Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Una lección de tinta y venganza by Victoria Lee

18 reviews

gmat's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Grief

solarel's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

4.0

At some points in this book I thought I was able to predict what would come next but I was always proven wrong. It kept me in a state of shock at every step with plot twists and reveals. 

With the subject of high school girls, it makes sense that it read like a YA. At some points it felt like it was almost pretentiously trying to be adult, but that’s also on theme. The prose felt like it was trying too hard at times to be dark and edgy, but overall the vibes were very spooky academic. 

Definitely a page turner. I enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

kshertz's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

It was an interesting read. I did not go into it knowing very much. I really enjoyed the beginning in the premise that set up about unreliable narrators and trying to figure out what’s going on with these two girls. Also trying to figure out what happened with Alex. But it jumps around a lot which can make it hard to follow. There’s animal cruelty for seemingly no reason. I don’t fully connect with the characters and don’t really care what ended up happening to them so I can’t really recommend it. I’m not really loving that it seems to say killing people is so awesome. Some other review said “sorry, killing is not supposed to be a girl boss move” and that’s exactly how I feel too. It’s hard to get behind a message that feels like “lesbians are clearly all psychopaths”. I hope that’s not the intent. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

shapesandcolours's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Eating disorder, and Sexual content

zoeelora's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

yeimyaileen's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

how did i pick this read after reading these violent delights by micah nemerever?? i dont know.
this book is very good.  super atmostpheric.  i audibly gasped a few times.  i felt like ellis was a bit less developed than i wanted, but in the end, i understand why.  i also liked the light commentary about the role of womens mental health in horror novels, and how their experiences are discredited despite their inclinations for the truth.  this book is peak gaslight gatekeep girlboss.
slight spoilers for these violent delights below, in conversation with a lesson in vengeance. 

- you dont understand how fortuitous it was for me to pick this up after these violent delights.  like gays going through violent things together and it ends up destroying them? 
- people keeping secrets from one another but also holding evidence against each other in sick and twisted ways?  when the romance is purely physical, and its hard for them to feel love, because love isnt what they see?  rather, they share violence and an inclination to controlling one another?
- i really like these novels about obsession, and the idea that one of the characters finds pleasure in the perverse, and thus feels shame, despite the other character accepting them for who they are
- and the book being dedicated to felicity?? as if she knew what was going to happen anyway?  just like the chess game with julian and paul?  
- and i really like how ambiguous the magic is in this book?  like was she really being haunted? did the magic actually exist?  my skewed answer is yes.  that doesnt mean she wasnt being gaslit so hard.  
- to end, this book has no men in it.  slay.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Suicide, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Moderate: Suicide

hmurff's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing and Alcohol

Minor: Confinement

lavender_lake's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.75

One of the best books I’ve read! Mesmerising, tense and cozy all at once. And it not containing a single cis male character is the cherry on top for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

“‘I suppose, if you’re the kind of person who also chooses to be agnostic as to the existence of deities or fairies in the garden. Yes, there’s always a chance it’s real. But is that what you really believe?’ … I think that once we’re out there in the forest, under the moonlight, she’ll see things differently. Who knows what lurks in the woods, which beings rule the cold space beneath the trees?”

TITLE—A Lesson in Vengeance 

AUTHOR—Victoria Lee

PUBLISHED—2021

PUBLISHER—Delacorte Press

GENRE—YA fantasy

SETTING—an all girls boarding school in New England

MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—dark academia, girls boarding school, witches, magic, Tarot, f/f, Murder!, books & literature, “method writing”, mental illness (OV), unreliable narrator

WRITING STYLE—⭐️?

CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️/⭐️

STORY/PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️

BONUS ELEMENT/S—Fun vibes?

PHILOSOPHY—⭐️/⭐️?

PREMISE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

EXECUTION—⭐️⭐️⭐️

For some reason, I could not get past the writing style of this book. At times it almost felt like there was some kind of glamour on the book that literally kept me from being able to read it or understand what was going on at all. I even tried getting the audiobook but the narrator was doing an accent for the character from Savannah and even speeding it all the way up, I couldn’t. So I ended up sort of speedreading the second half of the book because I was intrigued by the story and was enjoying the vibes. And, unfortunately, while I think I loved the unreliable narrator trope, and the twist at the end, I just don’t think I “got it” enough to be able to really say anything else about it. 🙈

“I need to be able to touch the darkness without being consumed by it.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️

CW // definitely check out the reviews on storygraph that point out the potentially problematic aspects of this book (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)

Further Reading—

• THESE WITCHES DON’T BURN, by Isabel Sterling—my favorite YA f/f modern witches book
• THE CRAFT (1995 movie)—huge similarities in vibes & themes & even the storyline a tiny tiny bit…
• Dorothy Sayers—TBR
• THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, by Shirley Jackson
• WHITE IS FOR WITCHING, by Helen Oyeyemi
• MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION, by Ottessa Moshfegh—similar MCs
• BABEL, by RF Kuang
• IF WE WERE VILLAINS, by ML Rio—my favorite dark academia book
• THE SECRET HISTORY, by Donna Tartt—apparently the author was riffing off this book, so

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt