Vicious

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Vicious is an earlier novel by the one and only Victoria (or V.E.) Schwab and one of the few that I hadn’t read yet. I’ve had it sitting on my shelf for a while now and I absolutely loved everything else I had read by her so I figured I should probably get into this one as soon as possible. Although I love Victoria Schwab and I loved the concept of Vicious, I didn’t love it as much as I had hoped I would.

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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 archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

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What I Liked

The rivalry. I really enjoyed the rivalry and conflict between our main characters. Victor and Eli used to be the best of friends while they were in college together and now, 10 years later, they’re out to get each other. Although I understand why they were angry with each other, I had trouble understanding why they would hold a grudge for 10 years. Or maybe I just missed the bigger picture here. *See below for my attempt at explaining why I had trouble getting into this one.

The concept. I really liked the idea of two best friends making a huge discovery only to become greedy and self-righteous. I liked the idea of what was once a strong friendship now becoming a strong rivalry (see above). I liked the idea of EOs (Extra Ordinaries) that each have their own unique ability after cheating death. There was just something about the way that all of this was put together that didn’t really work for me. *Again, see below for my attempt at explaining why I had trouble getting into this one.

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What I Didn’t Like

I’m not really sure? I just couldn’t get into this one for some reason. I thought maybe it was because of the audio book version that I listened to, but I’ve listened to both A Darker Shade of Magic as well, A Gathering of Shadows and This Savage Song as audio books so I’m not sure if that really was the problem. As mentioned, I really like the concept of the story and the rivalry between the characters. Maybe it was the characters themselves. It started out strong, but then I just had a hard time getting through this one unfortunately and the most frustrating part about it is that I’m not really sure why.

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Maybe Vicious was too over hyped or maybe I personally just couldn’t connect to what was happening, but I just had a hard time getting into this one. That being said, I still love Victoria Schwab and her writing and I’m eager to see what the sequel to Vicious will look like these few years later. I feel as though her writing is fantastic in her newer releases and I’m excited to see how that will apply to the next novel in the Vicious series! Especially because of that ending!

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More About The Author

I am the product of a British mother, a Beverly Hills father, and a southern upbringing. Because of this, I have been known to say “tom-ah-toes”, “like”, and “y’all”. I also suffer from a wicked case of wanderlust, made worse by the fact that wandering is a good way to stir up stories. When I’m not haunting Paris streets or trudging up English hillsides, I’m usually tucked in the corner of a coffee shop, dreaming up monsters.

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