Beyond the Hype | A Disappointed Reader's Perspective on 'The Coven' by Harper L. Woods

I just finished listening to the audiobook of The Coven written by Harper L. Woods. I started this book because some of my booktok friends read it and recommended it. I got the vibe this is going to be a cute cosy witchy book. I did not know about this author's writing style although her other book What Lies Beyond the Veil has been in my TBR for quite some time. Okay, I read it and It was great in the start and the middle but in the end oh..how the end (particularly the last 2 chapters) disappointed me to no end. I will be short and brief in this review.

I want to talk about it and I do not want to talk about it.....my mind is a mess at this point. I always always give books a chance but some books are destined to make me sad and mad at the world. The story is about a girl who is a witch and has great powers her mother just died and she just got discovered by the coven and her great ancestor and they invited her to join the witch school to train and work on her magic. Oh, it sounds great right. I love these kinds of books but no... the author has to go and make it more sinister

GENRE
Dark Fantasy (this genre doesn't need the involvement of the devil to make it dark)
THEME AND TONE
Dark Academia, Gothic
LANGUAGE AND WRITING STYLE
I listened to an audiobook and the Narration was amazingly good.
CHARACTERS

Morally grey MMC

FMC is hell-bent on some revenge mission for the ancient family

TROPES

☙ Morally grey MMC
☙ Enemies to Enemies 😕 (I am still confused)

☙ Magic and Witches

☙ Dea with Devil ( how casually Lucifer kept becoming the central part as the book proceeded to ward the end)

☙ Forced Proximity

☙ Slow Burn (sort of)

MY REVIEW

TikTok made me read it or in this case, listen to it. The book was narrated beautifully. I liked it at the start. The humor and sarcasm were very good. The whole vibe was a very mysterious and dark academy and I liked the person who was narrating it.
The story starts out well, we are getting to know the main character and her history and the witch history and how the coven works, what are vessels and what is the deal with the coven and vessels, the secret animosity, the games, and all that stuff. There is an element of mystery because our FMC is after the bones of some long-lost witch ancestor who made the deal with the devil in return for magic and her coven betrayed her. There is also a murder mystery going on in the backdrop of the plot. The young witches are getting murdered, the tension between FMC and MMC is going very high and then everything goes to the garbage can at the end.
The characters were really good. I liked Grey's character as a vampire. Now at the end, his real identity comes out and he is Lucifer now. I mean wth. Can't you come up with something creative? I am just grossed out by how casually the devil is made some kind of hero in books and who is wronged awfully. This book does the same and there is no mention of God or the good and right side of the picture. I am curious why the hell people are obsessed with the devil and that he has a good character. I do not like to read about it and I do not like to hear about it and most certainly I do not like to talk about it. The ending made me feel icky and it annoyed me. It was not good and I did not like it. I do not recommend reading it.

MY RATING
Overall: ★| 1 Star

Plot: ★| 1 Star ( it could have been great)
Characters: ★| 1 Star

Ending: 0 | The worse and stupid ending
Fun: ★★| 2 Stars because sarcasm was good.

Spice Level: 🌶| 1 Star

Book cover: I do not even want to mention it.

THE BEST PART

☙ Dynamic of Grey and Willow

☙ The dialogues were good

☙ The mystery around the ancient family history, the bones, and the murders

THE WORST PART:
☙ They made the main character Lucifer (what could be worse than that)

☙ The last two chapters (they grossed me out)

BEST CHARACTER
☙ forget it no one

WORST CHARACTERS
☙ everyone

Happy Reading!!

❤ 🎧☕️🕯️📖 ❤

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