'Their Vicious Games' by Joelle Wellington is a gripping novel that follows the intense competition known as The Finish, where protagonist Adina Walker must navigate a deadly game to reclaim her dreams of attending Yale. The plot is filled with twists and turns, creating a suspenseful atmosphere that keeps readers glued to the storyline. Wellington's writing style expertly weaves together themes of love, conflict, and growth, making the characters' development a central focus of the narrative.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
The book includes content warnings for bullying, racism, classism, and violence.
From The Publisher:
"A brutally honest and haunting cautionary tale…exposing the lie that is meritocracy and the unrelenting toll that being a final girl takes. A bloody tale spun masterfully…a dark delight." -Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, New York Times bestselling author of Ace of Spades
A Black teen desperate to regain her Ivy League acceptance enters an elite competition only to discover the stakes aren't just high, they're deadly, in this "spine-chilling thriller" ( Publishers Weekly ).
You must work twice as hard to get half as much.
Adina Walker has known this the entire time she's been on scholarship at the prestigious Edgewater Academy-a school for the rich (and mostly white) upper class of New England. It's why she works so hard to be perfect and above reproach, no matter what she must force beneath the surface. Even one slip can cost you everything.
And it does. One fight, one moment of lost control, leaves Adina blacklisted from her top choice Ivy League college and any other. Her only chance to regain the future she's sacrificed everything for is the Finish, a high-stakes contest sponsored by Edgewater's founding family in which twelve young, ambitious women with exceptional promise are selected to compete in three mysterious events: the Ride, the Raid, and the Royale. The winner will be granted entry into the fold of the Remington family, whose wealth and power can open any door.
But when she arrives at the Finish, Adina quickly gets the feeling that something isn't quite right with both the Remingtons and her fellow competitors, and soon it becomes clear that this larger-than-life prize can only come at an even greater cost. Because the Finish's stakes aren't just make or break…they're life and death.
Adina knows the deck is stacked against her-it always has been-so maybe the only way to survive their vicious games is for her to change the rules.
Ratings (3)
Incredible (1) | |
Loved It (2) |
Reader Stats (12):
Read It (3) | |
Want To Read (9) |
1 comment(s)
It took me a while to warm up to
Their Vicious Games only because the beginning was slow, but I was sold by the end of the book. I think Wellington’s biggest strength is her ability to introduce nuance. Although there is an objective good and bad within the book, the characters and their actions have layers. Perhaps the ending’s a bit too tidy, in my opinion, even though there’s an aspect about it that I adore.
Ultimately
Their Vicious Games is thought-provoking in spite of its wild (is it really, tho?) premise.
What can you read after
Their Vicious Games?
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