Reviews with content warning for Racism - Their Vicious Games

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington

73 reviews

nafisa86's review

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

A bit like Mexican Gothic and Get Out mixed with the Hunger Games. A little slow paced in the beginning, but plot quickens.

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hobbithopeful's review

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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.

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muckl3t83's review

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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.

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heathere19's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

It was interesting and a fast read but not particularly shocking.

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joelles_bookshelf's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

This book was amazing. My first read of 2024 and I was absolutely floored. I felt for Adina and was hooked from the first chapter. The story was gripping and made me want to pull my hair out at certain stages because I needed her to win.

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I was depressed at the end and needed to process what I had just read. Part of me wants a sequel to see what the future would look like but the other part of me thinks that it ended as best as it could.

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stephmcnutt28's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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bookcheshirecat's review

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

3.5

“Rule one: Wealth is power. If you don’t have it, keep your head down. I thought I’d gotten that one down to a science over the past twelve years. Rule two: Knowledge is too—now that power I had in spades. But with knowledge comes the responsibility to know when to keep your mouth shut and when not to (see rule one). I chose not to and I chose wrong.”

➽ Their Vicious Games is a Thriller following Adina Walker who's trying to earn back her Yale acceptance. Adina's one of the few girls at the prestigious Edgewater Academy and one slipup costs her everything. With no future prospects and blacklisted from all universities, Adina only has one more chance: participate in the Finish, a high-stakes competition sponsored by the Remington family. The winner receives a full ride to their college of choice. The premise was really promising, as I liked the idea of a competition between 12 bright women who each want to secure their future. They compete in three mysterious events called the Ride, Raid and Royale. However, Adina soon begins to suspect that the Finish is much more deadly than she thought.

➽ I liked the themes and ominous atmosphere. Despite the slower pace, there were many chilling moments that showed how far the girls were pushed and how far some would go for their success. Most participants are white, so Adina's the only black girl. She strikes up a friendship with the only other person of color, Saint, the daughter of a Chinese investor. I liked their friendship and wish Saint would have gotten more of the spotlight. Adina also deals with her ex-best friend and the person who ruined her future: Esme. There was a ton of tension between the girls! I also appreciated the discussions about class and race, as Adina has to deal with the casual racism of her benefactors. She's struggling to regain her agency in an environment of self-satisfied, righteous rich people who see her as a tool to show their goodwill!

➽ In the end, I thought the book dragged at times and went in a direction I didn't enjoy. I expected Thie Vicious Games to be much more fast-paced and engaging, so the buildup was too slow for me. I also didn't think I understood everyone's motivations for being here apart from Adina, Esme and Saint. The other contestants were one-dimensional so I didn't get a sense for their motives and didn't care about what happened to them. Apart from that, Adina often got handed a lot of things by others and I didn't feel like she grew as a character until the very end. In general, I wish the book had stuck closer to its original premise, as I found it more interesting than the direction it took.

This Finish isn't like the others because it's held as a competition to see who can win Pierce's hand in marriage and become part of the Remington family. It's top-secret and not only about college acceptances, as the winner gets all sorts of privileges. It reminded me of The Selection, just with more murder. I wish the focus had stayed on the girls competing for their future instead of trying to appeal to a rich white boy. In the end, Adina's own determination to earn back her Yale acceptance got pushed into the background. I also didn't understand why the other girls who came from good families risked their lives just to marry into the Remington family. Some parts didn't make sense to me.

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