Book Review: Vicious by V.E. Schwab

The absence of pain led to an absence of fear, and the absence of fear led to a disregard for consequence

I loved Vicious so much! I wonder why I never found this book earlier. Will there ever be a sequel?

Book Review: Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Rating:


Title & Author: Vicious by V.E. Schwab
Genre: Science-Fiction, Mystery
Release Date: September 24 2013
Series: Villains [or standalone]
Publisher: Tor

Synopsis

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the arch-nemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

I give Vicious by V.E. Schwab four out of five hearts. I loved it and it was very well written. The novel wraps nicely and does not have giant hick-ups or gaping plot holes. It is written in such a way it pulls you in from the first moment and keeps you hooked until the last word. Only every so often does the POV shift to the other people around Victor, like Eli, Sydney, Serena and Mitch. I did not mind it too much during this novel because they were important segments and there were also brief.

The entire novel you feel like Victor is a great guy, but everything you hear about him says bad-guy. Which I really like. I do not need these perfect characters that do everything for the best. Victor does everything to get Eli to stop his murder spree, but in the mean time spends his time doing things against the laws.

I enjoyed Mitch a whole lot. He is funny and sees himself as cursed, which made me feel sad for him. He really feels like people around him are doomed to die! I could never live that way.

Sydney was a bit of a mystery for me and I was not that interesting to me. She was a bit like Victoria needed a plot and just threw a random woman at Victor to save his life in the end.

In the beginning I was confused by the time shifts during the story. It went from two days ago to ten years ago to last night etc. But it does work in the end and the story really unfolds it in such a way thing makes things clear in the right moment. It feels a bit on how I watch Star Wars, by first watching the 4th and 5th episode and only then 1 through 3 and the 6th. Otherwise you know too much when watching the 4th episode. But it made it really fun to not know all the things on how the story went over the last decade. Also, usually stories do not last that long.

Overall I enjoyed the story a lot and I can hardly remember the things I did not like about it anymore. This does not mean I am going to change my mind about my rating. It does make me wonder why this is a series. I know that there is a novella here, which I am going to read now. But I would like a new story with Sydney, Mitch and Victor. Also, I set the genre to Science-Fiction, but maybe it is Fantasy, whatever you want to call it.

Let me know what you thought of this book!
If you have any requests for which book I should talk about next, please let me know in the comments down below.

For now, let books enrich your life!

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