Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Their Vicious Games

Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington

19 reviews

bella_cavicchi's review

dark mysterious 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

4.0

This was delightfully twisty, thrilling in both its shock and its dark satire.

And I feel I should note somewhere that I couldn't help but visualise Leighton as Gwyneth Paltrow and I now can't shake that casting (for the inevitable film adaptation) from my head!!!

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takarakei's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-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

3.5

Ace of Spades/The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor... in hell.

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honestlyyours77's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This was a great read! It took a bit to get into the story as the beginning was a bit unpolished and repetitive. However, about 1/8th into the book it picked up a bit and swelled to where you didn’t want to put it down.

I love the twists as the story played out and the strength of the protagonist. Giving anything more would give spoilers which I do not care to do.

While this is YA fiction it is definitely fit for any reader who enjoys suspense.

*a note on diversity. While the book isn’t filled with diverse characters with the exception of the protagonist and a few others, it is intentional. It is a glimpse of the real world impacts on people of color. So while the story is thankfully fictional, the real world
Message and impact is not.

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sarahmcg's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

Their Vicious Games

4.5 ⭐️

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the free copy for review

This book is described as “Ace of Spades meets Squid Games with a sprinkling of the Bachelor…” I haven’t watched Squid Games, but I agree with the rest, and also add that this book gave me Hunger Games vibes.

The FMC, Adina Walker, is a black teen girl who attended the prestigious Edgewater Academy on scholarship. She gained acceptance to Yale, only to have her offer rescinded over one moment of lost control. She is hoping to regain her acceptance to Yale and the path forward in life she feels she has lost by participating in the Finish - a contest put on by Edgewater’s founding family, the Remingtons. She just needs to make it through the high-stakes competition, and when she wins, she will have the favor of the Remington family and their power and wealth will open doors for her that have been otherwise closed.

However, upon arriving at the Remington estate, Adina realizes she has been in the dark about how deadly the Finish is, and what the expectations truly are.

This book had me on the edge of my seat. It moves quickly, is propulsive, and violent. It had me gasping, and gave me goosebumps. The underlying commentary on racism, classism, the patriarchy, and performative allyship was so smartly crafted. This is why people should not underestimate YA novels! This is a horror novel, and satirical at that.

One of my favorite parts of this novel was the friendship between Adina and her roommate, Saint. Also, the ending had me like 🤯

I highly recommend this to those who love YA horror and satire/social commentary, final girls, and fast-moving, high-stakes competitions.

CW/TW: violence including murder, gun violence, blood, injury detail; sexism, classism, racism, misogyny (overt & micro aggressions), and emotional abuse.

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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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theonlybaillie'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
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book was The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor and everyone is completely UNHINGED.

And I can't decide if I liked it or not lol.

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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

Follow me on TikTok for book recommendations!

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

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tbrplaylist's review

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challenging dark tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

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natashaleighton_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

The best way to describe Joelle Wellington’s dark, satirical and utterly addictive debut is to imagine The Hunger Games and Squid Game having a love child with The Selection—with uber rich Mean Girl style contestants who’ll do literally anything to win.

It’s brutal, bloody and diabolically back-stabby and I was utterly hooked! (though I do suggest checking the TWs before hand.)

The writing was incredible, and the pacing superb (it’s one of the best paced books I’ve read all year, in fact.) But the exploration into themes such as privilege, racism and class is what really intrigued me, as it show us (in a rather dark, satirical kind of way) just how easily extreme wealth (and the power that comes with it) can create an environment where only the less empathetic, narcissistic or most entitled can survive.

Adina, is thankfully far from any of those things which was why I loved her soo much. She’s driven, determined and not afraid to tell people what she thinks—especially when they hurt the people she lives most. But she’s also deeply compassionate, which becomes her biggest dilemma when she realises what the competition entails (and what she’ll have to do) in order to survive.

The constant racism and open contempt Adina is forced to endure from the other contestants (and adults) was soo rage inducing, but it did highlight just how common such experiences are for People of colour, but women of colour especially.

In fact rage, and female rage in particular plays quite a large role in the narrative. With every female character (from the morally grey to the outright sociopathic) bearing some form of anger towards the society (and male governed system) they so desperately want to fit into.

I also wanted to mention that though there’s a hint of romance, it does mainly centre around Adina’s personal journey and efforts in fighting back and dismantling such a barbaric and oppressive system—so do bear this in mind if you’re looking for something a little more romance based.

Overall, this was a plot twisty, and unputdownable read that had me second guessing literally everyone. Fans of YA Thrillers, OG Gossip Girl, Ace of Spades or the Final Girl trope definitely need to add this to your TBRs this summer!

Also, a huge thank you to Tandem Collective UK and Penguin UK for the proof (and for including me on the TikTok Readalong, it was soo much fun.)

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