Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Vengeful - Die Rache ist mein by V.E. Schwab

24 reviews

bashsbooks's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

If you have seen and enjoyed NBC's Hannibal, Vengeful is for you! 

I knew that Schwab was a fan (as they posted something about rewatching Hannibal as she's writing the third Villains book), but the influence was much more direct in this one than Vicious - especially in the Eli and Stell storyline, which has a lot in common with Will and Hannibal's stints in high-security prisons, helping to catch other killers. And of course, the climatic scene harkens to the defeat of the Red Dragon.

Do not think that this book is just Hannibal with a superhero veneer, though. There are a lot of subplots woven together, and most of them are unique. For example, I love June and her entire character. I love poor Sydney's struggles. I'm intrigued by the shady-orgness of EON. I'm curious as to how the next book will go, given how we left off with plot twists at the end of this one - and I hope Schwab doesn't take too much longer to give it to us!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual violence, and Vomit

gwyllion's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

katelyn_stark's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

never needed a book series to be adapted into action movies as much as these

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Infidelity

Minor: Vomit

rtherese's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Great, but falls short of the first one. Too many characters and plot points that made the web of stories too wide. I enjoyed the character of Marcella Riggins, but the addition of the Mafia in Merit city seemed a little uninspired especially since there was no foreshadowing of a crime syndicate in the first book.

With regards to June, I loved her character, but without a proper explanation of her relationship to Syd, it seemed to me at times that their friendship was a little predatory. I’m not sure yet if that was the intended effect of the writer.

I really wish there was more of the original trio, Vic, Mitch, and Sidney, and even a little bit of Eli, instead of semi-fleshing out several new characters that don’t seem to matter much in the end. In an ideal world, because I loved the first book so much, this second book would have revolved around fewer characters, fewer plot points. That would have given the story and the characters enough time to have resolved a more satisfying arc, especially since the new problems the “old” characters are dealing with are very interesting on their own. 

My criticisms about this second book are born out of love because of how much I loved the story, the world, the characters of the first book. Still, it was a blast to read, and many times through the novel did I audibly gasp. Thank you for this exciting book, and as always with readers, I only want more of what I loved. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Self harm, and Blood

Moderate: Drug abuse

Minor: Animal death

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Why are murderous women so hot? 
I loved this book. This Duology is just amazing and everything that I needed right now and forever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death and Sexual content

verpissdich's review against another edition

Step down in quality from the first book, which already was not particularly high. Relies excessively on violence, sexuality, and abuse to "hold" reader interest. Lacks nuance: many portions which would be better unwritten are instead very explicitly spelled out for the reader, destroying intrigue.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Self harm, and Suicide

cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Minor: Stalking

lizziaha's review against another edition

dark

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

The sheer breadth of this book is very impressive. There are so many moving parts and ve schwab manages to weave them together so intricately. That being said, because there are so many moving parts, there are still some loose threads that I desperately want to pull. I’m not sure if there will ever be another book, but I want one!!!! Part of the reason that these books are so compelling is because they have a very Batman-villainesque feeling to them and there’s not really a hero to hang your hopes on, so you have to decide which of your morals you will set aside as you choose who to root for. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction

donatio's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was just as intriguing as Vicious. 
The multiple POVs, the new characters, the writing, the plot... just brilliant. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail