With queer primary characters, an irresistible gothic atmosphere, and unrelenting creeping dread, this propulsive work of dark academia is both thrilling and thought-provoking." Finally, I feel like dark academia has a unique way of playing with implausibility. The scenario set up in The Secret History, for example, is delightfully implausible, but dark academia loves to take the absurd and make it seem possible—not just possible, but real. Since A Lesson in Vengeance is at its heart still a work of speculative fiction, despite the trappings of a psychological thriller, the structure that dark academia provides for blurring those lines between reality and fiction was perfect. Especially since I wanted to use the story to talk about female grief and mental illness, with a main character who is constantly questioning her reality, I needed a genre that would let me set the reader, too, at a disadvantage. In dark academia, everything is melodramatic to the point of absurdia. It’s ideal for messing with readers’ certainty over what’s real and what isn’t. I also found the depiction of mental health painfully ironic. The character talks about how women of the past were viewed as crazy, and how mental health played a role in this. Despite this, the mentally ill characters are often viewed poorly in this book. Everyone’s mental health journey is different, but I felt like the issues within the book were not handled as I would’ve wished. Felicity's journey, her obsession, her grief, her hauntings, they were all compelling. Where I started to side-eye things was with.. well, almost everything else. Certain characters, with certain influences and motivations, and how transparent it all seemed. And also, my biggest problem really, was just.. why? Maybe there wasn't supposed to be a why. Maybe I just didn't get it.

So what is A Lesson in Vengeance, then? It’s a dark academia that holds you in a vice-grip until you reach the end. It’s beautifully written and a deep-dive into the occult. There’s candid and at times uncomfortable depictions of mental illness, but still honest to the experiences of the author. Lee writes a nuance in the portrayal of trauma that I don’t typically see offered to female characters in the same way it’s granted to their male counterparts. The exploration of these grayer shades of morality provides depth beyond the more conspicuous aspects of the story. Ellis is something new, and it feels like she creates and unravels me in the same moment, a sentence she writes and erases and rewrites, a product of her wants and imagination. I feel like she invented me. I wonder if she feels the same.” Felicity Morrow was such an interesting character to read from and I thoroughly enjoyed her perspective. Her character also fulfils something I adore reading: unreliable narrators. In the case of A Lesson in Vengeance, this worked perfectly to maximise the spookiness and unsettling nature of the story. The reader is often left uncertain of what’s real and what’s not, as Felicity’s own mind works against her. I also adored her character arc and development throughout the novel, resulting in a really satisfying, if unexpected, ending.But it’s not all vibes! The characters were a really strong point of this novel because of their complexity and how realistic they felt. Just like the story, there’s so much to the characters and they are just right. Well, not morally (they are far from morally correct, just saying), but right as in realistically. It just makes sense. Their actions, their choices, their everything. Victoria, you have a well documented love for The Secret History and the Dark Academia genre. What were the most important elements of dark academia that you wanted to carry into your own work? D]eliciously unsettling...With queer primary characters, an irresistible gothic atmosphere, and unrelenting creeping dread, this propulsive work of dark academia is both thrilling and thought-provoking." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) Merlin tries to persuade Arthur to reconsider his decision as they leave the meeting, but he refuses. He then discusses with Gaius that he does not understand Arthur's decision and that he thinks someone else was involved. In his chambers, Arthur is thinking about the same as he looks at the thread used to stitch the saddle. Guinevere tells him that even a great king has enemies in his court who can often be the people he would least suspect. According to her, Tyr is such a person. She is returning to the world pretentiousness capital of the world, her former boarding school in New England, which is for all intents and purposes interchangeable with any other except for the fact that it was founded to be a school for witches and a group of friends in the old-time-y nineteenth century was inexplicably murdered one by one in a series of impossible crimes.

I just had a really good time reading this, I think it's not only beautiful but it's so very important, and the ending will truly leave you screaming. Definitely read it if: you want more (dark) sapphic thrillers, or if you like books with lots of underlying psychology and things to analyse.

But Felicity isn’t the biggest news on campus. Not with the author prodigy Ellis Haley enrolling at Dalloway and moving into Godwin House alongside her. The girls have barely begun to settle in and Ellis is already making waves in their social circles, while Felicity is simply trying not to create any ripples. But Ellis’s new book promises to be on the infamous Dalloway Five, young women accused of being witches centuries ago only to each die under mysterious circumstances. And after learning Felicity’s senior thesis is also about these women, what else can Felicity say when Ellis asks for her help researching their school’s veiled history? A Lesson in Vengeance follows our protagonist Felicity, a girl who is very rich and very pretty but both of those things are like, so beside the point. Yes, she has about every kind of privilege you can imagine, but she's like, tortured, okay? And like, an intellectual? First I gave this one star, because for me one star literally means there was nothing I liked about it, but giving it the same rating as my most hated book of all time (Song of Achilles) seemed unfair. Although the more I This book healed a part of me. It personally really hurt me seeing people trash this rep, but I'm definitely willing to listen to people who have dealt with psychotic depression! Just hit me up! <3

And also I believe that my ongoing need to read everything anyone calls "dark academia," even as this results in pain and disappointment-spiked illness on my end, is the right thing. For the readers] who have never seen themselves represented in fiction as complex, nuanced people rather than as caricatured villains. For the girls who are tired of being called “crazy.” (from Victoria Lee's Goodreads). I love them so much… I was definitely a bit hesitant going into this, no matter how pumped I was over the concept, because I had a rough go with Lee's debut series. This? I loved the writing, I loved the dip in and out of spooky paranormal horror, the uncertainty of it all. I started this late at night and I won't say it scared me but oh did it do a good job with the eerie vibes. Throw that sanity out the door (you will lose it while reading this one either way) and listen to me carefully: you need this book in your life. A Lesson in Vengeance is dark and mysterious, equal parts intense and haunting. It is a tale to read if you want to have your mind thoroughly blown through clever writing and characters. I cannot recommend this book enough if you fancy some lesbianism alongside your dark academia and murder mysteries.Orlando, Christina (June 14, 2021). "The 30 Most Anticipated SFF Books for the Rest of 2021". Tor.com. Felicity was once drawn to the dark legacy of witchcraft. She's determined to leave that behind her now; but it's hard when Dalloway's occult history is everywhere. And when the new girl won't let her forget it.