A Lesson in Vengeance

Product Information

In July 2021, Titan Publishing Group brought the UK and Commonwealth rights for the book. [3] Themes [ edit ] The book touches on issues such as gendered depictions of mental illness in fiction and problems with elite boarding school society, such as classism and racism. [4] The book has been described by several commentators as fitting into the dark academia aesthetic. [5] [6] [7] Reception [ edit ] The thing is, this novel is written through Felicity’s point of view in first person and when I started this book, I questioned that choice. Wouldn’t third person add more to the intrigue of the story?

Sometimes the ending of a book can be a little clue of what was supposed to matter, because you get a Big Reveal, but while we do get a very silly Dramatic Twist, it manages to be irrelevant to every single potential story. 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. It’s Ellis Haley’s first year at Dalloway, and she has already amassed a loyal following. A prodigy novelist at seventeen, Ellis is a so-called method writer. She’s eccentric and brilliant, and Felicity can’t shake the pull she feels to her. So when Ellis asks Felicity to help her research the Dalloway Five for her second book, Felicity can’t say no. Given her history with the arcane, Felicity is the perfect resource. You’ve mentioned before that neither of your protagonists are really “good” girls. What was the most exciting part of that to write?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? I think this would've worked so much better if, like one of the comp titles, this had been an adult (or at least new adult) novel. I think so much of what I struggled with, or found hard to believe, could have been easier to swallow if this had been aged up. Why was it important for you to include discussions of your characters’ sexuality—and in particular, queer sexuality—in your narrative?

But this book also centers around some very heavy and important things, like the importance of taking your prescribed medications, and how scary isolation can be and how it can also make you much more susceptible to be abused without necessarily realizing it easily. And also, how much darker things can turn when those two things are happening to you simultaneously!Let’s talk for a moment about how well written this is too. The worlds are practically lyrical, they’re put together that well. I love books that have a certain rhythm to them and keep the reader entertained at the same time. I’d have to say that this is the most well written book I’ve read this year thus far. Draws you in and never let’s go, but the voice it’s written in is just perfect. Is this what it feels like to be a ghost? To haunt the same halls over and over, waiting for someone to see you, to speak to you, to call for you or send you away again?” I came for the sapphics, but I got red flag after red flag and couldn't root for them. Not when the love interest was manipulative and made the mc kill an animal just because. And I mean she wasn't forced, she did it willingly, so after that I hated her, too. I'm sorry, y'all can torture people all you want, but animal cruelty is where I drawn the line.