Joy101 reviewed A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
None
(not provided)
Hardcover, 384 pages
English language
Published Aug. 3, 2021 by Delacorte Press.
A Lesson in Vengeance
3 stars
(9 reviews)
A dark, twisty thriller about a centuries-old, ivy-covered boarding school haunted by its history of witchcraft and two girls dangerously close to digging up the past. The dangerous romance and atmospheric setting makes it a perfect read for fans of dark academia.
The history of Dalloway School lives in the bones it was built on. Five violent deaths in the first ten years of its existence. Sometimes you can still smell the blood on the air.
It wasn’t until Felicity enrolled that she fell in love with the dark. And now she’s back to finish her senior year after the tragic death of her girlfriend. She even has her old room in Godwin House, the exclusive dormitory rumored to be haunted by the spirits of the five Dalloway students who died there—girls some say were witches.
It’s Ellis Haley’s first year at Dalloway. A prodigy novelist at seventeen, Ellis is …
A dark, twisty thriller about a centuries-old, ivy-covered boarding school haunted by its history of witchcraft and two girls dangerously close to digging up the past. The dangerous romance and atmospheric setting makes it a perfect read for fans of dark academia.
The history of Dalloway School lives in the bones it was built on. Five violent deaths in the first ten years of its existence. Sometimes you can still smell the blood on the air.
It wasn’t until Felicity enrolled that she fell in love with the dark. And now she’s back to finish her senior year after the tragic death of her girlfriend. She even has her old room in Godwin House, the exclusive dormitory rumored to be haunted by the spirits of the five Dalloway students who died there—girls some say were witches.
It’s Ellis Haley’s first year at Dalloway. A prodigy novelist at seventeen, Ellis is eccentric and brilliant, and Felicity can’t shake the pull she feels to her. So when Ellis asks for help researching the Dalloway Five for her second book, Felicity can’t say no.
Dalloway’s occult lore is everywhere, and the new girl won’t let Felicity forget it. But when the past begins to invade on the present, Felicity needs to decide where she stands. The soil under her feet is bloody with Dalloway’s history. But so is the present. Is it Dalloway—or is it her?
Yam Cake reviewed A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
The Woods with a dash of Art School Confidential
4 stars
Content warning Here be spoilers for A Lesson In Vengeance, The Woods and Art School Confidential
The Woods was a 2006 supernatural thriller about a girl discovering that the boarding school she's trapped in is run by evil witches. Art School Confidential was a 2006 comedy-thriller about an art student trying to get the girl of his dreams to notice him and y'know what, she finally does when he's accidentally framed for murder!
In terms of tonality, A Lesson In Vengeance definitely leans toward The Woods because it takes itself very seriously 99.9% of the time. But there's something inherently darkly funny about how both Ellis and poor Jerome get what they desire, at great cost. One gets as close as they can get to the centre of their obsession and the other finally gets his girl. Both lose their freedoms, one permanently, one maybe not so much.
Where A Lesson In Vengeance mirrors The Woods is its inability to take itself less seriously. Felicity has little in the way of a real friend or a functioning support system. The book is written from Felicity's point of view, so we're always swimming in her thoughts. I found her neurotic behaviour fascinating, because she's struggling to break free from her mother's control but at the same time, her mind is somewhat malleable. She feels an irresistible pull towards Ellis and does whatever she wants her and the girls to do. She lets her psychiatrist shape her memory, mold the circumstances of Alex's death into something it is not. But Felicity often tries, even if she may ultimately fail, to not become like her mother and to reject her influence and her alleged concern.
In her mother's case, the influence is alcohol which has led the very wealthy Mrs. Morrow to destroy many priceless pieces of art and forego her parental responsibilities. For Felicity's case, the influence is something dark that whispers to her. It may or may not have inadvertently led to Alex's death. But it certainly led to Ellis's. And that second event seems to have emptied Felicity of all inertia and some degree of humanity.
At the epilogue, some time has passed since the events of the book. Felicity has a new girlfriend and a new life in London. She seems both committed and haunted at the same time. Committed to the dark whispering that suggests her relationship has an expiry date and feeling no guilt that she will break her girlfriend's heart. Haunted, because when she sees Ellis's posthumous literary masterpiece, dedicated to her, out in the book store, she cannot even bring herself to look at it.
Maybe at the end, A Lesson In Vengeance isn't about the witches of Dalloway and the curse, but about how ruin can sprout from tragedy and then spread like a disease, infecting those closest to them with a nihilism that eats away at their humanity and their ability to see human suffering. All in all, A Lesson In Vengeance has some quality thrills and is a more than enjoyable, if not entirely convincing romp featuring two characters with tragic pasts who feel compelled to do horrible things to each other.
Notes - I keep thinking of this as a movie, because movies don't have to make as much sense and because actors are magic. Shout out to Piper Laurie, who played Carrie's mum like she was in a dark comedy, because she found the script so operatic and over-the-top. Casting Felicity is going to be a challenge because she is kind of a calm ocean with chaos roiling underneath. - I'm also wondering if there was a better way to reveal who Ellis really is and how damaged she is, outside of that conversation with her sibling. I'm thinking of the scrabble scene in Rosemary's Baby, which was so beautifully dramatic and darkly funny. (Obligatory fuck you to Roman Polanski, obviously.)
Druidan reviewed A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
A Lesson In Vengeance - Review
3 stars
The book does a good job building atmosphere. The gothic melancholy and mystery, laced with is-it-real-or-not supernatural happenings, is delightful. Between that and the ability to create a few vivid images that really stick in my mind, there are some definite strengths here.
A few of the twists and turns were also solid, with the tension of the final act being the strongest piece of the writing.
I wish that were true of the rest of the book.
Frankly, the characters were generally unlikeable, though Ellis at least was interesting due to how much of an enigma she was.
Felicity was a wet blanket. I get her grief, and the more you learn the why the more understandable it becomes. That doesn’t make it interesting to read. I don’t know how realistic her mental issues were, but they felt like a convenient excuse to hide information buried in her memory, …
The book does a good job building atmosphere. The gothic melancholy and mystery, laced with is-it-real-or-not supernatural happenings, is delightful. Between that and the ability to create a few vivid images that really stick in my mind, there are some definite strengths here.
A few of the twists and turns were also solid, with the tension of the final act being the strongest piece of the writing.
I wish that were true of the rest of the book.
Frankly, the characters were generally unlikeable, though Ellis at least was interesting due to how much of an enigma she was.
Felicity was a wet blanket. I get her grief, and the more you learn the why the more understandable it becomes. That doesn’t make it interesting to read. I don’t know how realistic her mental issues were, but they felt like a convenient excuse to hide information buried in her memory, and a bit ham-fisted at that.
The rest of the characters just don’t have presence to them. I couldn’t remember their names if I tried. They are most useful as devices and background dressing.
I have no idea how the school itself operates. As far as the book is concerned the only locations of consequence on campus is Godwin House, the library, and one advisor’s office.
The themes and ideas are muddled. The representation is present but feels token. The sapphic romance is a bit unconvincing and lacks the spice I wanted from a wlw book.
A final note on the book’s weaknesses, it feels like it is trying too hard. The atmosphere was good, usually, but sometimes the author went a bit heavy on adding particularly gothic words to descriptions. It couldn’t just be as cold as dirt, it had to be as cold as graveyard dirt, etc.
I don’t want this to be just a big old pile of negatives. The thriller aspect is satisfying, and there are particular scenes and reveals that we’re very well done.
I wasn’t taken for a ride or anything, but I enjoyed my time with the book. I give it a hesitant recommendation for anyone who thinks the premise or genre sounds interesting, just be aware that your mileage may vary.
