Reviews with content warning for Hate crime - Vicious

A very interesting look into villainy. The jumbled storyline (particularly in the beginning) was a bit hard to follow at times, and the characters made some truly abhorrent choices. But this brand of super powered people that Schwab has introduced is very intriguing. I kinda wanted more info about the various superpowers.

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donatio's review

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

As always V. E. Schwab did not disappoint.
I loved the writing style and how she skipped back and forth between the past and the present. The characters were well-crafted and I found a connection to every one of them, especially Victor's group of strays.
It was not really action-packed but I still loved how the story evolved.
Before reading one should check the trigger warnings, because it gets dark at points and "There are no good men in this game" is quite true. The mix of flashbacks and present might be annoying for some people too.

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astrid_mel's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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bugcollector's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I guess, hence the title, I was hoping to
root for a villain or morally gray character, but ended up feeling deceived.
the real trick here is thinking the mc is the villain, when he's actually the hero, and having questionable morals sums up to lack of empathy.

I don't even know what makes him a villain, is it his upbringing and the way the world seem to defy him? isn't being misunderstood by 'society' at the beginning is a part of the hero trope?

I liked victor more when he was human, the only part of himself lost to becoming EO was the ability to keep my attention. He stopped observing, and we weren't immersed into his inner thinking anymore (besides from a casual "I want to make ever bleed" every now and then)

another thing that was lacking for me was Ever and Victor's relationship.
Victor was pinning over him only a little bit at the beginning, and even though we're told he later on became obsessed with wanting to kill him, I don't think it really came through.
their friendship building lacked some feelings that were essential for rooting for them later on.
Not enough heartache, and we didn't see Evers side all these years other than the over religious thing he had going on. Did he just forget about Victor?

Speaking of that, the author just mentions once throughout the whole book that Ever has grown in an abusive household causing religious trauma, which only victor knows about , but it's never used later on.
I can't even say it made their connection deeper, because they don't mention anything.
The only explanation i could think of is that it's meant to be explored in the sequel, but i still find it lacking.

At last, the end of the book, the grand finale. I expected to at least have some sort of a conversation between the two mc.
Instead it's a shooting range and then we're done.

However, I don't want to bash the book completely.
I did enjoy the begining, read it fast, and felt that the characters had a lot of potential. It's a nice misfits come together and found family story, for those in search of similar tropes.

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