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kmkasiner's review
3.0
A Lesson in Vengeance is a treat for anyone who loves dark academia. There are so many references and the book is full of VIBES. It's set at a boarding school for gifted, mostly wealthy students. The main character, Felicity, returns to school after some time in an inpatient mental health program. She is an unreliable narrator and the reader is questioning everything she says through the book. Felicity meets Ellis, a famous writing prodigy, and a toxic friendship begins.
The author did a good job of keeping me guessing throughout the story. I never knew who to believe. The last quarter of the book is super fast paced and I could not put it down. Overall I liked this but it involved a lot of suspension of disbelief. Characters act over the top. Ellis and Felicity were fascinating together but I felt like the other side characters were somewhat underdeveloped. Still an enjoyable read, and I can totally picture it as a movie!
The author did a good job of keeping me guessing throughout the story. I never knew who to believe. The last quarter of the book is super fast paced and I could not put it down. Overall I liked this but it involved a lot of suspension of disbelief. Characters act over the top. Ellis and Felicity were fascinating together but I felt like the other side characters were somewhat underdeveloped. Still an enjoyable read, and I can totally picture it as a movie!
annika_fabbi's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
2.5
annineamundsen's review
3.0
I know Felicity is supposed to be an unreliable narrator but all the back and forth on details was mostly just annoying. I liked the beginning more than the end. I would've preferred it to be more supernatural, or to have Felicity be even more unhinged
CW: animal death, murder, death, drowning, alcoholic parent
CW: animal death, murder, death, drowning, alcoholic parent
virgilsaeneid's review
dark
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
5.0
I had an absolute blast reading A Lesson In Vengeance. I'm obsessed with unreliable narrators and the slow descent into madness. Victoria Lee nailed the constant uncanny/eerie feeling of this book. Honestly props to Ellis. She managed to gaslight me into believing she wouldn't kill anyone either. This book toes the perfect line between urban fantasy and literary fiction and keeps you asking will magic be made real or won't it. I find the whole nature of Felicity's thesis regarding how witches and magic reflect female mental illness so perfectly summarised by this storyline!!
delanipiasecki's review
2.5
feel like the author could have done so many different cool things with this concept of magic and mystery in a school founded by possible old dead witches… but no
squandered potential
squandered potential
applejacksbooks's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
bie's review
2.0
“For Felicity. I did it all for you.”
you didn't do enough, sis.
maybe the twitter girlies were right and i cannot actually understand a very deep book. maybe not... there are so many things i didn't like about this book, i don't even know where to start. the last two chapters are the only ones i actually liked so it's only fair i give this two stars. 2 stars for 2 chapters, i might be a bit generous. it got me at first, it made me think it will be smarter than me... and oh, how i wish that was the case...
listen. all i want is a f/f book where they aren't absolutely cruel and toxic towards each other, i don't think that's too much to ask. okay, that's a lie – i also want a dark academia book that doesn't take advantage of mental illness and doesn't twist it in the darkest of ways without then focusing or at least talking about the healing journey. i feel like we were supposed to feel bad for felicity when she realised what was actually happening, but all i could think was duh, finally.
a lesson in vengeance is not smarter than the reader, it's just more pretentious for the sake of being. i still don't understand why was it set in present day when they all insisted on acting like it was the 1880s. there was literally no point in that... also, why is this YA? why are they in highschool? not a single person – not ONE of them – drank water throughout this entire novel. all they did was pretend they liked whiskey and gin and whatever other alcoholic beverage there is (idk, i drink apple juice in my free time) and strong, black coffee. fuck off...
the characters are so... shallow? even felicity and ellis (who are the main characters...) they're both so boring, so predictable and they shouldn't be! they should be smart and complex and make unexpected moves and be one step ahead of the reader. they're not. maybe this was a metaphor (i doubt it), but ellis feels just as fake to the reader as the persona she presents at school. i don't remember where i saw this, it might have been another review, but someone said how the side characters are just names. i couldn't tell you more than one (1) fact about them, and even then i couldn't really say for sure to whom is that fact attached.
the ending was so dumb too? well, dumb is a mean word, but it was so rushed and So boring. that's not how you're supposed to end this kind of book. i read all those pages just for... that? the confrontation scene felt just like the "big" battle from twilight, you know the one. and it wasn't even unexpected, is the thing. i wouldn't necessarily call it predictable since it was a 50/50 chance of things ending the way they did, but it was still... i can't think of any words other than disappointing and boring.
also, to the person who said ellis is a donna tartt self-insert... i hate you and you ruined my life. /j
the trigger warnings can be found here.
you didn't do enough, sis.
maybe the twitter girlies were right and i cannot actually understand a very deep book. maybe not... there are so many things i didn't like about this book, i don't even know where to start. the last two chapters are the only ones i actually liked so it's only fair i give this two stars. 2 stars for 2 chapters, i might be a bit generous. it got me at first, it made me think it will be smarter than me... and oh, how i wish that was the case...
listen. all i want is a f/f book where they aren't absolutely cruel and toxic towards each other, i don't think that's too much to ask. okay, that's a lie – i also want a dark academia book that doesn't take advantage of mental illness and doesn't twist it in the darkest of ways without then focusing or at least talking about the healing journey. i feel like we were supposed to feel bad for felicity when she realised what was actually happening, but all i could think was duh, finally.
a lesson in vengeance is not smarter than the reader, it's just more pretentious for the sake of being. i still don't understand why was it set in present day when they all insisted on acting like it was the 1880s. there was literally no point in that... also, why is this YA? why are they in highschool? not a single person – not ONE of them – drank water throughout this entire novel. all they did was pretend they liked whiskey and gin and whatever other alcoholic beverage there is (idk, i drink apple juice in my free time) and strong, black coffee. fuck off...
the characters are so... shallow? even felicity and ellis (who are the main characters...) they're both so boring, so predictable and they shouldn't be! they should be smart and complex and make unexpected moves and be one step ahead of the reader. they're not. maybe this was a metaphor (i doubt it), but ellis feels just as fake to the reader as the persona she presents at school. i don't remember where i saw this, it might have been another review, but someone said how the side characters are just names. i couldn't tell you more than one (1) fact about them, and even then i couldn't really say for sure to whom is that fact attached.
the ending was so dumb too? well, dumb is a mean word, but it was so rushed and So boring. that's not how you're supposed to end this kind of book. i read all those pages just for... that? the confrontation scene felt just like the "big" battle from twilight, you know the one. and it wasn't even unexpected, is the thing. i wouldn't necessarily call it predictable since it was a 50/50 chance of things ending the way they did, but it was still... i can't think of any words other than disappointing and boring.
also, to the person who said ellis is a donna tartt self-insert... i hate you and you ruined my life. /j
the trigger warnings can be found here.
true14216's review against another edition
4.0
There were so many twists and turns in this novel and I loved it. It was such a sexy lesbian dark academia book. I need more books like this in my life