Violet Grenade by Victoria Scott Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“But this place is not the dream I created. It's just a dusty house where girls trade their virtue for bronze coins they'll never touch.”- Violet Grenade, Victoria Scott

Domino: A runaway with blood on her hands.

Cain: A silent boy about to explode.

Madam Karina: A woman who demands obedience.

Wilson: The one who will destroy them all.

Her name is Domino Ray.

But the voice inside her head has a different name.

When Madam Karina discovers Domino in an alleyway, she offers her a position at her girls’ home in secluded West Texas. With no alternatives and an agenda of her own, Domino accepts. It isn’t long before she is fighting her way up the ranks to gain the madam’s approval…and falling for Cain, the mysterious boy living in the basement.

But the madam has horrible secrets. So do the girls in the house. So does Cain.

Escaping is harder than Domino expects, though, because the madam doesn’t like to lose inventory. But then, Madam Karina doesn’t know about the danger living inside Domino’s mind.

Madam Karina doesn’t know about Wilson.

In a world of darkness, there was a poor thief by the name of Domino whose beauty and intelligence was only surpassed by her dark and twisted past. When the Queen of Flowers, Karina, discovers her and offers to take her in, Domino is delighted, and falls into the Queen's world, battling bosses in order to make it to the next level. But soon, and with the help of a handsome and tortured guard, Cain, she wakes up from the evil spell Queen Karina has put on her. Now, she must defeat the Queen before any other girls fall under her dark spell in the mythical land of... West Texas?

Wait, you mean this isn't a fantasy novel? It's a contemporary thriller? Huh. 

I think this is honestly the most fun I ever had reading a book this year. I mean, is this a good book? No. Is this a bad book? By my standards, yes. It certainly isn't what I would consider to be well-written. I admit, if this was a fantasy, I probably would have given this a much higher rating than it actually got, and would have really enjoyed it and given it a great review, but alas, my thriller standards are much higher than my fantasy standards, likely due to me reading and enjoying more thrillers than I do fantasy. 

As far as ideas go, Ms Scott gets an A+. Extremely implausible, but hey, so was The Butterfly Garden and I loved every second of that book. But I don't give idea points. Okay, yes, I gave Sekret idea points, but that's because the execution of that book was better than this one. Where am I going with this? Right, the idea behind the story. It's honestly really cool, the whole flower motif and the dark and edgy parts and the home itself, but something about the whole thing just felt so over the top to the point where it was impossible to take seriously. In that respect it was a lot like The Cellar, great idea, authors just don't know how to write thrillers in a way that makes them not over the top theatrical. Hell, they even have the same flower thing going on! Domino even has basically the same backstory (though with a few modifications) as Clover.

Both also have the same overly intense dialogue. For instance, at one point Domino actually says "Give me your crown? Let it fall from evil and sit on the head of righteousness!" Seriously. I had to read that line twice. Domino, dear, I think you have a bit of a flair for the dramatic. Everyone also spoke like they were given a list of cliches and they had to say as many of them whenever they spoke. Like a soap opera basically. But I think the reason why this amused rather than grated on me today is because I watched five episodes of Twin Peaks (including an (un)healthy dose of the James-Evelyn storyline) this morning, and if you're a Twin Peaks fan you know what I'm talking about. Of course, the reason for that dialogue in Twin Peaks is because the show is (among other things) a parody of a soap opera, whereas in this book it's a leetle less excusable because Scott clearly intended on this book being a serious dark thriller, but hey, by the time I picked this book up my threshold for ridiculousness was already extremely high. 

Can we take a minute to talk about the names? Like Poppet? And Domino? Those are fine names for a fantasy novel, but a contemporary? Give me a break. I think at one point Madam Karina goes on about how Domino's a real name because it makes her think of gambling and whatever, and I was like "all I think of when I hear Domino is shitty chain pizza". I mean, I don't hate the name Domino, but I would give my dog that name, not my daughter. Also, Love Interest's name is Cain. Hope you paid attention in Sunday School, because that allusion's gonna come back in the most obvious of ways. 

As a whole, too, the characterization is just bad. No one has any real depth, and everyone just kind of acted like over dramatic idiots. There are no subtle nuances to any of the characters. The most interesting one is probably Madam Karina, but at the same time I think I've seen her before. It was the same with Domino, I've seen her before. I mean, I love the short, blond, and blue eyed heroine, but she came across to me as every other YA female MC. She especially reminded me of Tina in the quickly abandoned City of Saints and Thieves and also most other fantasy protags. And the same with Cain (how many times have we seen the dark and broody love interest?) and Poppet (cute, perky, innocent best friend). Also, if I ever have to read a storyline in which the obvious love interest and the main character hate each other, and then seemingly out of nowhere fall in love, I'm throwing the book across the room. Again, high ridiculousness threshold today, so I didn't shatter the screen of my iPad.

The plot was fairly insane as well, and I found myself at several times reminding myself not to question the insanity of it and let myself enjoy the story. Because, again, the idea was awesome, but at times it felt rushed and like Scott bit off more than she could chew. One of the few things that I genuinely disliked about it was that it dragged at times and felt too rushed at others. I don't care about Cain and Domino, I'd rather read about her experiences in the house. Also, her moving up in the levels kind of reminded me of Pokemon or some JRPG that I never actually played because I don't play JRPGs in that you have to defeat the "boss" (Point Girl) in order to advance to the next level. Kind of like that kara-teh episode of Spongebob, now that I think about it (may be showing my age there). 

I will say this, though, I did think the lack of swearing was refreshing. I'd rather have a book with few swear words than one that dropped f-bombs every other sentence. 

As a whole, this book is damn fine entertainment. Definitely rereading. It was that elusive, The Cellar bad (though a bit better than The Cellar, admittedly). I mean, it didn't incite any anger in me at all. For that, in Goodreads ratings it's a solid two star book. Because I'm feeling nice today, it's a 4-4.5 book. Nice refresher for after Brideshead Revisited, and I think I definitely read it at the right time. Seriously though, if you're going to pick this book up watch the second half of Season Two of Twin Peaks right before doing it and you'll be in the right state of mind to handle Violet Grenade.

4-4.5 out of 10