Vicious by V E Schwab

Vicious (The Villains, #1)

by V.E. Schwab

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?

Reviewed by Amber on

5 of 5 stars

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Vicious was my first pick for our Book Club, and I’m so happy with it. I thought I would like it, but I wasn’t expecting to love it so much. Lauren’s enthusiasm for the book also made me a bit emotional because SHE AGREES WITH ME. Anyway, here is our discussion and thoughts regarding the book.

VICTOR

Lauren: Have we ever talked about how much I am fascinated by fictional sociopaths? Because I love them, I really, really do. Anything, be it movies, tv shows, or books, are always going to be infinitely more interesting to me if there is a well written sociopath all up in there that I can flail over. So imagine my excitement when I open this book and find that not only is Victor my special type of character, but that his sociopathy is written SO DAMN WELL it makes me want to cry. I LOVED Victor; his voice held that perfect balance between reserved and approachable that makes sociopaths so intriguing to me. He is at once terrifying and incredibly sympathetic. Basically I could just go on about Victor all day if you asked me to (please ask me to oh god please).

Amber: So, um, I’m kind of obsessed with Victor. I don’t want to say that I found him relatable, because that’s a bit of a stretch (and I’m not ready to admit that to myself just yet), but I connected with him straight away. I very much enjoyed his determination to get revenge on the person that wronged him, and it was pretty obsessive. He would do anything to meet his goal, and everyone knows that I love characters like that. I’m not going to go into the sociopathy or anything, because Lauren covered it here and in the Themes section below. Just know that Victor is an amazing character with so many different sides to him, and at his core he’s intense and obsessive. My favourite type of character, let’s be honest.

Tatum: Gonna rain on the Victor parade a little bit here because I just really didn’t like him, and I think it contributed to my overall lack of enthusiasm for the book tbh. Do I think he’s an interesting character? Sort of? To me though he was basically a sympathetic anti-hero type and that isn’t anything new or exciting really. I didn’t connect to him at all.

Read the full discussion on Books of Amber

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 6 March, 2014: Finished reading
  • 6 March, 2014: Reviewed