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Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

78 reviews

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

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I love where this book ended up, I think the way all the events came to a climax was a surprise to me and really well done. However, I just had a hard time getting into it. I normally love witchy books, but this might have been a bit too much on the thriller side of the genre for me. 

I think that Felicity, and who she is because of what she's been through, makes for a compelling main character. I just think that either the action buildup was a bit slow for me, or her reminiscing on the loss of her friend was just a bit sad for me. 

I think this book will be worth a re-read from the physical book someday, but the audiobook just didn't catch my attention. 

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dark slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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

Fine. It's a fairly engaging and enjoyable experience to listen to this. I didn't find it to spectacular, just a pretty solid YA novel. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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

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

It’s hard to fully wrap my head around my thoughts on this book. I enjoyed the characters and world building of the school throughout and thought that was well done. However towards the end I felt the book lost steam. I had hoped for a darker ending or for the book to have another twist I didn’t expect but I guessed part of the twist earlier on so it didn’t feel like there was enough after that point that amped up the intensity. 

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

When Felicity returns to her elite all-girls boarding school for her senior year, she’s eager to put her past of death and witchcraft behind her. But when she meets prodigy novelist Ellis, who needs her help with research for her new book, Felicity finds that her ghosts may be coming back to haunt her …

This book has been on my TBR for a while, but a friend of mine read it recently and then forced her copy into my hands the second she was done with it. So of course, I had to see what entranced her so much!

Five words: queer dark academia with murder! The vibes of this book are absolutely impeccable, and while the story unfolds slowly, the creeping tension really makes it work. Schemes rumble beneath the surface, the protagonist isn’t always the most reliable narrator, and the ending is absolutely WILD.

The characters are extremely pretentious in a way that felt, to me, quite tongue-in-cheek, so luckily I was able to enjoy their exploits without getting annoyed. A fun tidbit about this book is that there are no men mentioned anywhere in the story. All the characters are female or non-binary, and none of the plentiful literary references come from male authors.

Basically, don’t go in expecting a fast-paced thriller, but do expect an eerie slow-burn of a narrative that will keep you on your toes. This is definitely the kind of book you should read at night by the fire with a cup of tea and a storm raging outside. Just keep an eye out for any ghosts that might be lurking in your corners …

CWs: Death, violence, manipulation and emotional abuse, child neglect (past/offscreen), mental health issues, substance abuse, suicide references (no actual suicide), references to racist history at a PWI.

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