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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.
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.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, and Alcohol
raynearchv's review against another edition
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit
taryn_g'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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol
centrifugepolitics's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Gore, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment
Minor: Self harm
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
i kept thinking i knew what was going on and then something else would happen
wild
i had a good time reading it
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
hookerkitty's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
There is also a zero percent chance these bitches would’ve gotten away with what they did…..Well, unless the wealthy white families paid the cops off. So maybe it is realistic 🤷🏻♀️ still not a great book though
Also one stupid thing that really irked me - since when does snow patter on a roof? Or being able to hear it snowing at all? Not melting and falling off trees - just falling from the sky. I even googled it just now to see if it somehow is a thing (despite living in Michigan most of my life), and even after I told Google that yes I really mean patter, not pattern, it still was like 🤷🏻♀️ and showed pattern stuff. So I changed it to “hear snowing on roof” and it was all about copious amounts of snow sliding off roof, not it snowing onto the roof.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Suicide attempt
nutmegandpumpkin's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Sexual content
pagesofplatypus's review against another edition
challenging
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
5.0
I can't say I've ever read a book like A Lesson in Vengeance.
Lesson one: follow an unreliable narrator.
Lesson two: add some witchcraft.
Lesson three: add in a boarding school setting in the middle of winter.
Lesson four: make it lesbian.
Victoria Lee's A Lesson in Vengeance is a perfect mix of the semi-obscure academic references of Dead Poets Society, the Gothic atmoshpere of Wednesday, and the twisty, wintry murder mystery of The Pale Blue Eye.
Felicity Morrow is haunted. Cursed to reckon with the ghost of her ex-girlfriend, one whom she feels directly responsible for killing. When new girl Ellis arrives at the prestigious Dalloway, she is the only one who understands Felicity and embarks on a mission to prove Felicity isn't haunted. As their relationship deepens into something more than friends, Felicity will question how far she's willing to go to seek the truth.
The atmosphere of A Lesson in Vengeance is established perfectly. A suspenseful mix of gloom, secret societies, schoolroom gossip, and age-old secrets. Entering Felicity's fractured mind has readers constantly guessing the story and themselves. And the unsettling questions of what we're willing to believe and what we're willing to tell ourselves will follow readers even after the last page.
Lesson one: follow an unreliable narrator.
Lesson two: add some witchcraft.
Lesson three: add in a boarding school setting in the middle of winter.
Lesson four: make it lesbian.
Victoria Lee's A Lesson in Vengeance is a perfect mix of the semi-obscure academic references of Dead Poets Society, the Gothic atmoshpere of Wednesday, and the twisty, wintry murder mystery of The Pale Blue Eye.
Felicity Morrow is haunted. Cursed to reckon with the ghost of her ex-girlfriend, one whom she feels directly responsible for killing. When new girl Ellis arrives at the prestigious Dalloway, she is the only one who understands Felicity and embarks on a mission to prove Felicity isn't haunted. As their relationship deepens into something more than friends, Felicity will question how far she's willing to go to seek the truth.
The atmosphere of A Lesson in Vengeance is established perfectly. A suspenseful mix of gloom, secret societies, schoolroom gossip, and age-old secrets. Entering Felicity's fractured mind has readers constantly guessing the story and themselves. And the unsettling questions of what we're willing to believe and what we're willing to tell ourselves will follow readers even after the last page.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Gun violence, and Mental illness
sammy357's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I've never read dark academia before and I really only started the book because I thought the premise was interesting and wanted to read more sapphic books, so maybe I wasn't the intended audience.
I thought their would be magic, witches, and ghosts in the book and that's what I was most excited for. That and the mystery of the Dalloway Five.But unfortunately there wasn't actually any magic involved.
I wasn't really invested in the romance or the characters. Honestly from the beginning Ellis gave off bad vibes. When I read that she was a "method writer" I knew she would be a walking red flag. I mean have you ever heard of a method actor that didn't take it too far?
Overall the book was okay. I liked the beginning because of the hints of magic and a haunting, wasn't really invested in the rest of the book, and liked the last couple chapterswith the murder and Felicity trying not to get framed.
Wouldn't read again but I don't feel like I wasted my time reading it.
I thought their would be magic, witches, and ghosts in the book and that's what I was most excited for. That and the mystery of the Dalloway Five.
I wasn't really invested in the romance or the characters. Honestly from the beginning Ellis gave off bad vibes. When I read that she was a "method writer" I knew she would be a walking red flag. I mean have you ever heard of a method actor that didn't take it too far?
Overall the book was okay. I liked the beginning because of the hints of magic and a haunting, wasn't really invested in the rest of the book, and liked the last couple chapters
Wouldn't read again but I don't feel like I wasted my time reading it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Child abuse
Manipulation, substance abuse (alcohol mostly), suicide references (no actual abuse) reference to racist history at a PWI