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A review by incipientdreamer
A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
5.0
5 stars!
This book was so good!! It had the perfect dark academia aesthetic, the writing and the aura built by the descriptions made the delivery impeccable and perfectly spooky. I started this book at midnight, and had to read it with all the lights on! While the characters are teenagers, and the book is set at a prep school, I felt like this was more New Adult rather than YA.
A Lesson in vengeance is a book about 18-year-old Felicity who is coping with the death of her girlfriend. She is a literal mess, even after going through extensive therapy for a year. The story is set at Dalloway School for Girls. A posh boarding school for daughters of the top 5%. However, Dalloway school has a dark and witchy past steeped in the Salem witch trials, as well as the infamous murders of the Dalloway Five rumored to be witches themselves. Felicity is high key obsessed with the Dalloway Five, all things paranormal and magical.
I don't understand why this book isn't more famous, I loved everything about it. Felicity is the classic unreliable narrator, and the reader is left guessing the true nature of the events. Much like Felicity, the reader can't help but wonder if Felicity is really being haunted by her dead girlfriend and the dead witch from 300 years ago, or if it's just her trauma and guilt seeping through. The mystery and the suspense kept me on edge and wondering what would happen next. It was just one plot twist after another. Not to mention, Felicity's thesis is on: “Mostly how depictions of mental illness are used to build suspense by introducing uncertainty and a sense of mistrust, especially with regard to the narrator’s perception of events, and the conflation of magic and madness in female characters.” Oh the irony... I kept repeating "what the fuck!" again and again in heightened tones of surprise while reading the last few chapters.
I also loved how ambiguous Ellis' character felt. Ellis Haley is the new girl, now lives in Felicity's dead girlfriend's room. She pretty much nailed the girlboss, gaslight, gatekeep trope lmao. Ellis is a child prodigy and already a bestselling author at the age of 17. I found Ellis pretty shady at first but then like Felicity, I slowly warmed up to her even though she still came off as eccentric and kind of messed up (i find method actors very sus, so method writers like Ellis fall in the same category for me).
If you adore the aesthetic of dark academia, morally questionable sapphic mcs, witches, madness, unreliable narrators, midnight rituals under the new moon, and creepy ghosts, you HAVE to read this book! It's a new favorite of mine, and I'm going to be recommending this to everyone I meet.
the red berries of the mountain ash
and in the dark sky
the birds’ night migrations
This book was so good!! It had the perfect dark academia aesthetic, the writing and the aura built by the descriptions made the delivery impeccable and perfectly spooky. I started this book at midnight, and had to read it with all the lights on! While the characters are teenagers, and the book is set at a prep school, I felt like this was more New Adult rather than YA.
Ex scientia ultio.
From knowledge comes vengeance.
A Lesson in vengeance is a book about 18-year-old Felicity who is coping with the death of her girlfriend. She is a literal mess, even after going through extensive therapy for a year. The story is set at Dalloway School for Girls. A posh boarding school for daughters of the top 5%. However, Dalloway school has a dark and witchy past steeped in the Salem witch trials, as well as the infamous murders of the Dalloway Five rumored to be witches themselves. Felicity is high key obsessed with the Dalloway Five, all things paranormal and magical.
I don't understand why this book isn't more famous, I loved everything about it. Felicity is the classic unreliable narrator, and the reader is left guessing the true nature of the events. Much like Felicity, the reader can't help but wonder if Felicity is really being haunted by her dead girlfriend and the dead witch from 300 years ago, or if it's just her trauma and guilt seeping through. The mystery and the suspense kept me on edge and wondering what would happen next. It was just one plot twist after another. Not to mention, Felicity's thesis is on: “Mostly how depictions of mental illness are used to build suspense by introducing uncertainty and a sense of mistrust, especially with regard to the narrator’s perception of events, and the conflation of magic and madness in female characters.” Oh the irony... I kept repeating "what the fuck!" again and again in heightened tones of surprise while reading the last few chapters.
I also loved how ambiguous Ellis' character felt. Ellis Haley is the new girl, now lives in Felicity's dead girlfriend's room. She pretty much nailed the girlboss, gaslight, gatekeep trope lmao. Ellis is a child prodigy and already a bestselling author at the age of 17. I found Ellis pretty shady at first but then like Felicity, I slowly warmed up to her even though she still came off as eccentric and kind of messed up (i find method actors very sus, so method writers like Ellis fall in the same category for me).
If you adore the aesthetic of dark academia, morally questionable sapphic mcs, witches, madness, unreliable narrators, midnight rituals under the new moon, and creepy ghosts, you HAVE to read this book! It's a new favorite of mine, and I'm going to be recommending this to everyone I meet.