Vicious (Villains, #1)
About the book
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
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My review
Although I one day hope to become a V.E. Schwab completist, I’m in no rush to run out of backlist books of hers to discover. For years, I’ve been saving Vicious and Vengeful for the impending release of book 3, and it’s finally almost here, so it was time!
Vicious is a dual-timeline story about Victor and Eli, college roommates who are kind of friends and kind of enemies, who begin to experiment with their theories that near-death experiences can make someone an “EO” (aka extra-ordinary, aka person with enhanced abilities). And thanks to the hubris of youth, X-Men meets Frankenstein and everything spirals out of control. 10 years later, Victor sets out on the hunt for Eli, who is now his arch-nemesis. The result is a wholly original experiment in the idea of an anti-hero story.
Even 13 years ago when this first came out, Schwab was an absolute master of pacing, plot, and character. She knows exactly how to flip backward and forward in time to reveal information at exactly the right moment and keep the suspense up (without it ever feeling annoying). I also fell head over heels in love with every single one of these characters, even the ones I’m rooting against. There is also so much unexplored tension in Victor and Eli’s relationship and dynamic that promises incredible storytelling to come.
What happens to the idea of right vs wrong when two anti-heroes become enemies? I cannot wait to see where she takes this!
Content and trigger warnings
Violence, murder, and death
Gun violence
Animal death
