Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Vicious

We love a morally grey character, but Victor is as grey as they come. Everything is a means to an end and something or someone has value based on how useful they are to him. It’s incredible to watch his mind work.

There’s also some really great ethical questions posed around self-awareness and humanity. Some of the observation were really clever.

And the last chapter was just 😆😆😆❤️❤️❤️ icing on the cake

Please look up the potential triggers for this book. I’ll include a list below that I noticed because I’ll admit I struggled with some of the violence in this

I will be honest. It’s really hard being surprised by death when there’s a character who can revive the dead. There. I said it. Unfortunately I think that really took away from the oh no they’re dead factor because it was established pretty early on in the book, but it’s still there like, “oh no can she not do it this time for some reason”

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katiedykema's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book exceeded my expectations. I’ve always been a fan of V.E. Schwab but I can’t believe I didn’t read this sooner. The complexity of the characters’ motivations led to a very interesting plot that kept me engaged. I was at first worried about how the book was organized (there are many jumps forward and back in time) but it ended up being the perfect way to tell the story. To be organized, I’m going to split the rest of this into a review of what I did like and didn’t like.

What I liked:
- The relationship between Victor and Eli. From school roommates (with very gay undertones lmao) to rivals in a very short amount of time, this character relationship was always slightly competitive and hinted at further trouble from very early on.
- The religious undertones added to the story and Eli’s motivation, also making the story even darker than it already was.
- Serena. She was an amazing character regardless of if she was a good or bad person. Her relationship with Eli reminded me a lot of Piper and Colin Greenmantle from The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Steifvater. Serena was really the one in control the entire time.
- The pacing was fast enough to keep the story entertaining without skipping over important details.
- Who is really the bad guy? Both main characters are bad people. This makes the story intriguing and thought-provoking.

What I didn’t like:
- The lack of explanation about EOs. In this universe, it seems that everyone simply understands what EOs are, even without it being explained to the reader. This is difficult because up until realizing that everyone in the universe knew what they were, I had assumed that this universe was simply a mirror of real life, not a place where EOs are often discussed.
- Serena and Sydney’s background should have been given more time in the book. I still have trouble understanding why Serena was able to turn on Sydney so quickly when it seemed like they had been close.
- Fairly graphic. More of a personal issue with the book than an issue with the writing.

The pros of this book FAR outweigh the cons. This book was amazing and I hope the sequel is as well.

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