Reviews tagging 'Child death'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

15 reviews

thissagreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

The ONLY reason I finished this book was because I wanted to know what happened in the end. The magical allure that the book’s synopsis was just that- disappointingly not magical- and it took me a very long time to finish because the pace was SO SLOW! The sapphic romance I thought would make book better, didn’t, and

the new girl Ellis is literally gaslighting Felicity so intensely that they have a weird romance, all while Ellis inevitably kills one of their friends, for a better understanding of a killer, for her stupid book! And then she basically sets up the various environments with felicity’s prints/objects, to use against her in case she tried to tell the cops the truth. And even thought felicity pushes Ellis off the same cliff her previous girlfriend fell from, it didn’t feel like a true, fully complete ending.

This book took forever to finish because it was boring and slow. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, and Gaslighting

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

---

Content Warnings

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

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Confinement, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Racism, Transphobia, and Lesbophobia

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. 

---

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

peachmoni's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.5

You should probably just read The Secret History instead...

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Blood, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Child abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcohol, and Classism

squinnittowinit's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

3.25

Personally I'm not a fan of psychological thrillers, as I find the theme of obsession to be boring. As much as I still did not enjoy what this book was about or any of the characters, I have to admit that it is very well-written. The pacing feels both laid-back and dream-like, yet suspenseful at the same time, as

the narrator slowly reveals herself to be more and more unreliable as she deals with both past trauma and current manipulation.

This is one of those books where all the pieces come together in the end to finally reveal the entire picture, creating a satisfying wrap-up, if nothing else.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Gun violence and Blood

ammerrily'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Vomit

lqvekanej's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Toxic relationship, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Cursing and Sexual content

midnightgremlin's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

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

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

queergoth_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

3.75

I was super excited to read this because queer dark academia is right up my street. It was very well written, and gave me modern classic gothic vibes. Shirley Jackson is mentioned a lot and it did remind me of her work somewhat. 

Unfortunately I found the characters to be a bit unlovable which really made it hard for me to feel anything for them. 

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Outing, and Classism