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A review by maryamorevnas
A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
3.0
Thank you to the publishers and Edelweiss and Netgalley for the ARC.
Definitely have to say this sits at a fairly round 3 star rating for me.
A Lesson in Vengeance follows Felicity Morrow, a wealthy senior at a prestigious boarding school rumored for its links to a conspiracy regarding murder and supposed witchcraft centuries past, as she returns to school after a long break due to her mental illness regarding the prior death of her girlfriend. It introduces a new figure in Felicity’s life: Ellis Haley, prodigy successful writer who has decided to write about the school’s legacy of witchcraft.
The story continues as Ellis, the ringleader, ropes Felicity, still vulnerable and unstable, into her research for her upcoming book regarding the witches and their murders by recreating a coven within their dormitory. The members of the coven meet in secrecy and do crime-related tasks, all because Ellis is a “method writer” and wants to get into the mindset of the events and disprove the theory of witchcraft. And Felicity cannot help but be pulled in and seduced by Ellis’ magnetism even as they dive deeper and deeper into the mindset of killers and trying to recreate the perfect crime.
As for my thoughts to the novel:
If you follow me on Twitter, perhaps you already saw this, and I feel like I should include it even though it’s 100% on me and not on the book itself.
For reasons unknown, I thought this was an adult novel. I thought it took place at a college, like TSH or something. It definitely does not. They are teenagers in a glorified high school. And I can’t help but be mad at myself for not realizing until I was reading because, quite honestly, I wouldn’t have bothered reading if I had known it was a young adult novel since I prefer adult. But again, that’s 100% me, and I’m trying not to let that affect my review.
However, I will say that since the characters were so independent and at a boarding school that pretty much served as a college, I feel like it would’ve just made more sense for them to be aged up slightly (+2 years maybe) and be at a college instead, since they mostly acted like adults anyway. It seems unrealistic that a group of teenagers would act like this, but perhaps that’s just me.
Continuing on!
While I didn’t hate this book, I didn’t think it was great, either. It sat pretty middle of the road for me. I was intrigued but not gripped, not convinced, just wanting more.
I feel like this book, with all its hints towards the characters, was just too heavy-handed and obvious. This felt like it leaned towards mystery/thriller but it just lacked the THRILL because it wasn’t subtle AT ALL. I did catch myself rolling my eyes a couple times and I didn’t feel very immersed because of how skeptical I was. I think if the author had been more delicate/subtle, it would have added so much more depth and nuance and would have been so much better in general.
The twist towards the end you could see from a mile away, except for a few details, and I think, character-wise, it really didn’t ever explain WHY. Like it didn’t make sense to me because there didn’t seem to be a reason behind it. Or the reason that was given was not explored or backed up.
The resolution was fitting, I suppose, however I found myself dissatisfied. I was just like “okay” about it, and the same with the epilogue. It didn’t make me feel anything, though, and I like to feel things at the end of books. I guess this was just a miss for me.
For trigger earnings off the top of my head: I will say that this novel dives deep into mental illness and trauma, death of a friend/lover, animal death, murder. I’m not too good with noticing trigger warnings because I’m not bothered by much, so I think the author has posted a list on their website.
This novel is also wlw which is part of the reason I read it and I think that in itself was done well. Felicity was a self-labeled, in text, lesbian. Ellis was wlw but not sure of label. Ellis had two moms and a nonbinary sibling who used they/them pronouns. All of the LGBT rep felt organic and natural and that was enjoyable to read.
As for POC rep, there was one major side character who was Black, and another major side character who was Indian (based off her name and description).
So if you want to read a young adult sapphic dark academia book, then read this! You might like it more than I did but it did fall a pretty flat for me.
Definitely have to say this sits at a fairly round 3 star rating for me.
A Lesson in Vengeance follows Felicity Morrow, a wealthy senior at a prestigious boarding school rumored for its links to a conspiracy regarding murder and supposed witchcraft centuries past, as she returns to school after a long break due to her mental illness regarding the prior death of her girlfriend. It introduces a new figure in Felicity’s life: Ellis Haley, prodigy successful writer who has decided to write about the school’s legacy of witchcraft.
The story continues as Ellis, the ringleader, ropes Felicity, still vulnerable and unstable, into her research for her upcoming book regarding the witches and their murders by recreating a coven within their dormitory. The members of the coven meet in secrecy and do crime-related tasks, all because Ellis is a “method writer” and wants to get into the mindset of the events and disprove the theory of witchcraft. And Felicity cannot help but be pulled in and seduced by Ellis’ magnetism even as they dive deeper and deeper into the mindset of killers and trying to recreate the perfect crime.
As for my thoughts to the novel:
If you follow me on Twitter, perhaps you already saw this, and I feel like I should include it even though it’s 100% on me and not on the book itself.
For reasons unknown, I thought this was an adult novel. I thought it took place at a college, like TSH or something. It definitely does not. They are teenagers in a glorified high school. And I can’t help but be mad at myself for not realizing until I was reading because, quite honestly, I wouldn’t have bothered reading if I had known it was a young adult novel since I prefer adult. But again, that’s 100% me, and I’m trying not to let that affect my review.
However, I will say that since the characters were so independent and at a boarding school that pretty much served as a college, I feel like it would’ve just made more sense for them to be aged up slightly (+2 years maybe) and be at a college instead, since they mostly acted like adults anyway. It seems unrealistic that a group of teenagers would act like this, but perhaps that’s just me.
Continuing on!
While I didn’t hate this book, I didn’t think it was great, either. It sat pretty middle of the road for me. I was intrigued but not gripped, not convinced, just wanting more.
I feel like this book, with all its hints towards the characters, was just too heavy-handed and obvious. This felt like it leaned towards mystery/thriller but it just lacked the THRILL because it wasn’t subtle AT ALL. I did catch myself rolling my eyes a couple times and I didn’t feel very immersed because of how skeptical I was. I think if the author had been more delicate/subtle, it would have added so much more depth and nuance and would have been so much better in general.
The twist towards the end you could see from a mile away, except for a few details, and I think, character-wise, it really didn’t ever explain WHY. Like it didn’t make sense to me because there didn’t seem to be a reason behind it. Or the reason that was given was not explored or backed up.
The resolution was fitting, I suppose, however I found myself dissatisfied. I was just like “okay” about it, and the same with the epilogue. It didn’t make me feel anything, though, and I like to feel things at the end of books. I guess this was just a miss for me.
For trigger earnings off the top of my head: I will say that this novel dives deep into mental illness and trauma, death of a friend/lover, animal death, murder. I’m not too good with noticing trigger warnings because I’m not bothered by much, so I think the author has posted a list on their website.
This novel is also wlw which is part of the reason I read it and I think that in itself was done well. Felicity was a self-labeled, in text, lesbian. Ellis was wlw but not sure of label. Ellis had two moms and a nonbinary sibling who used they/them pronouns. All of the LGBT rep felt organic and natural and that was enjoyable to read.
As for POC rep, there was one major side character who was Black, and another major side character who was Indian (based off her name and description).
So if you want to read a young adult sapphic dark academia book, then read this! You might like it more than I did but it did fall a pretty flat for me.