Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Una venganza mortal by V.E. Schwab

36 reviews

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

donatio's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

This was just as intriguing as Vicious. 
The multiple POVs, the new characters, the writing, the plot... just brilliant. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Drug use, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Violence

rae_kjise's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Self harm, Physical abuse, Gore, Drug use, Blood, Murder, Violence, Suicide, Death, Cursing, Child abuse, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and Drug abuse

moooniereads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Animal death and Suicide attempt

luxxltyd's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Abandonment, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Animal death, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, Sexual content, and Addiction

psliz's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

underdeveloped. would've been better if the two main storylines were split into their own books

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, Gun violence, Death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Murder, Domestic abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Child abuse, and Infidelity

Minor: Animal death

lauraeerika's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

there was no reason for this book to be so fucking long & messy at the same time!? 
where was the editor?
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everything else in this book chef’s kiss, i just couldn’t care less about the constant pov change’s, im still thinking why did stell have a pov?
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the thing is i love v.e.schwab’s writing but to me there was so much going on that everything that we were supposed care about kind of were swept under the rug of the action and by the end of it, i was just so confused 
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don’t know if i’ll read the third book (i kind of consider vicious now a standalone in my mind)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Confinement, Stalking, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, and Emotional abuse