4.14k reviews for:

A Lesson in Vengeance

Victoria Lee

3.59 AVERAGE

mysterious
mouomusings's profile picture

mouomusings's review

4.0

 I have mixed feelings about this book. I did not like the main character, the story follows a girl who is very unsettled and judged but then inflicts so much violence herself. I wasn’t shocked by the ending because it was so quick and I wasn’t really attached to the characters. But I ultimately rated it 4 stars because I’m thinking about reading it again. 

maddy_de's review

3.0
adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

stayywhelmed's review

3.0

What an absolute wild ride tho.
I guess I'll start by saying that I appreciate how Victoria Lee has written characters who have experienced trauma - they are survivors but it doesn't mean they're good people. I liked how this book explored trauma, memory, grief, and this desire to attach meaning to the meaningless. Sometimes, particularly for people who live with mental illness or who have experienced trauma, we look for patterns, or signs, or something to make things make sense. I don't by any means want to paint people's experiences with a broad brush but I think that was sort of what Lee was going for here - the exploration of mental illness and grief of female characters, and horror (though closer to thriller/mystery) in literature. Not saying it was done perfectly, but it was an interesting read. It made me think of Gillian Flynn but pared down. I think if more time had been spent on some of the twisty-turny revelations that come in the second half of the book, I would have enjoyed it more. That being said, dark academia lesbians is absolutely my jam and I read this book in two days so

daisyrichards7's review

4.0
dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
alicethejokerofspades's profile picture

alicethejokerofspades's review

2.75

It was fine ig? I was a bit bored honestly, the ending was good tho. Idk I defs wouldn't reread it

veertje1703's review

5.0

Wow. Just… wow.

This story takes so many twists and turns that it fully traps you inside it. It haunted my thoughts during the day, and my dreams during the night. This was absolutely the perfect book to read during spooky season.

I love the hint of magic, romance, mental illness and mystery. The book has amazing lore that fully incapsulates everything I thought would be dark academia. It matched the fantasy I had of schools with a long and maybe mysterious past.

The characters are really interesting as well. I would have loved to maybe get a few inside chapters on Ellis’ thoughts. I think that would have been rather interesting.

It has been a long while since I read a book like this. The story and setting is in my eyes rare and that’s something I appreciate.

I’m going to let my friends borrow this book over and over again, till it looks like Alexs’ copy of ‘The Secret Garden’. This book deserves to be read by many many eyes
cryptidtimebby's profile picture

cryptidtimebby's review

3.0

Save me toxic yuri, save me

vildurrhildur's review

3.0
adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I dunno man, it was a fun read, the characters were a bit flat, only intention to further the plot, a lot of cliches idk, like some of it pulled me in, but yeah im not a big fan of first person and it just felt like it could be thought out a bit more here and there. I did read it in 24 hours ish, so that adds something and love lesbians etc, but yeah fell a bit flat
dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated