Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

26 reviews

cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This is without a doubt my favourite read of the year.
Fucking hell, this was a WILD RIDE.

I love every single one of the characters, and I love the way this book kept me hooked 100% of the while.

Even though Victor is «edgy» in a way, it just makes sense for him in such a good and logical way. I'm not annoyed or icked by it, I just like his character.
Loving the way Mitch's character is built up, too, and of course Sydney.

I especially loved Eli and Serena as villains, too. Nothing I love more than a sexy and crazed religious man and a fem-dom.

For a while, I was conflicted on what I thought about people being revived. However, I don't think it matters here? In all other media, it seriously bothers me, but in this book in particular, who lives and who dies isn't really what keeps you on edge, it's how the characters' relationships with each other develops. I absolutely love the dynamic between each and every character, I CANNOT stress any more how much I LOVED reading this.

Ditched Norwegian, maths, and economics class for this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Alcohol, Animal death, Drug use, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Violence, Drug abuse, Murder, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Medical content

Minor: Sexual content, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

ahpets's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Torture, Animal death, Alcohol, Blood, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

molzeus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Torture, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse

jgalla's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Self harm, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Bullying, Gore, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Cursing

donatio's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-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

5.0

As always V. E. Schwab did not disappoint.
I loved the writing style and how she skipped back and forth between the past and the present. The characters were well-crafted and I found a connection to every one of them, especially Victor's group of strays. 
It was not really action-packed but I still loved how the story evolved. 
Before reading one should check the trigger warnings, because it gets dark at points and "There are no good men in this game" is quite true. The mix of flashbacks and present might be annoying for some people too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Death, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt

irinalast's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Jumping timelines, complicated characters with justifications of their thoughts and actions. Themes of villains vs heroes and the people in between. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Mental illness, Death, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

nie_fertig's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Shoutout to my friend Elian for recommending this book, and my friend Myla for wanting me to read it as well! Let me just say, the pacing is slow - especially in the beginning - but then it all comes together and everything crumbles chaotically in the end - I LOVE it!! These characters are so, so flawed too and it's really interesting how Schwab writes the two main characters (Victor and Eli) to not be likable and for the audience to not really pick a side between the rivalry because they're both horrible people and only think of themselves (except when they think of each other - you CANNOT tell me victor and eli aren't gay for each other - even though they want to kill each other, they think about one another ALL THE TIME like they literally woundn't have a purpose in life without one another - it's similar vibes to Shakespeare's Coriolanus and Aufidius).
Anyway, I also wanted to mention even though you're not supposed to be Team Victor or Team Eli, I'm still Team Victor because at least he doesn't say "I'm going to kill in the name of God," unlike Eli, which is terrifying and gives me The Batter from OFF vibes (wanting to "purify" the entire land, even if that means he has to kill his "monstrous" wife and child UGH). So, I'll see how the second book goes and see if I'm still Team Victor.
P.S. Mitch is a big softie and I love him <3 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Torture, Violence, and Emotional abuse

danireads01's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Gore, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Murder, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Drug use, Drug abuse, Confinement, and Animal death

kt2e56's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

4.5

WOW. This was excellent. Genuinely thrilling and so dark and suspenseful which I’m a bit surprised by as my only other knowledge of V.E. Schwab’s work is The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue which has its moments of darkness but is so vastly different. Kudos to Schwab for now giving me two books, one swoon-worthy and one brooding, that I’ve completely fallen in love with.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Violence, Stalking, Mental illness, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Child death, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

anthasplans's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

It fascinates me every time I read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Murder, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Gaslighting, Violence, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship