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dernhelms_bag's review
- 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
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Murder, Violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Alcoholism, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Abandonment, Gun violence, and Blood
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Vomit, Bullying, Classism, Lesbophobia, Body horror, and Eating disorder
katsbooks's review
- 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
βThe question isn't whether magic is real. It's whether I can touch it without being consumed by it.β
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.
Graphic: Grief, Murder, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Animal cruelty, Blood, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Gaslighting, Violence, Bullying, and Mental illness
Moderate: Abandonment, Gore, Sexual content, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Alcohol, Gun violence, and Cursing
cianarae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Gaslighting, and Death
Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, Drug use, Blood, Alcohol, Animal death, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, and Addiction
Minor: Racism, Transphobia, Suicide, Alcoholism, Classism, Vomit, Cursing, and Confinement
alittlebitheather's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Murder, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail
aqulia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
Who do I recommend this to? People who like dark academia, people who like unreliable narrators, and people who like complex relationships between characters
Who should skip this? People who don't want to read about a very toxic relationship, people who like lighthearted books, and people who dislike a repetitive plot.
Will I read more by Victoria Lee? Maybe. This book was pretty good, but I wasn't super thrilled by it.
Graphic: Death and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Alcohol, Gaslighting, and Murder
Minor: Animal death, Blood, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
sarahmreads's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Felicity Morrow is back at the Dalloway School after coping with the death of her girlfriend Alex one year ago. She wants to put the past, both Alex and the mysteries of the Dalloway Five behind her. Enter Ellis Haley, a young published author with a thirst to write her next novel about the Dalloway Five, and she needs Felicity's help.
I'm gonna start with the positives. I like how this story doesn't make you trust yourself. There is always this seed of doubt, from the story being in Felicity's perspective to Ellis' own goals for her writing project. You don't know who to trust, or even if the "magic" associated with the Dalloway Five even exists. You're left completely in the dark at the end, although it kind of insinuates one thing over the other. It adds to the thriller factor of this story.
I also moderately liked the worldbuilding of the story. I couldn't always keep exactly straight who had died in what way, but I liked the dark and pompous air around Dalloway and the school.
Now let's talk characters. I was extremely torn about Felicity. She is an extremely unreliable narrator who already has a habit of lying to herself to forget things, like Alex's death. She's easily persuaded one way or another, like when it comes to the magic spell books inside the library. She even keeps telling herself she'll stop drinking like her mother but fails at that. She's surrounded by tragedy and failure, so how can we even trust her as readers? I didn't like her in that regard. I'm surprised she was not put off by Ellis earlier in the story but I digress.
ELLIS HALEY. I am SO TORN on her. She is the dark academia I wish to embody, straight down to the outfit and the writer aspects. I thought she was fine until halfway through and immediately realized how dark of a path this story was going down. I felt like more could have been done with her character besides what was planned out for her. I just wanted a happy sapphic love story and that was NOT what was given to me.
I will say I liked the LGBTQ+ rep in the story. Why Felicity felt the need to come out even though her and Alex were openly a couple (I thought?) but hey, still proud of her. Also I wish there was a bit more nonbinary rep for a story that was praised for having no male-identifying individuals. Only one character used they/them pronouns and they were a minor character.
The ending also felt kind of deserved but also... not really? I'm still super torn on the ending and how it turned out. Guess that solidifies the fact that this is a stand alone.
A Lesson in Vengeance is a good scary dark academia book for October. Will I be reading it again? Probably not.
Graphic: Animal death and Blood
Moderate: Death, Vomit, Sexual content, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Drug use, and Alcohol
PTSD, self-harm for ritualstarccato's review against another edition
- 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
2.75
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Minor: Abandonment, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Vomit
emmyb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
There were some things that kept me from enjoying this book more:
- The stakes felt low for most of the book, without much tension or urgency
- I didn't feel much chemistry between Ellis and Felicity for the romance to feel believable and deep
- I was expecting actual witches, but it was really just suspicions and doing witchy things as an act
- The relationships between Felicity and the other Godwin girls went from cold to hot without any development. One second they were shunning her, and then five pages later they were BFFs.
The best part of the book was the last 80 pages. It was pretty predictable
Graphic: Death and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Panic attacks/disorders
laurel_leaves12's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Toxic relationship
luxvestravitae's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, Suicide, Murder, Gun violence, and Gore
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Racism, and Toxic friendship