Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

32 reviews

cleot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Religious bigotry, Chronic illness, Murder, Medical trauma, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Violence, Medical content, and Child abuse

Moderate: Xenophobia, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death

modernathos's review

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I. NEED. THE. NEXT. BOOK.

Schwab never fails to pull me into a book and not let me go before I've finished it. Her pacing is gripping and well-balanced and her writing adds to the tension. You'd expect that a long book consisting of short chapters, perspective changes and time jumps would be very confusing, but to me, it was very easy to follow. The fact that the reader gets left on a character cliffhanger for roughly fifty pages every once in a while and then gets thrown back into their story after another character cliffhanger adds amazingly to the tension. By the end of longer chapters, I sometimes forgot where in the timeline I was, but they're always stated in the chapter title, so all you have to do is just flip back and your memory is refreshed.

I was so happy that we finally got full insight into Eli's backstory. The mystery worked well in the first book, but knowing his history gave the character a whole new dimension and made him ten times more scary/unhinged than he already was.

I have to be honest and admit that June's character arc disappointed me a little. She's not a flat character; we get hinted at her backstory a lot. However, we never really know what happened to her and her exact motivations for doing what she did.

It's been a few years since this book came out, but I hope Storygraph's information is true and there is a new book coming, because this story feels anything but complete to me; there's a difference between an open ending and an incomplete one, and this was the latter. I want to know more about Victor's history and motivations, what happens to him after the book, where Sydney and Mitch are going, June's backstory, and so many more things.

January 2nd, 2024 - January 5th, 2024.

 “Gods [were] crucified before they were worshipped.” 

 “While seeking revenge, dig two graves—one for yourself.” 

 “Run, thought Victor, and he could see the response in Eli's coiled frame.
Chase me.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Suicide

michellekm's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Minor: Child abuse

verpissdich's review against another edition

Step down in quality from the first book, which already was not particularly high. Relies excessively on violence, sexuality, and abuse to "hold" reader interest. Lacks nuance: many portions which would be better unwritten are instead very explicitly spelled out for the reader, destroying intrigue.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Drug abuse, Suicide, and Child abuse

chaptersofamylea's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

‘That was ambition. And ambition plus power was a very dangerous combination.’

3 ⭐️

I didn’t really enjoy this one as much as I did Vicious, some of the time it felt like a slog to read and didn’t feel like there was much of a plot? Little disappointed as I loved Vicious a lot. Also, is there meant to be a sequel? 

TWs: ref to child abuse, graphic depictions of violence and torture, murder

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse

lizziaha's review against another edition

dark

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

The sheer breadth of this book is very impressive. There are so many moving parts and ve schwab manages to weave them together so intricately. That being said, because there are so many moving parts, there are still some loose threads that I desperately want to pull. I’m not sure if there will ever be another book, but I want one!!!! Part of the reason that these books are so compelling is because they have a very Batman-villainesque feeling to them and there’s not really a hero to hang your hopes on, so you have to decide which of your morals you will set aside as you choose who to root for. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Body horror, Death, Child abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Self harm, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexism, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Infidelity, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Addiction

megb64's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Body horror, Child abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Blood, Drug use, Sexism, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, and War

Minor: Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Child death, Police brutality, and Rape

blubonby's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse

jkneebone's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

I loved the first book in this universe, Vicious, but for some reason Vengeful did not quite live up to my expectations. Picking up five years after the events of Vicious, in Vengeful we find Victor, Mitch, and Sydney still on the move, traveling from place to place as they try to figure out what's wrong with Victor (after his reanimation by Sydney, his power is on the fritz). Meanwhile Eli, after being arrested, was given over to a new program called EON which is dedicated to hunting down and capturing EOs. This book also introduces us to several new characters: Marcella, a mob wife-turned-EO after her cheating husband tried to murder her; and June, an EO with the power to assume the form of any human she has touched, who has been keeping up a secret long-distance friendship with Sydney.

There is a lot happening in this book, and though parts of it were really interesting to me - we finally get some Eli POV and find out more about his history! - there was, for me, a bit too much going on, to the point that I found it a bit hard to know what to focus on. Eli and Victor's obsession with each other continues - Eli has visions of Victor's ghost and suspicions that he isn't dead, and once they're confirmed he wants to rectify that himself; Victor is determined to keep Eli from getting out of EON - but we also have Marcella's quest for vengeance against her husband/subsequent desire to take over the entire Merit mob, and the addition of EON as a source of conflict/potential fear for most of the characters. There's just a lot going on! I didn't find Marcella particularly compelling when contrasted with the other characters, and the sort-of role-reversal of Victor and Eli

-not only is Eli imprisoned while Victor roams free, Victor starts trying to find EOs who might be able to help him, and then killing them when they can't help - he's literally using the system Eli perfected to kill EOs, albeit for a different reason -

didn't make a ton of sense to me; it felt like a re-hashing of the first book in some ways.

It was still a quick and engaging read - although definitely not for those with a sensitivity to violence or graphic images, as there was even more gross and gory stuff happening in this book - but for me, lacked the delicious darkness of the first book. The characters were nasty, but the motivations felt muddied - and maybe that was the point, but whatever it was, it just didn't work for me as much as the first book did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Blood, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Self harm, Animal death, and Medical content

mariegatou's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, and Child abuse

Minor: Suicide attempt