A review by heather_boo
A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

3.0

This book has me entirely conflicted in my opinions. The storyline is good, really good and gets better with every passing chapter. However, the setting is meant to render the dark academia aesthetic but overshoots terribly. The characters are mature far beyond their high school status… one having summited Everest twice, another having already won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. They use fountain pens to take notes, use candles for light, have style perfect to the aesthetic, typewriters, dark cemeteries, cool smoking, and a thousand other examples of overly contrived atmosphere. (Please, dear author, do not use the word juxtaposition one more time!) Other than the author seeming to do a thesis of the dark aesthetic, this book is good and earns a solid three stars.