Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

230 reviews

beansprout344's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

5.0

Absolutely amazing book! The way this is written is so gripping and the characters really draw you in. If you’re a sucker for morally grey slightly twisted male leads this is a book for you. My new favourite book 10/10 recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, and Grief

Minor: Animal death and Confinement

crocs's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing tense fast-paced

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

4.75

• spice : 1/5
• humour : 3.5/5
• emotional : 2/5
• characters: 4.25/5
• universe : 4.75/5
• setting : 4/5
• story : 5/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

linzlee's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gun violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder

devinjai6655's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This story is about two pre-Med students who decide to simulate near death experiences to get super powers. 10 years later, one is on a killing spree and the other is hunting him down with a ragtag group. That group includes our main character, Victor, who can control pain tolerance, his former cell mate (gigantic, and extremely good with computers), a tween girl they found on the side of the road with a bullet wound, and a stray dog. The found family trope is strong in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, and Alcohol

One character uses God to justify killing people that are similar to him.

There is a dog that dies twice but he is brought back to life both times.

aggrano's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Self harm, Torture, Stalking, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

trapdorr's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

The skipping timelines was a bit confusing at first but ended up building the story well. I like the little family Sydney now has. She’s my fave. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Suicide

Moderate: Animal death and Death

fierygecko's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I have truly never had so much fun absolutely hating the guts of book characters in my life. V.E Shwab writes a fascinating novel about two people who are pretty horrible in two very different ways, and sprinkles in some classic superhero science for spice. The story is told in a way that made me feel like I was reading the script for a movie I wish was actually made. I enjoyed the age diversity in the main cast and how it highlighted what a common goal can do to bring people together. If you’re interested in the lengths two college kids too smart for their own good will go to in order to be special, I recommend this book wholeheartedly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

imskylow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

It’s honestly just not my taste in books. I don’t really have any criticism besides the constant flash back making it drag for me. Also there were some pretty convenient characters placed in this book. But I know other people love it. So don’t let my star count sway you from reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

corvidkings's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, and Alcohol

rebeltheflow's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.75

2/5

⭐️⭐️

Boring & poorly written. I wanted to love this so much & have mixed feelings on the book but the more I think about it the more I have to admit that I didn’t like it. It’s the most disappointing experience I’ve had reading in a while.

First of all, I love superhero/villain/comic-book vibes so the premise had me sold. I love unique narrative styles so I was sold on the time shifts, & I like a fast-paced book so quick chapters got my interest. Until almost every aspect of this book fell flat and failed to do anything for me. 

The characters were so one dimensional and flat. This was highlighted by how similarly they were described: “Victor had a charming but unsettling smile to him” followed by “Eli had a smile that was unsettling but charming.” (Not direct quotes but paraphrased examples). Like so they have the exact same features and personality. That’s an odd choice.

Back to the chapters being short. Don’t let that fool you into thinking this a fast paced novel. It is very slow. The chapters were quick, yes, but had zero substanance to them. Whole chapters existed just to say “Victor drove from here to there.” “Victor paced back and forth.” “Victor ordered Chinese food.” Just because those chapters are 3-6 pages long doesn’t make the book any faster!!!!

Also, other than the expository background stories that got dull, the entire story

takes place in a time span of like 3 days. At half way I was reading “Two hours from midnight” & it took 130 pages to reach “One hour from midnight.”

So yeah, I consider that slow.

Next, the narrative jumps that were meant to foreshadow future reveals failed for me. Instead of foreshadow they just spoiled because I knew every reveal before it was announced.

I knew Victor’s, Eli’s Serenas’s, & Sydney’s powers like a thousand pages before VE Schwab thought she was clever in finally saying what it is.

And because I found out all these things before the plot directly said it, it also made all the characters appear as very very dumb for not catching onto to obvious plans and powers sooner.

The plot twists. There was none. Well there kind of was but none of them were good. All the “plot twists” are better described as cop outs. “And then he died” “jk no he didn’t” “and then he died” “jk no he didn’t” “and then he walks by his enemy but they didn’t look up at each other” LAME!!!!

The plot moved almost strictly on coincidental moments, which in my opinion is incredibly LAZY WRITING.

“Victor breaks out of prison after plotting revenge on Eli for 10 years….Eli is in the same city.” “Victor moves into the Esquire Hotel….Eli is staying in the Esquire Hotel too.” “Victor needed an escape plan….he instantly meets someone who can teleport.”

This book started good, and I was expecting a 4/5 star read, but it slowly dragged into a 3 star & finally a 2. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide