The Coven Tendency

Gr 10 Up–Vanity Adams, 18, is a witch, part of a small group privileged enough to live outside the Sanitorium at the Museum, an exhibition of magic for the ultra-elite. Always observed, Vanity is kept away from other witches, even other performers, everyone but her mother and her twin sister, Arrogance. But the desire to interact with fellow witches, especially ones her own age, like Ellis and Clover, comes to a head when tragedy strikes and Vanity’s hidden powers are revealed, binding all four teenagers together in an obsessive and dark relationship. Readers will want to check the content warnings at the beginning of Mikuta’s latest title as the story includes self-harm, substance abuse, and other more mature topics. A non-chronological stream-of-consciousness story from multiple unreliable points of view, this is profoundly character-driven, at times to the plot’s detriment. Still, it captures a dreamlike look into what addiction can do to relationships, memory, and identity in a dark romanticization of the magic-and-madness trope that disturbs as much as it endears.