Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

31 reviews

miabellawymer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

Read at your own risk. 

Oh my God. This book drove me insane. I was captivated from the start, and this book will haunt me for years. Felicity and Ellis are both nuts in their own way, and it makes for an intriguing read. The end, however, was dissatisfying. What the hell was that. I am traumatised.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

ka_ke's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

4.0

Lesbians. Witchcraft. Murder. Dark Academia. What more could you possibly want? A Lesson in Vengeance is a good book. It’s filled with a diverse cast of lovable girls, discusses the difficulties behind families, queer identities, and mental health, all while holding a sense of mystery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Mental illness, Cursing, Murder, Vomit, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Death

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Addiction, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Abandonment, Body horror, and Suicidal thoughts

sogochto's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.75

It’s not very often that a book makes me react physically but there were parts of this book where I recoiled or yelled irl.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Murder, Body horror, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

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, Gaslighting, Violence, Blood, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Grief

Moderate: Eating disorder, Alcohol, and Gun violence

Minor: Vomit and Forced institutionalization

mars_ira's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mental illness, Grief, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, and Bullying

surefinewhatever_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

You had me at sapphic dark academia! This story reminded me a lot of White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi (whom is also referenced in this book). This book explored a lot (femininity, witchcraft, madness, class, queerness & conservativism) and I appreciated it. I ultimately felt less surprised by most of the twists & turns than I would have liked, but all the same, enthralling and hard to put down!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Death, Animal death, Drug use, and Mental illness

Minor: Vomit, Classism, and Racism

queergoth_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

3.75

I was super excited to read this because queer dark academia is right up my street. It was very well written, and gave me modern classic gothic vibes. Shirley Jackson is mentioned a lot and it did remind me of her work somewhat. 

Unfortunately I found the characters to be a bit unlovable which really made it hard for me to feel anything for them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Emotional abuse, Animal death, and Child death

Minor: Outing, Alcoholism, Classism, Racism, Drug use, and Forced institutionalization

katsbooks's review

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: 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

bookishgoob's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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

I was really excited for this book, and it felt disappointing. i went into it with an idea of dark academia and left with gothic horror, which i guess you could say are similar. I wasn’t expecting a gothic horror, i was expecting a dark academia mystery. this book was slightly confusing at times, with an unreliable narrator. that can be great, because you never know what’s true but if done poorly, it can be confusing, hard to read, and not enjoyable. this teetered the line of poorly written and well written. having lgbt characters at the forefront was nice and the atmosphere was awesome. i was not expecting the animal death scene and that was kind of triggering for me. all around it felt like it lacked something. i’m glad i read it and it feels like a nice introduction to gothic horror but it also feels like you’re not missing much if you skip it. i gave it a 3.5 because the atmosphere was just really great and i did enjoy it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Outing, Abandonment, Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, and Gore

cianarae's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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

Very slow beginning, it takes awhile for something interesting to happen. The writing itself was just alright. I liked the mystery/guessing and the characters.

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Content Warnings

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