Book Review: ‘A Lesson in Vengeance’ by Victoria Lee (witches and mean girls at prep school)
The second episode of season five of ‘The Dark Academicals’ brought us Victoria Lee’s ‘A Lesson in Vengeance’; a novel that should have ticked so many boxes for both of us. I mean, look at this! It’s ‘The Dark Academicals’ catnip:
An exclusive prep school
Witches and the occult
LGBTQIA+ characters
Dark histories beginning to repeat themselves
‘A Lesson in Vengeance’ had a huge amount of potential for us, but we both ended up really disliking this novel, unfortunately.
A twisty dark academia 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. Perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab, Leigh Bardugo, M.L. Rio and Donna Tartt.
Felicity Morrow is back at the Dalloway School 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 five Dalloway students―girls some say were witches.
Witchcraft is woven into Dalloway’s past. The school doesn’t talk about it, but the students do. In secret rooms and shadowy corners, girls convene. And before her girlfriend died, Felicity was drawn to the dark. She’s determined to leave that behind now, but it’s hard when Dalloway’s occult history is everywhere. And when the new girl won’t let her forget.
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 Felicity for help researching the Dalloway Five for her second book, Felicity can’t say no. And when history begins to repeat itself, Felicity will have to face the darkness in Dalloway―and in herself.
You can listen to the episode right here:
I was so hopeful about this novel, even with the low average rating on Goodreads, but I was so disappointed.
By biggest issue by far was the repeated ridiculous claims about the characters. I know Lee was trying to set them apart as special and above others, but it was just way too over the top and it came across as ridiculous. Ellis won the Pulitzer at 17, Alex scaled Everest twice before 17 and qualified for the Youth Olympics (as an under-privileged student on a scholarship with a single mom), the grandmother of Leonie (one of only three black characters in the novel) was pals with famous member of the Harlem Renaissance such as Zora Neale Hurston, and students as aerospace students at an institution with no formal education structure in the school.
It was ridiculous and chucked me straight out of the story.
I also just struggled to connect with any of the characters. The whole cast is comprised of rich, mean, wishy-washy girls who hate each other and are just trying to make each other miserable for the most part. This is usually a dark academia trope, but there was no reason for it or motivation behind it at all - they’re just rich. And mean. There also doesn’t seem to be anything else tying them together, even though they also should have some academic prowess to be at such a prestigious school. They spout literary quotes every now and then or name drop authors, but that seems to be the extent of it.
The last 15% of this novel saved it for me. I was shocked by the twists, turns and betrayals, and also glad that some questions were finally answered. It also demonstrated just how much promise the rest of the novel had, even while it took it into the full thriller zone.
It was lacking atmosphere and nuance and I really didn’t enjoy it, but I can also see why other people really do enjoy it. It’s easy and quick to read with the concurrent story of the Dalloway Witches (which honestly is the most interesting part of the story), but the portrayal of mental illness isn’t good so definitely keep that in mind if you do pick it up.
So is ‘A Lesson in Vengeance’ dark academia? Nope, not at all, sadly.
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Written by Sophie
