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eliever's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Self harm, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Misogyny, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Torture, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Kidnapping, Grief, Animal death, Confinement, and Alcohol
Minor: Sexual assault
crownoflaurel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Violence, Medical trauma, and Torture
Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, and Murder
Minor: Animal death
emtees's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The story picks up five years after the events of Vicious. In the aftermath of the showdown with Eli Ever, the odd little family of sociopath Victor Vale, his gentle hacker friend Mitch, and their surrogate daughter Sydney have stayed together, but they have their share of problems. Sydney’s powers mean that she is aging very slowly, stuck in the body of a preteen while her mind matures, and she is becoming frustrated with the protection and restrictions her guardians impose. Meanwhile, after being resurrected with Sydney’s powers, Victor’s own powers have gone “wrong.” He seems to be stronger than ever, now able to control people’s bodies as well as their pain levels, but there is a trade off - every few weeks, he re-experiences the events of his original death by electrocution, and each episode comes closer to killing him. Desperate for a cure, Victor drags his companions around the country on a quest to find an EO who can heal him, killing all those who fail to cover his tracks. And former Detective Stell is now the founder of EON, a secret government organization that tracks down, contains and in some cases kills EOs, with the help of their secret weapon, an imprisoned Eli. There is also a new EO causing trouble - Marcella Riggins, a former mob wife who uses her powers to take over the organized crime of Merit and then sets out to expose EOs to the world and let them take their rightful place in the spotlight. All these plot lines converge on a single night in Merit for an explosive final chapter.
First, the minor criticisms. Like Vicious, this book cuts back and forth in time, and uses those cuts to propel the story forward, creating a false sense of momentum even at times when the actual plot is quite slow. (I called this book medium paced because there is no option for “fast and slow, at the same time.”). But while Vicious had two timelines, Vengeful has a lot more. There is the main timeline, the month leading up to the super powered fight. There are separate sets of flashbacks to cover the last five years in the lives of Victor, Eli and Sydney. There are flashbacks to Marcella’s backstory, and to fill in the gaps in Eli’s. Victor’s flunky, Dominic Rusher, gets his own set, as does June, a new character who is part of Marcella’s entourage but has a connection to Sydney. It’s a lot of jumping around and it makes the book feel unfocused. It doesn’t help that all these flashbacks aren’t equally interesting, or important. It was good to finally get some insight into Eli, and I enjoyed seeing the last five years for Victor and Sydney set side-by-side, seeing the ways they were keeping things from each other despite sharing a home. But Marcella ultimately ended up feeling like more of a plot device than a character, and there was nothing revealed in her flashbacks that I couldn’t have figured out from the way she was in the present, and some of the other scenes felt like they could have been explained in a few lines rather than getting entire chapters. I wouldn’t have minded seeing this book tightened up a bit.
But those are minor quibbles because this book was fun and just as compulsive a read as the last one. I didn’t want to put it down. Considering how far apart the characters seemed at the beginning, Schwab brought them all together in a clever way, the multiple threads of the plot all winding together with interesting revelations. I also liked a lot of the character moments, whether it was Victor’s slow acceptance of responsibility towards his new family and for creating Eli, or Sydney’s conflicted feelings about Victor, Mitch, June and her late sister, Serena. The character work is done with a very light hand in these books but Schwab still has interesting things to say about heroes and villains and where the line between them is.
Unlike Vicious, which I felt ended on a final note but with options open for a sequel, it is clear that Vengeful is set up to continue these stories. I hope Schwab decides to do so because as much as I’m not sure they’re good people, I still really want these characters to get a happy ending.
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Child abuse
There are minor hints of child abuse and other forms of abuse in character backstories. Several relationships are toxic and the relationships between characters who have hurt each other or done bad things in the past is a major theme. One main character is a victim of violent domestic abuse.snapweed's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Self harm, Death, Blood, Gun violence, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Animal death, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Sexual assault
queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Vengeful by V.E. Schwab is book 2 in the Villains duology. I loved this book just as much as the first one! Everyone is so delightfully awful, evil, and morally gray.
This book doesn't focus as much on Victor Vale's pov, but we do still get to see what he's up to, but we get a lot of other pov chapters from some of the other characters, including some randos every now and then. Mostly we get POVs from Victor, Eli, Stell, Sydney, June, and Marcella.
Since last book, Stell has created an organization called EON, ExtraOrdinary Neutralization, designed to hunt and contain EOs. Which brings us to the new EO introduced in this book, Marcella, a wife of a mob boss who has the ability to Ruin anything (metals rusts, wood decays, people shrivel into dust, etc.). She is deliciously wicked, gives no shits, and will not hide. Marcella wants power, and even though she is scary and a little bit (a lot a bit) of a sociopath, you can almost understand where she is coming from as a woman who has been only seen as a beautiful object with no say in anything.
We get a lot more of Eli's backstory in this one, and it becomes quite clear that even before his forced near death experience, he was a psychopath. We also get more Sydney chapters this book, so we see how her ability has affected her in terms of aging (or lack of aging). This book kept me wanting more, and was difficult to put down. I flew through the end, because it was so fast paced.
I loved these books! This definitely satisfies my TBR card prompt for Antagonist: a book your favorite villain would read. Since Victor is my favorite villain right now, I'd have to say he'd enjoy reading this, especially about Eli. I may have to look into borrowing the EO graphic novels now, since I'm not ready to let this world go.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Child abuse, Suicide, Murder, Drug abuse, and Blood
Moderate: Sexual content
annierose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Overall, I enjoyed most of the characters in this book and seeing the tension build between them got me excited for the showdown at the end.
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Child abuse
perseusj4ckson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Body horror, Gun violence, Torture, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Self harm, Child abuse, and Suicide attempt
nyssbomb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Torture, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Animal death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape
jennastopreading's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Death, and Medical content
Moderate: Abandonment
sarah_cameron's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Gun violence, Sexism, Torture, Death, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Police brutality, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Misogyny
Minor: Stalking, Animal death, Cursing, Vomit, and Car accident