28.8k reviews for:

Vicious

V.E. Schwab

4.24 AVERAGE

tara_tea's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

maddyag123's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

abiturner's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Torture, Violence, Murder

stef_25's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

keziaholland's review against another edition

4.0

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In summary: Fast-paced and direct. A comic book action-thriller in prose. Target audience: YA.

Premise: Victor Vale, a super-powered sociopath newly escaped from a ten-year prison stint, hunts down his former friend and current nemesis, Eli Ever.

What a fun novel! Reminded me of something I would've devoured in high school in my peak Arrow/Daredevil years lol. Story-wise, this is quite a neat little bundle. Everything ticks its boxes and makes sense, I only wish it delved deeper. This is written almost like an action thriller film, with a cracking pace at all times and story time that takes place over a few days (even though via flashbacks the story spans a long period of time). At times, the brevity in the chapters undercut the affordances novels possess over comic books or film & television. I would've loved a version of this book that was about 10% longer if it just went a little deeper into the descriptions & beefed up the prose.

The cast of characters (Victor, Eli, Sydney and co.) were memorable and worked within their functions in the story, however they could've had a tad more depth to heft them out of the familiar archetypes they sit in. Victor and Eli, supposed sociopaths, are also very 'YA' sociopathic. Kind of expected more depravity haha

Either way, I read this and was practically hopping with how well I thought this would translate to screen. As a fast-paced action thriller, this rocks.

robustogusto's review against another edition

4.75

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

rakhshanda's review against another edition

2.5

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

notzx's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

waya_z's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

setsailforthestars's review against another edition

4.0

reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated