Reviews with content warning for Gore - Their Vicious Games

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington

34 reviews

kristenityyy's review

dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Their Vicous Games is an amazing book following Adina Walker. Adina's future was stolen from her and she must participate in The Finish; a series of games hosted by the Remingtons. As Adina participates in the games, she realizes that the stakes are higher than they seem. The book is a masterful social commentary on class. I absolutely loved it.

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sophiamckinleyy's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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lilacbookpages's review

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dark tense

2.75

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imstephtacular's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes

4.25

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daniellestarredpages's review

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

2.5

Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with this book. The synopsis promises Ace of Spades, Squid Games and The Bachelor and to me, this mix of story elements should not have been combined for this particular book. My biggest issue I would say is the romance featured in this story. So Adina is (sort of) stuck between two brothers, the Perfect Second Son who is the prize at the end of the games, who Adina doesn't actually like and the Disappointment of a First Son whom Adina randomly starts having feelings for. The thing is, I didn't believe the romance for a second, it came out of nowhere and there was no real build-up or romantic tension between Adina and Graham (the second son) and since Pierce was really a means to an end for Adina, I see no reason to criticise the writing of their relationship. The author has stated that this book is supposed to be a Satire but I still reserve the right to be annoyed at how often Adina mentions that she's from Suburbia and how terrible that is. I also feel that the book was very slow to start and that did nothing to help the book, it just made the story drag.

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gabyspinktasticlibrary's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I have been waiting months for this book to come out and it did not disappoint!! It is such a good high-stakes thriller that keeps you engaged the whole time. I definitely felt some dark-academia Hunger Games vibes when reading this book. I really thought the entire plot of the book was so unique and exciting and in some ways not at all what I anticipated. At times I really felt like I was there in the book, watching the girls compete. I definitely recommend this book but PLEASE make sure to read the content warnings!

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tinybluepixel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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starrysteph's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Oh hello, new autobuy author! Seriously, THIS WAS SO GOOD.

Their Vicious Games was pitched as Squid Games meets Ace of Spades, and that wasn’t too far off. It’ll definitely bring in the right audience. But this is something new: it’s fast-paced and murderous but also very fun satire.

Adina is a Black teenager about to graduate from the prestigious Edgewater Academy - a school for the richest kids in New England that she attends on scholarship. She knows she has to work twice as hard as the other students to prove herself, to be perfect. But one student targets Adina to the extreme, and an incident takes away her acceptance to Yale and her dreams for the future.

She knows there’s only one opportunity to get it all back: The Finish. It’s an elusive, elite competition held by the most powerful family in Edgewater: twelve promising seniors compete in three events in order to win access to the wealth and power of the Remingtons.

But as Adina enters the fold, she realizes The Finish is more than just a simple competition. It’s life or death, and the only way to survive is to win their vicious games … unless she can somehow shift the world she’s never truly been a part of.

This is a biting condemnation of the world of the wealthy and elite, where to succeed means to forgo empathy and compassion and humanity. Each character with power has had to sacrifice themselves just to hold onto it. They’re always teetering on loss and terror, desperate to shove others down just to keep the status quo.

And those who perceive themselves as allies to those beneath their social standing? They never actually risk themselves to protect others.

The pacing is swift and the dialogue is biting. Adina is a messy character, but I liked her all the same. The set up of the plot & stakes leads to moral messiness, and it’s hard to take a step back as a reader and remember that you want to break this cycle, not see Adina adapt and succeed within it.

Themes like classism, racism, and privilege are explored - especially the ways in which they all intersect. Adina is the only not-ridiculously-wealthy competitor and the only Black competitor, and the others never let her forget it. She’s manipulated and fetishized and reviled.

Mostly everyone else has varying levels of villainy, but they’re interesting characters all the same. Adina’s earnest roommate Saint is desperate to prove herself and show off her skill & independence, Penthesilea’s perfect facade is wavering, rejected Remington brother Graham has mysterious motivations, and even the nasty Esme and her sidekick Hawthorne have moments of depth.

Their Vicious Games feels like an act of catharsis and a challenge to the societal structures that force anyone outside of the 1%’s ideal to lessen, to adapt, and to serve. It’s got feral girls and systemic violence and an actually-satisfying resolution to a potential love triangle.

The character arcs!! The viciousness of the competition & the manipulative set up of the games!! The devilish, insidious webs of the ultra-wealthy and the attempted cycle-breaking!! It was all so good.

CW: death, murder, violence, racism, blood, gore, injury, classism, toxic friendships, gun violence, vomit, misogyny & sexism, gaslighting, animal death, bullying

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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

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lsol8tion's review

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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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

THIS BOOK HAD ME GAGGED FROM START TO FINISH!!! I couldn't put it downnnn like omg. Its dark, tense, and suspenseful nature will gove you a hell of an experience!

Their Vicious Games took "EAT THE RICH" to a whole new level! What blows my mind about this is that the contestants of the Finish are all financially well off (except Adina). They're in the top 5% of the global economy, but they're all willing to KILL for a boy's attention because his family is one of the most powerful billionaire emlores in the world. It's crazy how people are never satisfied, no matter how rich they are.

Adina's better than me cuz I woulda kms if I was in her shoes, Yale be damned. I wholeheartedly believe that her and Saint

woulda never survived without each other. BUT GIVE IT UP FOR OUR FINAL GIRLS IKDR!

The death game trope has been done before, but Joelle Wellington's top-notch writing is what made this book an entirely new, cliche-free experience for me. I could FEEL the madness, anguish, grief, and desperation that all of the girl were expressing throughout the entire Finish.

One thing I also appreciate is that Adina

has no romantic endgame. Although the Finish was for his favor, I thought Pierce really wanted to change the nature of the Finish for the better (in his own blind, paradoxical way), but we all find our that he just wanted to alter it in favor of his rags-to-riches fantasy involving Adina. But GRAHAM?? I wasn't liking Adina's lil attraction to Graham, and I'm happy she laughed in his face when he said that he loved her. Bringing his faults of him being a coward and being complicit in his family's fucked up tradition to the forefront at the end of the book is an amazing choice by Wellington. His self-proclaimed black sheep, "woe is me" self-pity attitude was so annoying.

This book is truly worth my 5 star rating. GIVE MS WELLINGTON HER 10S!

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foldingthepage_kayleigh's review

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This book is marketed as Ace of Spades meets Squid Game meets The Bachelor, and I can’t think of a better way to describe this novel. We follow Adina Walker, a black teen who loses her scholarship to her dream Ivy League school, and the deadly competition she joins as a last ditch effort to reclaim her planned future.

Based on the book's description, I knew I would like this book, and I was right. It’s fast-paced, bloody, with an exploration of class and race directly woven throughout. The book’s ending absolutely blew me away and had me gasping, speeding through and wishing for a good resolution. I also really enjoyed the exploration of friendship, both toxic and supportive. My only complaint was that at times the writing seemed a bit repetitive, going over the same issues without giving much further insight into Adina as a character.

Overall, I liked this one, and I think you will too if you enjoy:

Survival/competition shows like The Hunger Games and Alice in Borderland
Plot-based storylines that keep you turning the pages to figure out what happens next
Tackling systemic discrimination and entrenched privileges

Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for providing us with an advanced reader copy of this engaging YA thriller.

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