A review by comrademena
A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
2.0
2.5/5 rounded down because i feel cheated.
let’s start with the good - i really liked the writing style and the characters felt consistently written. it established a good atmosphere and the pacing was well done. i also REALLY liked the last 3 chapters and the use of magic as a metaphor for love and closure. the way felicity’s first time trying magic was almost a love letter to the dalloway girls and what they believed and how her final ritual was her saying goodbye to the people she’s lost, the myth of the dalloway girls themselves, and the part of her that needed it to cope… real literature! adored the scene where they summon snow in the church; felicity’s customized magic being the only one that she thought actually worked and didn’t hurt was so good and her horror and fear the next morning was even better. also bonus points for being one of 2 books where the gaslighting actually had me questioning the truth too (the other being harrow the ninth, veritable masterclass in unreliable narration)
now the bad.
this book did not need to be set in the modern day, set in high school, or even a ya novel. it did not affect the plot whatsoever and this easily could have been an adult novel without those elements. the girls certainly didn’t act like they were anytime in the 21st century; literally the only time that was relevant was when ellis needed a way to convincingly frame felicity. this book didn’t even need to be in a high school at all; the girls’ studies came off as more similar to university coursework. the only time the high school element was relevant was the way felicity’s mom threatened to pull her out of school (or something along those lines idr) at the end which she couldn’t even follow through on anyways because felicity is 18.
while the characters were consistently written and felt cohesive, they were also not particularly compelling. every move of theirs was predictable and ellis in particular felt like the amalgamation of every “charismatic famous prodigy” ever character written (i wouldn’t go so far as to say she feels like bbc sherlock but like the comparison is certainly worth making). felicity was alright i guess, but she also felt generic. the side characters are even worse - clara’s entire personality was “annoying” and leonie and kajal don’t even have them beyond some truly surface level details.
for this reason i can’t say i felt any real attachment to felicity and ellis’s romantic relationship. all of the pieces were there but they didn’t have enough chemistry for me to be invested in them. i also don’t really think it would have made a difference in the plot or in my enjoyment of the novel if they’d remained platonic, which is probably the worst thing i could ever say about an f/f novel but it has to be said! however i did like how them getting together lead to felicity coming out to leonie and i’m not ashamed to say i added an entire half star just because she explicitly called herself a lesbian. its hard out here and i will increase ratings for explicitly labeled lesbianism.
other people have already pointed out how ridiculous the scene where leonie basically has to explain racism bad to felicity was so i’m not going to get into it except for saying that it had the definitely unintended side effect of pointing out how the only social issue this book ever tackles is misogyny without ever (except for this one scene) even acknowledging the other factors that play into certain women being treated worse than others. yay for white feminism and congratulations you played yourself by very obviously paying lip service to an important social issue.
i feel like ellis being revealed to be an actual murderer was meant to be a shock but it was so predictable to me. i don’t have much to say about this part actually except that i rolled my eyes because the “character really into murder but its okay because they have a non-murder reason took it too far and is actually a murderer!” thing is so overdone. i didn’t hate it as much as i could have however because it led to those wonderful last 3 chapters and also because the novel dedication was kinda excellent to me.
overall this was a disappointing start to my mostly horror october. i may tune in to the author’s other works however because i feel like the biggest problem with this one is that they bit off more than they could chew and their other books might be better.
let’s start with the good - i really liked the writing style and the characters felt consistently written. it established a good atmosphere and the pacing was well done. i also REALLY liked the last 3 chapters and the use of magic as a metaphor for love and closure. the way felicity’s first time trying magic was almost a love letter to the dalloway girls and what they believed and how her final ritual was her saying goodbye to the people she’s lost, the myth of the dalloway girls themselves, and the part of her that needed it to cope… real literature! adored the scene where they summon snow in the church; felicity’s customized magic being the only one that she thought actually worked and didn’t hurt was so good and her horror and fear the next morning was even better. also bonus points for being one of 2 books where the gaslighting actually had me questioning the truth too (the other being harrow the ninth, veritable masterclass in unreliable narration)
now the bad.
this book did not need to be set in the modern day, set in high school, or even a ya novel. it did not affect the plot whatsoever and this easily could have been an adult novel without those elements. the girls certainly didn’t act like they were anytime in the 21st century; literally the only time that was relevant was when ellis needed a way to convincingly frame felicity. this book didn’t even need to be in a high school at all; the girls’ studies came off as more similar to university coursework. the only time the high school element was relevant was the way felicity’s mom threatened to pull her out of school (or something along those lines idr) at the end which she couldn’t even follow through on anyways because felicity is 18.
while the characters were consistently written and felt cohesive, they were also not particularly compelling. every move of theirs was predictable and ellis in particular felt like the amalgamation of every “charismatic famous prodigy” ever character written (i wouldn’t go so far as to say she feels like bbc sherlock but like the comparison is certainly worth making). felicity was alright i guess, but she also felt generic. the side characters are even worse - clara’s entire personality was “annoying” and leonie and kajal don’t even have them beyond some truly surface level details.
for this reason i can’t say i felt any real attachment to felicity and ellis’s romantic relationship. all of the pieces were there but they didn’t have enough chemistry for me to be invested in them. i also don’t really think it would have made a difference in the plot or in my enjoyment of the novel if they’d remained platonic, which is probably the worst thing i could ever say about an f/f novel but it has to be said! however i did like how them getting together lead to felicity coming out to leonie and i’m not ashamed to say i added an entire half star just because she explicitly called herself a lesbian. its hard out here and i will increase ratings for explicitly labeled lesbianism.
other people have already pointed out how ridiculous the scene where leonie basically has to explain racism bad to felicity was so i’m not going to get into it except for saying that it had the definitely unintended side effect of pointing out how the only social issue this book ever tackles is misogyny without ever (except for this one scene) even acknowledging the other factors that play into certain women being treated worse than others. yay for white feminism and congratulations you played yourself by very obviously paying lip service to an important social issue.
i feel like ellis being revealed to be an actual murderer was meant to be a shock but it was so predictable to me. i don’t have much to say about this part actually except that i rolled my eyes because the “character really into murder but its okay because they have a non-murder reason took it too far and is actually a murderer!” thing is so overdone. i didn’t hate it as much as i could have however because it led to those wonderful last 3 chapters and also because the novel dedication was kinda excellent to me.
overall this was a disappointing start to my mostly horror october. i may tune in to the author’s other works however because i feel like the biggest problem with this one is that they bit off more than they could chew and their other books might be better.