Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Their Vicious Games

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington

22 reviews

hobbithopeful's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A non stop thrill that I loved every second of, it was so unexpectedly excellent, and every twist and turn surprised me. (Which is rare!)
What would you do to get a second chance to regain everything you lost all because of a rich white girl? Adina will go far to regain her chance of college and getting out of the town she lives in. But she soon discovers the competition she has managed to get invited to has high stakes. Deadly stakes. Not everything is as it seems, and the glamour and polish of the rich cover up something far more sinister afoot. Unlikely allies seem to want to help her, but who can she really trust? And who will she have to become to survive? There are moments in this story which truly made me sick to the stomach, I strongly advise anyone to check their trigger warnings before reading.

The Simon Says game really got me. It shows just how twisted the whole thing is, and how little value the girls are actually viewed as.

At the beginning I had a few moments of hesitance, never one to enjoy moments of

cheating

no matter the reason or motivations. But it immediately picked up from there and I soon found myself unable to stop reading.
I can't say which character this is without spoiling, but she ended up being my favorite. This is an example of how strong and well written the prose is, one of my favorite quotes: ...In the gaps between her teeth, she holds bitterness and rage, the kind that has built with resentment for years...She is the moon, tethered forever to a planet that she does not want anything to do with but can't exist without."
The threads of classism, racism, and misogyny all tied around exquisitely written prose delighted my eyes and enraptured my mind. The story truly just got stronger as the book went on, and the tense and thrilling moments had my heart racing as fast as Adina's. One of my favorite characters was
What I liked most about this book was how biting and honest it was. Casual racism is an every day reality for many people (me included!) and to see how it was depicted so nearly subtly in a way that if you weren't familiar with some of the microaggressions you might think it was just an uncomfortable situation or think nothing of it. (Of course I would hope the more overt and direct racism instances in the book would open any reader's eyes who would dare to think otherwise, or even heaven forbid think this book as something else.)
I need to take a moment to talk about the ending, because it wasn't what I expected, nor have come to expect from books in this vein and I was more than pleasantly surprised.

I am so GODDAMN SICK of books that deal with these topics just forget about it and have the BIPOC lead get with the white man at the end. So I was beyond THRILLED, dare I say ecstatic, when that was not the case here. Adin showcased the brains she had all book and it was left open ended in if she would ever contact Graham again. (Though dear reader, if I must truly be honest, I wouldn't mind if they reconnected at some point many years later after much growth and healing and learning. Because that man is ignorant as hell and it isn't Adina's job to educate him)

One more side note I want to add, should Joelle Wellington ever endeavor to pen an adult novel with romance, I would be first in line. The romance moments in this book well, let's just say I would very much love for more.

This is my first book of Joelle Wellington's, and with this quality of writing and storytelling I know it won't be last. Highly recommend.

Content Warnings

muckl3t83's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Preposterous plot but a fun read anyway.

Content Warnings

booknerderika's review

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense

4.0

This was intense. Vicious doesn't even begin to describe the games or the people. I immediately got "Ace of Spades" vibes and then it got weird with the whole Bachelor-ish situation. I was on edge through so much of this and didn't trust anyone. I'm glad that there was an epilogue and we were able to see what happened after, but this story was just shocking overall and I needed a few days to process before I posted a review.

Content Warnings

boba_n_books's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

Squid Games meets The Bachelor? Sign me up! ... To read about. Not to compete in. This fast-paced young adult thriller takes "eat the rich" to a whole new level.

Adina is a Black teenager who was about to secure her future through her scholarship to Yale. Her plans are ruined once an incident at school causes her to lose that well-earned scholarship. The only way to get it back is to enter the Finish--a competition where young women prove themselves worthy of being a part of the wealthy Remington family through three different events. It is not long before Adina and the other girls in the Finish realize that the stakes are higher than money and power. It's life or death. The younger Remington boys say they're trying to change the system, but are they? Being one of the only girls who didn't grow up in the rich world the Remingtons live in, Adina realizes she has to either change herself or change the Finish to survive.

Though the characters may seem superficial at first, each one has their own motivations and moments of reckoning. Wellington's commentary on race and class and what people will do to achieve and maintain power is fascinating. She certainly doesn't attempt to make the reader comfortable, and there are many times I had to remind myself that I wanted Adina to get out and not to conform to the Remington way.

This novel challenges social structures and typical tropes, and it was just a damn good book with a satisfying ending.

Content Warnings

jennanaps's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

ashylibrarian's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Readers will be left in a state of shock and horror (in all the best ways) after finishing Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington. This is a fast-paced novel that is packed with thrills and chills, and readers won’t even begin to imagine the terrors that will unfold within its pages.

There are so many amazing strengths to consider when talking about this book. Two (2) of the biggest things that stood out to me were the brilliant world-building and meticulous character development. All of the characters in this book are used with purpose. Some of the side characters we do not see much of, but when you do read about them, you know they have been placed with thought and intention. Readers will also be able to see the world of this book unfold as they read as if they were watching a movie. The Remington Estate, the clothes, the expressions on the characters' faces. Everything is painted so vividly and clearly through Wellington’s alluring prose.

Another aspect of this book that Wellington handles so well is the impact that classism and racism have on the characters and society that run rampant through the upper-class New England community where the prestigious Edgewater Academy resides. There are many barriers that Adina faces throughout the book - barriers built from the materials of systemic racism and classism. This book is set in a fictional New England world, however, readers will likely be able to see connections to socioeconomic and racial injustices that are happening in our world today. This is definitely a heavy read, but it is also a read that is packed with traditional horror characteristics and creates a modern twist on the “final girl” trope.

It was difficult to pinpoint a weakness in this well-crafted punch of a novel. One thing I would say is that readers might be a bit off-put by the quick-developing attraction from the female characters to the male characters, Pierce and Graham. It’s clear from the beginning of the competition that the money and power the Remington family carries has a lot to do with the motivation for many of the girls’ attraction to Pierce, but the attraction between Adina and Graham seems to develop within a page or two, making more of a quick-combustion attraction that does not have much backing.

Their Vicious Games is a book that I would highly recommend to readers who enjoy fast-paced thrillers that leave them feeling utterly shocked, especially if they like books that intricately weave together themes of race and class with classical horror tropes. I would likely recommend this book to older teen readers due to the fact that some of the content in this book is fairly intense and there is strong language used throughout.

Content Warnings