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A review by yazthebookish
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
4.0
4 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
"Someone could call themselves a hero and still walk around killing dozens. Someone else could be labeled a villain for trying to stop them. Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human."
Another fitting title for Vicious could be 50 shades of morally grey. The grey spectrum in this book was incredible, there were no entirely good or entirely bad characters which makes it such a compelling read.
Let me start by saying V. E. Schwab's writing is brilliant and fluid, I was easily immersed into the book and add to that the steady pacing which was fitting for how the story progressed, there was never a dull moment.
I liked how she played with the concept of superheroes and rather than follow the overly-used tropes, she makes those heroes flawed and villainous in a way that made me root for them. The book does not necessarily call them superheroes or persons with superpowers; they're called ExtraOrdinaries, EOs for short.
I was gripped by all the chaotic mess that was happening; the deviously-constructed plans, the cold-blooded crimes and the twists and suspense that kept me on edge after every chapter.
What's intriguing about the narrative is that it does not revolve around redemption, every action taken has an ulterior motive especially if we are speaking of Victor and Eli. It also plays with the concepts of death and rebirth which I found very fascinating.
The characterizations were complex which gave us a cast of morally ambiguous characters.
Victor is a villain set on having his revenge on his former best friend and archnemeses Eli. A very iconic and likable villain.
Eli is a delusional hero who had taken upon himself the quest to rid the world of EOs and fulfilling God's purpose. Narcissism at its best.
Sydney is a girl abandoned by her older sister and with a power that could unsettle the realms of the living and the dead. Also, the cinnamon roll character in the book.
Mitch is someone that is always at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Serena is Sydney's older sister and Eli's enigmatic sidekick. Extremely un likable but there are more layers to her.
And Schwab seamlessly weaves their storylines together and allowed it to develop organically, giving each character the necessary scene-time and exposure to flesh out their storyline.
Although I found the time-jumps annoying from the start, later on I managed to keep track of the timelines without it being such a daunting experience.
The book is definitely a character-driven story leading up to the long-awaited confrontation between the former best friends and nemeses which kept the suspense and excitement going.
Writing a review of this book is tricky and I feel like there are many points that I probably missed. However, I think this is it for my review of Vicious and I'm curious about the events that will take place in the second book. What I guess is that it will be a bloody mess!
"Someone could call themselves a hero and still walk around killing dozens. Someone else could be labeled a villain for trying to stop them. Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human."
Another fitting title for Vicious could be 50 shades of morally grey. The grey spectrum in this book was incredible, there were no entirely good or entirely bad characters which makes it such a compelling read.
Let me start by saying V. E. Schwab's writing is brilliant and fluid, I was easily immersed into the book and add to that the steady pacing which was fitting for how the story progressed, there was never a dull moment.
I liked how she played with the concept of superheroes and rather than follow the overly-used tropes, she makes those heroes flawed and villainous in a way that made me root for them. The book does not necessarily call them superheroes or persons with superpowers; they're called ExtraOrdinaries, EOs for short.
I was gripped by all the chaotic mess that was happening; the deviously-constructed plans, the cold-blooded crimes and the twists and suspense that kept me on edge after every chapter.
What's intriguing about the narrative is that it does not revolve around redemption, every action taken has an ulterior motive especially if we are speaking of Victor and Eli. It also plays with the concepts of death and rebirth which I found very fascinating.
The characterizations were complex which gave us a cast of morally ambiguous characters.
Victor is a villain set on having his revenge on his former best friend and archnemeses Eli. A very iconic and likable villain.
Eli is a delusional hero who had taken upon himself the quest to rid the world of EOs and fulfilling God's purpose. Narcissism at its best.
Sydney is a girl abandoned by her older sister and with a power that could unsettle the realms of the living and the dead. Also, the cinnamon roll character in the book.
Mitch is someone that is always at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Serena is Sydney's older sister and Eli's enigmatic sidekick. Extremely un likable but there are more layers to her.
And Schwab seamlessly weaves their storylines together and allowed it to develop organically, giving each character the necessary scene-time and exposure to flesh out their storyline.
Although I found the time-jumps annoying from the start, later on I managed to keep track of the timelines without it being such a daunting experience.
The book is definitely a character-driven story leading up to the long-awaited confrontation between the former best friends and nemeses which kept the suspense and excitement going.
Writing a review of this book is tricky and I feel like there are many points that I probably missed. However, I think this is it for my review of Vicious and I'm curious about the events that will take place in the second book. What I guess is that it will be a bloody mess!