really think readers are not going to be disappointed, and if you haven’t started the Her Majesty’s Royal Coven trilogy, this should be your sign to check it out! 

Grade: A-