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Loading... Vicious (Villains) (edition 2018)by V. E. Schwab (Author)So so thought provoking. I love this book but not sure I can read it too often. Such an interesting concept, and a great investigation of the human psyche, of ego and hubris, the types of friendships people form, the relationship of rivals, and good versus evil - or at least, perceived good versus perceived evil. So well written, such a great piece of fiction with a great message, I loved it so much. Definitely one of my favorites. Though entertaining and well plotted, this one never really landed for me. It felt like the middle of a long season of some Netflix show one has been binging: it catches your attention enough to follow along but never really ignites compassion or anger or any strong emotion for the characters. The bones of the story is that of the anti-hero, or, if you will, the lesser of two evils. I've seen it done better, and more creatively. Still, the flow is excellent, as Schwab's always is; the outlining it must have taken to write this book of circulative narrative is impressive, and the story is an easy, if not completely enjoyable read. If you need something easy to read to pass the time between gates at the airport, give it a go. If you're looking for anything deeper, I'd skip it. 4.5 Stars! I loved this book.. in fact I'm so close to giving it 5 stars! I like the twist on the superpowers genre, I like how it subverts expectations and there was some great tension and it was really well paced. I'm always a fan of stories with anti-heroes and here we have two! At the core it’s about two sociopaths... who also happen to have god-like superpowers. Victor and Eli are college friends (with that tense slightly messed up admiration/rivalry kind of friendship) and roommates. Victor is tightly-wound, superior, dark and jealous of the movie star handsome and charismatic Eli, yet drawn to a similar dark ‘monster’ he can recognise buried within. They’re both extremely smart scientists, and Eli is writing a thesis on almost-hidden the phenomenon of ExtraOrdinaries or EOs. The narrative jumps between ten years ago in college, and the present time as Victor works towards his goal of getting revenge on Eli… I loved how the whole idea of EOs and how they get their powers. It was just original to me and so dark! I really don’t want to say too much to spoil this book. This dark edge and the idea of what is right, natural or moral was also really well explored through the gaze of multiple characters. At the heart really what is “human.” Victor and Eli were both very interesting characters, especially in their reactions to events in the novel. Neither of them is likeable, or a person you’d want to meet! ... but one is a little bit worse than the other! I really enjoyed how it subverts the whole idea of heroes and villains, because really this is a story about two supervillains (and we all know that villains never see themselves as villains in their own stories)! I don’t want to say much more because the less you know about the plot the more you’ll enjoy it. The writing I found really addictive, I couldn’t put it down. It just is so easy to read, it flows wonderfully (I can’t wait to read more of her books). I wouldn’t say it’s a perfect … the ending a maybe a bit a let-down just compared to how amazing the first section is, hence 4.5 stars, but it’s a hell of a lot of dark twisty super-powered fun. HIGHLY recommended! Definitely enjoyed this! I listened to the audiobook version of this one. I was skeptical at first and the jumping time lines threw me off at first but I quickly got used to it. Looking forward to the next one! I think the authors writing is very unique and my first novel by her was the Invisible lot of Addie Larue, which I enjoyed also. This was a solid and intriguing story. Definitely a change of pace for me. 4 ⭐️ A truly absorbing tale of a war between a vicious anti-hero and a self-righteous super-villain. I simply love stories where everyone is a "bad guy" and Readers get to weigh up who the best of the worst is. This isn't a fast paced action story but more of a seething slow burn tale of revenge. I loved our band of morally questionable "good" guys and I am looking forward to continuing with this series in the near future. CW: I advise reading these 3.5 This was entertaining - But I couldn't help picturing Vincent as Megamind and Eli as Titan - so it held a sort of comical view for me to hear me chat more about it - watch here https://youtu.be/IfHWy1p2eo8 Man, this was so much FUN! I’m a big fan of Marvel, especially X-Men, and Vicious had a similar vibe. It’s really well-written, action-packed and gripping, if a little predictable at times (which didn’t spoil the story in the slightest!). I loved Victor and Eli’s best-friends-to-archenemies relationship. And Victor! OMG that guy was just AWESOME! The fact that our ‘hero’ was such a morally gray character made this book wonderfully refreshing. On to the next! “Victor was naturally quiet, but even more so under pressure, which gave his peers the distinct impression he knew what he was doing, even when he didn’t” I had no idea what to expect from this book, but somehow I was surprised to find this was pretty gruesome and not a YA fantasy advertised as "morally grey" I am not a fan of stories with superpowers or lots of magic because if things can be fixed with powers, why should I care? Hence, I was happy to find that this was mainly about the morals of both protagonists. Namely, everyone lacks some morals. The writing is what made this book great. It’s easily readable and has some ironic witty phrases like the one above, which almost made it funny. Every chapter reveals a little bit while raising even more questions, especially in the first half. Combined with the fact that there are no ‘good’ characters, it made the story suspenseful. I wanted to keep reading to find out what grim things would happen next and why. The one thing I would have liked to see more of was the mutual obsession between Eli and Victor. The flashbacks detail how they separated, but I wanted to know more about what made Victor think things like this: ”Hate was too simple a word. He and Eli were bonded, by blood and death and science. They were alike, more so now than ever. And he had missed Eli. He wanted to see him. And he wanted to see him suffer. He wanted to see the look in Eli’s eyes when he lit them up with pain. He wanted his attention.” I enjoyed this Urban Fantasy/Horror story. Two college students theorize how to create "EO"s or ExtraOrdinary people: People with super powers. Then they take the next step and create several EOs - themselves. The rest of the book is a thriller, good vs evil. Super Hero vs Super Villain, with no certainty that one will win over the other. Love love reading from a villain's perspective. Very well written, really liked all the characters; they had great personalities and the fine line of familiar but unique characters was walked very well. Love to see familiar superpowers; makes me feel more connected to the characters for some reason, maybe because of nostalgia? Cool setting, and I liked how quick and snippy the chapters were. Wasn't quite sure of the ending, felt maybe a small tad underwhelming, and looking back not too much happened in the plot, but definitely would read the next one if I came open it. My actual rating is more of a 4.5 because wow this is a good book! This is definitely my favorite novel by V.E Schwab so far. I loved how despite Victor being a very uh, morally questionable character (to put it lightly) you couldn’t help but still root for him the face of Eli’s far worse deeds. I’m such a sucker for those kind of characters so this was just amazing. Pair that with awesome supporting characters, a decade long revenge plan, and extraordinary abilities and you’ve got yourself a dark, twisted and fascinating story. It was written quite well shifting between past and present to piece together the facets of the story and slowly putting it all together. It was very suspenseful and I had a super hard time putting it down. Overall: a great dark story! Would definitely recommend. The storyline of Victor being sentenced to jail, planning revenge, and then escaping to act out said revenge gave me vague the Count of Monte Cristo vibes and I was here for it. I'm reviewing this book after nearly two months of having read it, so pardon me if I don't seem as enthusiastic about it as I was when I read it. It's a good book. Definitely not great. But good enough. The premise is noteworthy. Self-made powers. A bit like X-Men, except it's a derived, not an innate ability. More than the magical world (it's quite lovely, to be sure, reading about extraordinary abilities) however, it is the characters themselves who hold the book together and make you want to read. There's not a terribly large cast, and that helps. Victor, Eli, Mitch, Serena, and Sydney. That;s it. And each of them is unique, in varying shades of grey. There's no perfect hero facing his evil nemesis; what there is is two friends, Victor and Eli, who are both similar at the core and yet view the world with different perspectives. Despite being governed by similar principles (neither seems to value human life too highly and they both believe in their own superiority), they are at odds with each other leading to an untenable position where both want to destroy each other. I loved both Sydney and Serena, their descriptions, how their abilities changed them as people. It was the end that was pretty weak. After all the buildup, it was quite a letdown, both the execution and the tale itself. Overall, a good, fast read. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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