Reviews tagging 'War'

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

4 reviews

obfuscatress's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

To be honest, this book did not live up to my expectations based on some of the reviews I had heard of it prior to reading it. Until about 75% into it, I was looking at rating it just about (if not less than) three stars. My main issue lies with the fact that one of the main characters seems to suddenly acquire very strong motivations for their actions that are not foreshadowed nor are they ever explained or explored in any detail. To me personally, this change made no sense and made it difficult to connect with the story. That being said, there are several clever little twists added to the plot in this final quarter of the book, that I felt it ultimately deserved a better rating. In addition to that, virtually every other character is interesting and fairly complex considering the limited time we get to explore each individual and relationship within such a fast-paced plot.

While I can't say I regret reading this book, I could not in all honesty recommend it to someone else. However, now having read the book and found so much of the later plot and character development interesting, I will probably read the sequel too. If you're happy to be infuriated with the way one of the central characters is written for most of a book, maybe this one is for you too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Gun violence, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, Addiction, Blood, and Animal death

Minor: War

cleot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Schwab weaves a fascinating  and engaging narrative. It's not my favorite of her work because I struggle with getting as invested when most the characters are in their own ways unlikable but the plot is worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Torture, Animal death, Genocide, Self harm, Gore, and Xenophobia

Minor: War

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

4.0

In an Instagram post last month,
V.E Schwab publicized an editors comment, which read “you’re readers will follow you anywhere.” Out of all the authors I have read over the years, I cannot think of one more fitting of this than Schwab, and Vicious is just the latest example.
Vicious follows two best friends, Victor and Eli, and the dark path that awaits them as a science thesis goes horribly wrong. The experiment in question: what is the essence behind an ExtraOrdinary person….and is it possible to create one?
I love the philosophical questions intertwined with the dark academia setting and more gruesome plot progressions, since it rounds into a more complex story. Even though Victor is a morally gray character, I still found myself rooting for him, in spite of his numerous faults. I think this goes to show the significance of character development in Schwab’s work (even the side characters), something I am exciting to read more of in the future. I have a feeling that the sequel (vengeful) will be a five star read for me, since there is less “magic system” development:)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Gore, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Abandonment, and Medical content

Minor: War

jehansflowers's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

GOOD SHIT

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and War

the suicide is for Science Reasons, but is still relatively graphic. animal death is a dog, & isnt permanent

one of the characters has the ability to raise the dead, and has to raise the dog twice