Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - A Lesson in Vengeance

Very atmospheric and a perfect Halloween/autumnal read. This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021 for me and while it ultimately fell a little short of my expectations, I really enjoyed the reading experience. I need more sapphic dark academia!

While I enjoyed most of this, I wish that this had been written with slightly older characters. The characters felt and acted like they were in college, and I feel like all of the things they get up to could have been easier explained away by them being older. I also felt like this book could have really benefitted from an extra 100 pages or so. Dark academia shines when at a creeping, slow burn, and most of this book was that pace, which made the ending feel really rushed and all too abrupt. I loved the slow pace at the beginning and felt like the end came way too fast.

I thought the characters were interesting and very unlikeable, but in a way that you still cared about them and where they ended up in the end. I would be interested in picking another title up by this author in the future. I also liked what this book had to say about the genre as well, some interesting topics get brushed upon in terms of academia as a setting, as well as patriarchal oppression in such spheres. There are no specific men mentioned in this book, not even as a minor character, which I'm pretty sure is the first book that I've read with an all female cast. The writing style was really wonderful and I thought that overall A Lesson in Vengeance is a near-perfect dark academia read.

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sylvestra's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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bookcrushin's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

This book will mess with your head a bit especially with the unreliable narrator. I loved it and I expect to see it on all your fall dark gothic lists!

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melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Thank you to Delacorte Press and Netgalley for an e-arc of this book!

When Felicity comes back to Dalloway School after a stay in a mental hospital following her girlfriend's death, she is meant to focus on her studies and stay away from witchcraft. But Ellis Haley is in her dorm, and all of the girls are drawn to her, including Felicity. Ellis decides to teach Felicity that witchcraft isn't real by...making them dabble in witchcraft. All the while, Felicity is sure she is being haunted by her ex-girlfriend's ghost...or at least by the ghost of the founders of Dalloway school.

This book! Oh my goodness it was amazing. So so dark and mysterious and everything I wanted it to be. Felicity is such an unreliable narrator and that makes it so you never truly know what will be revealed. I was on the edge of my seat through the whole thing and couldn't wait to see what happened next. I couldn't believe how this story ended, but I loved every minute I spent reading it!

Pub date: August 3, 2021

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themixedpages's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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sunshinestark's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

Set at a centuries old boarding school with a history supposedly twined with magic, A Lesson in Vengeance is suffused with darkness centered around a girl trying to distance herself from the past that makes this a read that's hard to put down. Felicity returns to the Dalloway School after time spent away following the disappearance and presumed death of her best friend - and secret girlfriend - Alex. Believing magic and the twisted history of five murdered witches who attended the school were involved, Felicity is intent on leaving all things connecting her to magic behind. Then enters Ellis. Ellis is impossibly cool and captures Felicity's attention from the moment they meet. The only problem being Ellis wants Felicity's help in researching the history of the Dalloway Five, the murdered witches. Knowing she shouldn't put herself back into that world, Felicity can't say no. Soon she is once again thrust into a series of events filled with deceit and blood leaving her unsure who she can trust or if she'll ever be safe again.

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