Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

87 reviews

kaoralg's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal death and Abandonment

Scene with Animal Death briefly described in Chapter 21 - Description & story spoiler:

It is revealed in when Ellis was 10, she was sent to spend the winter with her grandmother in her rural home. During a terrible snow storm that snowed them into the house and knocked out their power, the grandmother dies in her bed. It takes 3 weeks for the snow to melt, add another week for the power company to come restore the power at the house and discover young Ellis and her dead relative. During this time, Ellis ran out of food and with no other options she kills her pet rabbit and consumes it raw.

mybeevenme's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

3.75

I really don't know how to rate this, maybe because I normally don't read thriller.
I also didn't really find Felicity that lovable/relatable, because she strikes me as the kind of person I'd avoid in real life because of how she treats others.
I like Ellis tho, a lot actually, but I felt like her portrayal was inconsistent, what could be due to the nature of Felicity being an unreliable narrator.
In general I feel like Felicity as a narrator was a bit too unreliable. don't get me wrong, I like unreliable narrator's, but only to a degree.
All in all if you like thriller and dark academia this definitely might be the book for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Moderate: Eating disorder, Gun violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Vomit

monaluffy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

Yes! A dark academia book with witchy vibes that I LIKED!!!!! I wasn't dissapointed AT ALL, Love to hate this characters!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror and Emotional abuse

Minor: Eating disorder

lennatheunicorncat'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Bullying, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

werewolvesnotswearwolves's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

blkunicorn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcoholism and Blood

dernhelms_bag's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, and Abandonment

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, Eating disorder, Racism, Sexual content, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

jmross10's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.5

The premise of this book sounded excellent and in the first few chapters it really seems like something epic is going to happen. Then you hit the halfway point and you start to wonder what the plot actually is. The problem being, that’s around the point you stop caring. 

At 3/4 the way through I guessed the ending and probably would have DNF’d if I hadn’t been curious enough to see if I was right. I was, for the record, but it was so anticlimactic that being right wasn’t even satisfying. I wish I’d read something else instead. 

To me, this reads as more of a domestic thriller (that just happened to be in a school) than it does dark academia (I know opinions on what this actually entails vary). The plot was familiar in that I basically read the same thing earlier this year and Lee didn’t add anything to it that made it feel new or worthwhile. 

I wish Lee had leaned into the Supernatural aspect more because the story of the witches and the mystery surrounding their murders would have been a far more interesting than what we actually get. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Sexual content

katsbooks's review against another edition

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

3.5

“Ex Scientia Ultio. From knowledge comes vengeance.” 

“The question isn't whether magic is real. It's whether I can touch it without being consumed by it.”

This book was alright. The dark academia vibes were spooky and fun. The fact that there was absolutely zero characters that were men was delightful. I didn't fully realize until the very end but every character either identifies as a woman or nonbinary. Loved that representation! I also really liked when the writing got a little meta. However, I found it slightly annoying when the author said something to the extent of "she touched me and I felt a tingle go down my spine" for the 50th time. Like find a new description, please. But ultimately, the atmosphere was this book's saving grace, for sure. The writing and plot weren't terrible. I found different parts intriguing but the first two-thirds or so were kind of slow. It really picked up in the last third but by then I had predicted a major plot twist so when it happened, it didn't impact me the way I expect it was meant to. If  YA thrillers and dark academia are your jam, you'd probably enjoy this more than I did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, and Alcohol

elizabethdove's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

A lovely dark academia exploration of queerness, madness, literary women and their stories, murder, and witchcraft. 
Bestt described by this lovely fourth wall wink nod from the protagonist, talking about her thesis. 

“Mostly how depictions of mental illness are used to build suspense by introducing uncertainty and a sense of mistrust, especially with regard to the narrator’s perception of events, and the conflation of magic and madness in female characters.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Gaslighting