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flybybooks 's review for:
A Lesson in Vengeance
by Victoria Lee
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
TW: mental illness, murder
Dalloway School for Girls is home to protegies, literature enthusiasts and, when you look into the shadows, the occult. It has a history bathed in witches and blood. Last year, a girl fell from a cliff and drowned, the body never recovered. Now, her best friend Felicity is back after a psychotic episode and a famous young writer, Ellis, is in the same dorm. Ellis lures her back into the history that contributed to last years' tradgedy and Felicity's grasp on what is real is thinning. When Ellis asks her for help with her newest book, Felicity can't say no.
This book was gripping. The writing was atmospheric, it transported me right to Dolloway and its dark academia, antique campus. The feel was very reminiscent of wuthering heights or Dracula. The plot was fast paced and twisty. Because Felicity's grasp on reality is thin and thinning, it never really becomes clear in which direction the plot is going until it does. Felicity is the perfect unreliable narrator. I also really enjoyed the portrayal of mental illness, especially one so stigmatised. Felicity gets worse, then she gets better, then there's a trigger and she gets worse again. It's not senseless or violent, it's raw and illogically logical. Bits of truth were revealed slowly, allowing us to puzzle together our own understanding. First, that Felicity is unreliable, then more and more of what actually happened before the story. The main characters and their relationship were compelling, Ellis especially. Felicity's fascination with her and the unhealthy dynamic that beginns to develop is written beautifully.
Some parts of the story, in particular the five witches in the school's history and the big reveal at the end of the story arc about Alex, did fall a little flat. Here, the story would have profited from a higher page count, allowing Ellis and Felicity more actual information about the witches' death and Alex more than half a sentence to resolve her mystery. These were particularly dissapointing because so much of the social media presence of this book focuses on its 'witchiness', when it really doesn't take up much of the book at all. The witchiness is a background, not the actual object of the book. This book is a gothic thriller that centers around mental illness, but not in the stereotypical 'people with psychosis are evil' way.
If you want a sapphic, gothic thrilleresque dark academia novel, then this is the right book for you. If you're looking for a witchy book, it probably isn't.
TW: mental illness, murder
Dalloway School for Girls is home to protegies, literature enthusiasts and, when you look into the shadows, the occult. It has a history bathed in witches and blood. Last year, a girl fell from a cliff and drowned, the body never recovered. Now, her best friend Felicity is back after a psychotic episode and a famous young writer, Ellis, is in the same dorm. Ellis lures her back into the history that contributed to last years' tradgedy and Felicity's grasp on what is real is thinning. When Ellis asks her for help with her newest book, Felicity can't say no.
This book was gripping. The writing was atmospheric, it transported me right to Dolloway and its dark academia, antique campus. The feel was very reminiscent of wuthering heights or Dracula. The plot was fast paced and twisty. Because Felicity's grasp on reality is thin and thinning, it never really becomes clear in which direction the plot is going until it does. Felicity is the perfect unreliable narrator. I also really enjoyed the portrayal of mental illness, especially one so stigmatised. Felicity gets worse, then she gets better, then there's a trigger and she gets worse again. It's not senseless or violent, it's raw and illogically logical. Bits of truth were revealed slowly, allowing us to puzzle together our own understanding. First, that Felicity is unreliable, then more and more of what actually happened before the story. The main characters and their relationship were compelling, Ellis especially. Felicity's fascination with her and the unhealthy dynamic that beginns to develop is written beautifully.
Some parts of the story, in particular the five witches in the school's history and the big reveal at the end of the story arc about Alex, did fall a little flat. Here, the story would have profited from a higher page count, allowing Ellis and Felicity more actual information about the witches' death and Alex more than half a sentence to resolve her mystery. These were particularly dissapointing because so much of the social media presence of this book focuses on its 'witchiness', when it really doesn't take up much of the book at all. The witchiness is a background, not the actual object of the book. This book is a gothic thriller that centers around mental illness, but not in the stereotypical 'people with psychosis are evil' way.
If you want a sapphic, gothic thrilleresque dark academia novel, then this is the right book for you. If you're looking for a witchy book, it probably isn't.