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queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Minor: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, and Alcohol
raynearchv's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit
taryn_g's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol
kittykatruin's review against another edition
- 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
i kept thinking i knew what was going on and then something else would happen
wild
i had a good time reading it
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
- 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.
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
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
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
crusoe's review against another edition
- 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
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
persephonefoxx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“The question isn't whether magic is real. It's whether I can touch it without being consumed by it.”
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Grief, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Emotional abuse, Racism, and Classism
seren's review against another edition
- 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
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
sleepysapph_'s review against another edition
- 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
2.5
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Violence, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Minor: Racism