Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

57 reviews

queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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? No

3.5

3.5 ⭐ CW: death, death of an animal, underage drinking, minor sexual content 

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee is a YA thriller about a girl's boarding school with a history of witchcraft and gruesome murders. This was a good book, but a slow read for a thriller. 

We follow Felicity Morrow at Dalloway School upon her return from her leave of absence the previous year. Felicity had been admitted to a mental healthcare facility after the death of her ex-girlfriend. She had become obsessed with the Dalloway Five, a group of students from the 1700s that were accused of witchcraft and all died in gruesome, inexplicable ways. Felicity's fixation of witchcraft and ghosts, makes her a bit of an unreliable narrator. She is drawn back into old patterns when writing prodigy Ellis Haley shows up asking Felicity to help her research the Dalloway Five. 

This was a great atmospheric read for fall. It's perfect dark academia down to the aesthetics of tweed, elbow patches, and wealthy girls with a disdain for technology who think themselves superior for reading classic works for fiction. Felicity's thesis project is pretty meta in this story. She is doing on how the depictions of mental illness are used to build suspense and a sense of mistrust, and conflation of magic and madness in female characteristics. That's definitely what is going on in this book. You constantly question Felicity's stability, and whether magic is real or if she is just losing it. 

There are a lot of themes about mental illness and how women in fiction are depicted with it. Ellis Haley makes for a compelling character as well. I do wish it had moved along a little quicker with less focus on Felicity's apparent haunting, but it was clearly meant to make the reader question things. All in all, it was pretty messed up what happened. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, and Alcohol

kittykatruin'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

4.75

the twists and turns were twisting and turning 
i kept thinking i knew what was going on and then something else would happen 

Felicity says “Mostly how depictions of mental illness are used to build suspense by introducing uncertainty and a sense of mistrust, especially with regard to the narrators perception of events, and the conflation of magic and madness in female characters.” and i think that was a very get description of how i was feeling while reading the book. i kept going back and forth on whether or not i thought there was actually magic involved or if ellis was just fucking with her for her book. and then it was so much darker than i thought and even then when i thought i knew what was going on and then it got darker 
wild

i had a good time reading it 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Transphobia, and Toxic friendship

nutmegandpumpkin's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Loved the vibes and was intrigued all the way to the end. Haven’t read a book that made me react so strongly (e.g. putting the book down and going WHAT) in a long time. Didn’t really like any of the characters per se but I was okay with it? All the characters are flawed but it’s in a realistic and interesting way so it didn’t bother me as much as unlikable characters usually would.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Sexual content, and Vomit

Minor: Cursing, Eating disorder, and Gun violence

annamercado19's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

I don't quite know how to feel about this so I'm giving it a 4. The writing itself is beautiful and otherworldly. A bit of a slow start for me but then it speeds up and it doesn't slow down. The way the truth comes out in pieces, the horror rising until it's all consuming... Incredible and horrible and so impressive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Sexual content

crusoe's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Sexual content

Minor: Racism and Alcohol

seren's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ambaright's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Sexual content

vagrantheather's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

A spooky dark academia with an unreliable narrator. Lots of fun. I do think the characters are much too well read for teenagers - they all speak academia fluently and have fixed thoughts on concepts and authors unknown outside of the realm of academic literature - would have worked better for me if they were in university looking forward to Masters programs. In general they just aren't at all young acting. And the way all of the adults in the background tacitly permit smoking, drinking, and a total lack of supervision, seems to me more like college than a pricey boarding school full of academically inclined socialites.

But those gripes are minor and in general I loved the mood, setting, writing, moral flexibility, and disconnection from reality. It was a lot of fun to read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual content, and Outing

venti's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

ellis <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Sexual content

Minor: Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicide, and Vomit