I genuinely loved this, the action and suspense that I was waiting for happens and I was fully gripped by the twists in The Shadow Cabinet. The depth and insight I got into Ciara, whom Juno Dawson fully fleshed out and gave a full book to was incredible. I actually ended up empathetic to her circumstances, instead of just seeing the villain. I did miss Niamh, but so did most of the characters. Huge thank you to the publisher for this ARC, I cannot wait for the next book,

Wow I didn't think I could love a book more than her majesty's royal coven. But this book is even better I am just sad I devoured it in a day and have to wait such a long time for the third book now

Okay there were a few formatting issues with the netgalley version on kindle which made it a bit difficult to read BUT the story was veeeery interesting. I'm getting the feeling that Juno Dawson loves a kick in the gut ending, cus seriously, WHO would have seen that coming?! I'm upset with myself that once again, I must wait ages for the next one. I neeeeeed to know what happens. I would say this is 3.5 stars rounded up because I enjoyed the ending and beginning immensely but I think some of the middle was a bit wishy washy. I did like the various journeys the characters went on, and the new characters that were introduced, but I think a couple were a bit superfluous, unless they come into play in a later book. Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the free copy!

HMRC - The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson
Publication date 8th June 2023

A spectaular return to Hebden Bridge and my favourite witches! The second instalment of a trilogy, we start with a quick recap of who's who and what happened in the previous book. Then it's buckle up your seat belts for some simply fabulous witchy shenanigans.

Action packed from the off, each character has their own storyline that develops alongside the main story of HMRC tracking down Hale, the evil power crazed warlock, in order to prevent catastrophe and the end of their coven and witchy world - or as Juno puts it another "Pendle cluster f**k!"

Leonie has set out on a perilous search for Hale and her brother Radley who is also chasing Hale down, unware of the danger he could find himself in. Ciara is busy masquerading as her dead sister Niamh in order to be crowned as the new High Preistess and save her own life. If she's found out, she'll be sentenced to death. Meanwhile, Ellie has some very serious troubles of her own and her daughter Holly and Theo are figuring out who they are and what their powers mean to them in those turbulent teenage years.

I loved getting to know Ciara more, as she becomes a main character in the second book. She has a fabulous caustic humor that made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion.

There's a few plot twists in this installment that I didn't see coming, that left me totally shocked! Genius!

HMRC is a welcoming inclusive read, and although it is good fun, it does not shy away from delving into more serious subjects. I particularly loved the sensitive portrayal of Theo's experience of transitioning. Politics, misogyny, coming of age, relationships and solidarity between women are all explored in a relevant and relatable way.

At times tender and always funny with a throughly feminist core The Shadow Cabinet is a riveting read - prepare to be bewitched. This is a solid 5 star read and I would give it more if I could! I already can't wait for the next book, and in true HMRC fashion, the cliff hanger just leaves you wanting more!

Many thanks to HarperCollins Uk for an ARC in exchange for a honest review

The Shadow Cabinet isn't entirely what I expected after HMRC, but it's still a book that I enjoyed and will eventually look fabulous beside its sister.

I didn't wholly like Ciara as a narrator. Kind of wanted to smack her to be honest. And yet, I sympathised. She's a woman who went through a lot of awful things and did some in return.
Seeing her childhood, the truth behind her actions, it was enlightening and so sad.

Her friendship with the other women was great. Really enjoyed that aspect. It was full of emotional contradictions and that's a vibe.

I felt I understood the magic better here and speaking of magic. ELLE. HELLO. HOW POWERFUL ARE YOU?? Her arc in TSC was good. Don't mess with Device witches.

You'll suffer.

The twist regarding a certain male character was top tier. Had me screaming. It was delightful and awful.

Really looking forward to more people reading it.

Actually 4.5 stars
I received an ebook arc of this book courtesy of Harper Collins Publishing and Netgalley.

The events of this book pick up immediately after Her Majesty's Royal Coven - I'm going to try and give an honest review without spoilers from either book!
If you enjoyed HMRC, then you are going to LOVE this.
The story is gripping and fast paced, with lots of intrigue, action, and events that take the characters all over the world!
We learn even more about the characters in this book - particularly Ciara and Niamh, and we learn a little bit more about the Sullied Child Prophesy. I must admit I had my own theories about the prophesy - some of which have kind of been confirmed in this second book, although it still leaves things a little ambiguous - but then I suppose that is the nature of prophesies!
There is a new danger in this book in the form of witch hunters - and some events surrounding this group that made me tense with anxiety! haha
There are some very scary sections with the demons and the witch hunters.
I found it interesting how the story comments on misogyny in society - one quote in particular stood out to me: "Mundane men really hate women. But...you should hear how they feel about powerful women."
There was a lot of action within the last 100 pages or so. And just when it was getting to the end and I thought it was wrapping things up nicely, something new was thrown into the mix! So of course, this book does end on (another) massive cliffhanger! So that makes me happy because it means we are getting book 3 at some point! yay!
This was every bit as good and captivating as the first book.

I am a broken woman and Juno Dawson is a genius!

If you, like me, were left hanging at the end of Her Majesty's Royal Coven then I promise you will not be disappointed by The Shadow Cabinet.

We have the same cast of brilliant women, who only get more complex and interesting as we see them reacting to the events from Book 1. And no matter how much I wanted to hate her - Ciara is absolutely hilarious.

So prepare to laugh and swear, as the plot twists will just keep coming at you!

I really loved Her Majesty’s Royal Coven but how do you follow THAT ending?! The Shadow Cabinet did not disappoint. This action-packed sequel has twists and turns galore and will have you on the edge of your seat. Juno Dawson has created such wonderfully diverse, powerful characters whose flaws only serve to make them more likeable and believable. I can’t wait for book 3!

Thanks you so much Netgalley, Juno Dawson and HarperCollins for this ARC.

I could not put this book down!
Juno Dawson is one of my favourite authors and this book was truly incredible!
If you enjoyed book 1, you will be blown away by The Shadow Cabinet.
I love all of the characters and I laughed and cried throughout this book.
It’s a contender for my book of the year already and I can’t wait for book 3!

Her Majesty's Royal Coven was one of my most enjoyable reads last year and as soon as I finished it I had to look up the synopsis of The Shadow Cabinet because of that ending. Honestly If Juno Dawson released all three books at once I would just happily sit and read them all without stopping, I'm not super keen on doing the school run or cooking dinner anyway.

The second book in the trilogy follows the adventures of our favorite coven: Leoni is trying to track down her brother (who is trying to track down Dabney Hale), Elle is dealing with the fall out of her husband discovering she's a witch, Theo's trying to sort out her powers and deal with teenage life in a new body and Ciara. Well Ciara is trying to remember her life and generally being quite rude and funny. She's a great anti-hero and even though she's one of the bad guys of the first book you can't help but warm to her.

I loved this book which was so light and fun despite dealing with issues including racism, transphobia, classism and more. I want to go out drinking with all the women in it, getting drunk after two drinks because I'm old now and I can't handle my booze and singing Spice Girls songs and threatening to hex people that annoy me. I read it in a little over 24 hours and stayed up late because I only had 100 pages left and I needed to know what happened.

This is a great fantasy read for when you want to ignore the world but don't mind being reminded that you still hate the Tory government, I need to read the next one now.

I inhaled this book in one sitting on my wellbeing day last week; I don't think it helped my wellbeing because I've been screeching and swearing ever since.

I loved being back in Hebden Bridge with this coven. We see a bit more of the world with Leonie in The Shadow Cabinet, as she heads in search of her brother and Hale. But there's plenty of action back home too. Jez is busy ostriching about the whole two witches in the family scenario and Elle is dealing with some big feelings about her marriage. Theo is still processing from book one and learning more about herself and her power. Luke is still madly in love with Niamh and, of course, noone knows Niamh is actually dead and has been taken over by Ciara in a dark and twisty Freaky Friday situation.

I wanted so much to hate Ciara after she murdered Niamh, but I loved her. She is brilliant and hilarious, I cackled so many times during her chapters. I thoroughly enjoyed her trying to keep her secret and fail to tone down her Ciara-ness. I loved getting more of her backstory and why she made the choices she did.

There are some real shocks in The Shadow Cabinet. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings. Some of the characters really surprised me.

This is another phenomenal read from Juno. The Shadow Cabinet is going to destroy whatever feelings you had left at the end of HMRC. I promise you're not ready for it, but you should read it anyway.

The Shadow Cabinet is the second in Dawson's Her Majesty's Royal Coven series, following on from the first book left off in this alternate modern day where there are witches and warlocks secretly living around the world. Book one's cliffhanger becomes some of the focus of this one, as Ciara is now impersonating her sister Niamh to try and work out why she was helped to come back, as well as keeping Theo, Elle, and HMRC off the scent about the truth of who she is. There's also the warlock Dabney Hale, escaped and after power, so Leonie sets off after him to try and find her brother. And then there's the bureaucracy of HMRC and the Shadow Cabinet, where the British government actually know about the existence of witches.

Just like the first book, there's a lot packed into this one, with chapters from a range of characters' points of view and lots of threads to follow. The narrative starts slow, with a lot needing to happen and be set up before the big conclusion to the book, and then starts to pick up later on, before a climax that resolves more than I expected for a second book in a series, whilst still leaving plenty of loose threads (and a cliffhanger, like book one) for the next one. It takes a while to understand how the title is going to come into play, and it's a nice element that it vital to the plot, but also doesn't appear that much as there's so much else going on.

The book focuses a lot around misogyny and, like book one found ways of both explicitly and implicitly tackling transphobia, The Shadow Cabinet does similarly with misogyny and with what can be broadly termed the 'manosphere', with multiple groups of men who think their beliefs about the place of women and witches to be correct. The uneven power between witches and warlocks is particularly interesting, and though it wasn't delved into that much, it would definitely be something to address more in book three: magic in the books is very binary and even unfair, and it would be good to see more about that, as it is clear characters have different view about it.

As there's so many characters and so much going on, you see varying amounts of each of them and their inner lives and motivations. Ciara is central to this book and I really enjoyed her story, as it brought in layers of complex morality and questions of agency that stands out against the black and white morality at points in the first book. I liked the use of demon summoning as something akin to alcohol or drugs in terms of being addictive and a way to escape your reality, and it would be really interesting to see more of the darker side of this series. Unsurprisingly given Dawson's YA skills, Theo and Holly are some of the best characters, though they don't get a huge amount of plot in this one, but it seems like that may change for book three.

As someone who isn't a big fan of fantasy, I appreciate how Dawson weaves together the magical and non-magical worlds in this series, combining interpersonal drama (that always ends up relevant to the main plot, too, in some way or another) with big dramatic magic stuff. The worldbuilding comes up when needed, but I could enjoy this one without remembering every detail from the first book.

The Shadow Cabinet is a solid sequel that really follows on from Her Majesty's Royal Coven, but also adds in some deeper exploration of the divided world of the books. I enjoyed the darker directions it went, particularly due to having Ciara as a main character, and I hope the aftermath of the events continues to be explored in the next one and the morality is messy and complicated, as it brings a lot of depth to something that could otherwise just be a straight 'good' and 'evil' story. Also, I hope Leonie and Chinara catch a break at some point!

WOW WOW WOW! This book is everything. Juno Dawson has done it again and needs crowning Queen of the cliffhanger, I cannot wait to find out what happens next.

I have mixed feelings about this installment to the series. I really enjoyed it, and I definitley like the world, but there were one or two things that bothered me.

First off, I like the themes of this series. Whilst the first book centered more around transphobia, this one is more about misogyny. It also progresses the overall plot and adds lots of twists and turns in the end, just like the first book. Juno Dawson is really bringing important discussions into the mainstream in an original and refreshing way. I liked that we got more pov's in this one as well. I did miss being in Hebden when we were following other characters, but the world definitley opened up as we got answers to some of the plots in the series.

The problems I had with the book could be constituted as spoilers, so be warned:

First things first, I never liked Ciara. It felt very strange having got to know Niamh for an entire book to just not have her in this one. Instead we have Ciara pretending to be Niamh and frankly, it goes on too long (almost the entire book.) I liked finding more about the twins past but that's not what bothered me. First, there is what at best can be described as a dubious consent scene as Ciara, using Niahm's body and pretending to be her, sleeps with Luke multiple times. Considering the progressive nature of this story and Juno Dawson's usual care to avoid shit like this, this felt very icky. There's like one line where Ciara debates the consent issue but after that it isn't adressed as wrong or even called out in anyway. To me, this is a rape scene. I didn't like it. I don't know why it was in there. It seems like something that is a minefield of issues that could have easily been avoided.

This brings me to my second problem. At no point did I feel anyone was actually upset about the fact Niamh had literally been murdered. They're quite ready to hug and joke with Ciara within one scene. None of them seem to shed a tear about Niahm, there best friend for 25 years. It's SO weird. I think that the author wrote herself into a bit of a corner. There was so much going on that there wasn't time to really explore the affect of Niahm's death on her friends. I get that, but it made me angry if I'm totally honest. Even Luke, who's supposed to be so in love with her, just disappears (for valid reasons) but we don't even get much of a reaction from him. Even he is sympathetic to Ciara right away. Maybe we'll get some reflection in the next book, but this series is very plot driven so who knows.

But, as with the first book, the ending made up for a lot of it. Juno Dawson knows how to do a twist and this one was really cleverly plotted throughout the book. And that cliffhanger! Will certainly pick up the next book.

3.5 stars


It only took a few pages to be back in that world, with those characters, and all their problems.
It has a lot going on, snd at times if all felt a bit whirlwind. I definitely got some surprises along the way.
The characters each grew , and I definitely felt I knew them better by the end, not just because of what the story told, but how they handled it.
Bring on book 3.

I preferred the first in the trilogy but I think that’s because I read it via the audiobook. So I will definitely be reading this in the audio format when it’s released. Looking forward to the next instalment.

The Shadow Cabinet is an incredible sequel to Her Majesty's Royal Coven!

It takes everything I love about the first book and develops them in completely unexpected but natural ways, making it even more exciting and gripping than I thought possible.

I love Juno Dawson openness and honesty while writing about themes so close to her heart and own personal life. It makes reading about these characters and the challenges they face more profound and heartfelt.

I'm not going to lie, for a while I felt like it was going to fall into the typical "middle book" syndrome of being slow paced and just a filler book to lead into the final part of story, but it turns out its just a slow build, weaving all the pieces into place reading for another momentous ending that just makes me want the sequel now!

This series just keeps getting better and better!