A review by faefires
A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

dark mysterious sad medium-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

4.0

This book seems it was written directly for me. Witchcraft, lesbians, dark academia, literature students, engaging writing, murder. (The only negative was that it was in in first person, but considering the use of unreliable narrator, I forgave this sin rather quickly)

We follow deranged literature girlie Felicity as she returns to her def not witchy school after definitely not murdering her ex girlfriend, who is now def not haunting her. We then watch her descent into utter madness, obsession, paranoia, magic and darkness. This book is very cliche. There's really nothing novel here, nothing that makes it special or unique in the dark academia murder genre. It's not a satire masterpiece like The Secret History, nor an unique retelling of a Shakespearean tragedy like If We Were Villains. But in my opinion, it didn't need to be. It's a fun, thrilling little murder story, and while it is not particularly novel or revolutionary, I enjoyed it and read it very quickly. It's fairly well written, with my only complaints being the internal monologue of Felicity being quite repetitive at times.

If you think you'll like this book, you probably will. You might guess the twist (I did) but the twist isn't what makes the book good, and you can enjoy it without being shocked. Pick this one up, read it in a day, and enjoy the lesbian murder girlies.
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