Reviews tagging 'Blood'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

96 reviews

werewolvesnotswearwolves's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Classism, Gore, Violence, Bullying, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

spacexgay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, and Confinement

Moderate: Blood

izardfg's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Honestly the book was not good, the writing is decent, but the plot is bad and the "omg twists" you can see coming from a mile away. The book's ending doesn't really feel like it concluded it's own themes. And

the end reveal of the main character's memory being of her burying Alex doesn't make sense for a few reasons, firstly it says she dug her up after 3 feet, then it says she buried her in two different locations. But even assuming that this is her finally remembering the events correctly or it's her making herself believe these events occured there were two separate police investigations on campus, if there was a freshly dug grave next to the house she lived in it would've been noticed and the police were actively looking for a dead girl. Like yeah it's the unreliable narrator trope but there's unreliable narrator then there's you don't remember what you wrote and who revealed which details.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Gun violence

averyrembish's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Animal death

Minor: Racism, Classism, Bullying, Outing, Transphobia, and Vomit

blkunicorn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Murder, Death, Grief, Animal death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcoholism and Blood

dernhelms_bag's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Murder, Violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Alcoholism, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Abandonment, Gun violence, and Blood

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Vomit, Bullying, Classism, Lesbophobia, Body horror, and Eating disorder

queergoth_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I was super excited to read this because queer dark academia is right up my street. It was very well written, and gave me modern classic gothic vibes. Shirley Jackson is mentioned a lot and it did remind me of her work somewhat. 

Unfortunately I found the characters to be a bit unlovable which really made it hard for me to feel anything for them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Emotional abuse, Animal death, and Child death

Minor: Outing, Alcoholism, Classism, Racism, Drug use, and Forced institutionalization

jmross10's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The premise of this book sounded excellent and in the first few chapters it really seems like something epic is going to happen. Then you hit the halfway point and you start to wonder what the plot actually is. The problem being, that’s around the point you stop caring. 

At 3/4 the way through I guessed the ending and probably would have DNF’d if I hadn’t been curious enough to see if I was right. I was, for the record, but it was so anticlimactic that being right wasn’t even satisfying. I wish I’d read something else instead. 

To me, this reads as more of a domestic thriller (that just happened to be in a school) than it does dark academia (I know opinions on what this actually entails vary). The plot was familiar in that I basically read the same thing earlier this year and Lee didn’t add anything to it that made it feel new or worthwhile. 

I wish Lee had leaned into the Supernatural aspect more because the story of the witches and the mystery surrounding their murders would have been a far more interesting than what we actually get. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Animal death, Gaslighting, Murder, Vomit, Alcohol, Violence, Grief, Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Sexual content

librarianlayla's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Dark and twisting, this dark academia thriller grips you from start to finish.

I struggled to put this book down, it truly is a masterpiece for the mind. Disturbing and luscious all at once. A story within a story that unfolds not like a flower but like broken origami, sharp and crisp.

If you love psychological thrillers dashed with a hint of supernatural in a dark academic setting - then this could be for you!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Blood, Murder, Death, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Animal death

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, and Cursing

Minor: Alcoholism, Suicide, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Racism, and Confinement