Reviews with content warning for Gore - Vengeful

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

62 reviews

acrea17's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

While not as good as Vicious, Vengeful holds up as a decent sequel! This installment toes the line even more with our morally grey characters (Victor, Eli, and even Sydney) and gives a little more insight into the world of EOs and expands upon the idea of tracking EOs down for personal and possible governmental gain. We explore EON, where our old friend Stell captures, analyzes, and possibly neutralizes EOs as a way to both understand them and ensure they are not a threat to society. This part of the book takes on a dystopian quality and has A Brave New World vibes. I absolutely adore this series and was overjoyed when V.E. Scwab announced there would be a third installment in the next few years (along with the upcoming graphic novels!!)

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alaynatabor's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

5.0

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nikki_singh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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spearly's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-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

4.0

Every action had been his own design, every step his own making.
If there was a way out of this, he would find it.
If there wasn’t, he would make one himself.

Vengeful follows our ragtag trio - Victor, Mitch, and Sydney (and Dol) - in the events following Victor's temporary death in Vicious. Sydney brought him back, and now he's... not quote whole. His episodes are getting worse, his deaths are getting longer, and he needs to find a way to stop it.

Meanwhile, Eli Ever is in a heavily guarded cell at the newly minted EON (ExtraOrdinary Observation and Neutralization) facility.

And there's a new Villain in Merit.

This was a really fun read! I enjoyed it even more than I enjoyed Vicious, which is saying something! The new characters were exciting, evil, powerful, and some real adversaries for our anti-heroes.

I've struggled with something about this series, and I think I just have to come around and accept it. I've never loved a character as much as I've hated them, but that's Victor. He's evil, man. Like, I'll murder you when you can't give me what I want, evil. But he's also so damn likeable sometimes. The way he is with Sydney and Mitch, the way he truly seems to care about their wellbeing, about keeping them safe... *chef's kiss*. Sure, they're safety comes at the expense of some perfectly innocent lives but... no-one perfect.

In book one I struggled with the blatant hypocrisy. Eli is some self-proclaimed messiah, murdering all the other EOs because they go against God's plan. Victor has a long-awaited vendetta against Eli, made worse by Eli's self-righteousness. The two come to a head, and out favourite villain is raised form the dead.

And then here, we have... Victor doing the exact same thing, albeit for different reasons. And it's suddenly okay because he's not

killing EOs

for God, he's doing it to protect his crew. (Only

killing all the witnesses to Victor's non-dead state hardly makes a difference, since EON finds them anyway!

)

I think I will just have to be okay with the hypocrisy. In fact, that's the point. There are no good men in this game (okay, except for Mitch, though I'm sure he has blood on his hands, too). Honestly, Sydney might by the only good-to-her-core character. But what did I expect, reading a series called Villains?

Overall, an excellent duology. In fact, I could even go for a third book, if V.E. Schwab were so inclined. What happens to June? The formula? Victor and Mitch and Sydney?

GO BACK FOR DOM, GIRL!! YOU CAN RAISE THE DEAD!!

. Maybe the excitement is in the not knowing. Schwab certainly knows how to leave readers wanting more.

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krilves's review against another edition

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dark medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

It's almost embarassing how long it took me to finish this, but I put it down for a couple of weeks while I moved to a new city and only picked it up again a few days ago.

I liked the book. I wasn't sure I was going to - I liked the previous one too, but neither book has inspired any strong feelings in me. They were good entertainment and had likeable characters, but I didn't think they were mindblowing or very exciting plot-wise.

I couldn't see this book end any other way than with Eli, Marcella, and Victor all dead, so I'm not sure how I feel about how it actually ended. (I'm trying to be vague and non-spoilery.) It seemed pointless, and even somewhat out of character? I guess it does open up for a potential sequel, but I'm also like, meh, can't the story just have a finite ending, please. can't all three of them just be dead, and then this could be a tragedy in two parts.

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charlottereadsthings's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

In more recent years, I have found myself moving away from series and more onto standalones but I feel like I can almost always count on V.E.Schwab to deliver a good book. After taking a (much longer than planned) break to digest the events of Vicious, I finally picked up the follow up and it was just as dark, interesting, and horrifying as I expected.

I am an absolute sucker for how Schwab expands worlds. Seeing Victor grapple with consequences, Sydney struggle with a significant mess up, and getting to follow new EO's was nothing short of exquisite. It's really hard to believe that what Schwab produces at her fingertips is not reality.

As always, she doesn't shy away from violence and there were many times when I was shuddering while listening to the audiobook narrator describe some of the violence. (This narrator also did a fantastic job with voices)

It took a few goes to get off the ground with enjoying this due to the writing style being so different from my recent Addie LaRue read but boy, it paid off in the end.

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itssabb's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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frantic_vampire's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

4.5

Wow...I have no words. This was just an amazing read. This was so good and now I really, really want the next book to be out sooner rather than later. Like, holy crap. It was so freaking good!

I loved the writing style in this. It switched between different places, times, and POV’s. That really helped to round out the world and the story. And I can’t believe that I felt sorry for Eli at one point! Schwab really knows how to make you feel for a character....even one that you absolutely loathe. I fell in love with Dom, Mitch, Sydney, and Victor even more. But I had my heart broken more times in this book than I was ready for.

Not gonna lie, Vengeful was a absolutely delicious read. You just kind of sink into this world and don’t want to come up for air. It also had a completely different feel from Vicious, and I can’t get enough of it. Is it wrong that I really want to give Victor a hug? The man clearly needs one. Anyway, this is getting a solid four and a half stars.

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davyjones's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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rebecacelest's review against another edition

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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

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