Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

121 reviews

themdash's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

ribbenkast's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

V.E. Schwab strongest writing is when she's writing villans. In vicious all characters are villains.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Medical content, Torture, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Blood, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Toxic relationship

There's a sexual relationship between two characters that isn't consensual/the concent is extremely dubious. This is because

one of the characters has mind controling powers which makes everyone do as she says

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was so good! Go into it knowing nothing! Just go read it! I’m literalLu screamed at the last line and at least 12 others in the book. It’s just so so so so so so good!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Alcohol, Grief, Mental illness, Addiction, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Child death, Toxic friendship, Torture, Blood, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Murder, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Alcoholism, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Cursing

jeyjeyyy's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

Fun fun fun! Got kind of bored in the beginning of the second half, but I think it’s more on me and my disastrous attention span than the book’s fault. Vicious is action upon action mixed with dark characters and complicated relationships + a very nice found family that I don’t think enough people talk about. Liked it a lot. 
(I did think the ending was a bit rushed though, would’ve liked a longer scene between Eli and Victor since well… the entire book kind of builds up to it) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Toxic friendship, Medical content, and Alcohol

mynameisrebecca's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Blood, Murder, Violence, Toxic friendship, Gore, and Gun violence

Moderate: Ableism, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

blossompossum's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

Flatliners vibes with superhero's, I like it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Animal death, Torture, Violence, Death, Stalking, and Self harm

haveyouseencass's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, Torture, Body horror, Gaslighting, Gore, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Murder, Animal death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Blood, and Death

Minor: Drug use, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Addiction

hilwithonel's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Ok, so imagine Andrew Garfield and Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network. Now, instead of creating facebook they are playing with life and death and trying to become superheroes. 
That's this book in the best way possible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Animal death

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Suicide attempt

cursed_sapphire's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Overall this was a fun read with some great characters and a tense plot. I have a few complaints, but I had a really good time reading this.

Our main cast of characters were entertaining and fun, and I really found myself rooting for them even as they did some deplorable things. This should be a case study for how to write likeable villain protagonists. The world was also well fleshed out and the lore made sense. I liked the very simple and limited power sets most characters had, as it made everything feel more like a tense struggle. The writing and tone were also consistently great.

However, my main problem was with the villain. While Eli and Victor's relationship was well defined in the flashbacks, they barely interacted in the present. Perhaps they'll get more time in the sequel, but as it is, this was not the "Superman and Lex Luthor" or "Professor X and Magneto" style rivalry promised. While Victor constantly thought about Eli and craved vengeance, Eli did not have the same level of hatred for Victor. I even felt like Victor's reason to want revenge in the first place was a little anti-climactic.

He was so ready to kill his friend for calling the police even though he had just killed their mutual friend/Eli's girlfriend. Also, I would have appreciated seeing more of Eli's religious zeal back in the collage days. It seemed like he prayed twice and the rest was just Victor saying "he believed in God" like twenty times.

Overall this didn't affect my enjoyment as much as it could have, but did keep this book from a 5 star rating. 

I actually thought the secondary antagonist, Serena, was more interesting than Eli. Her struggle with her powers and her relationship with her sister were all extremely interesting and paid off in satisfying ways for the most part.

I almost wish she got what she wanted in the end, and that they found a way to disobey her, and that caused her death, but oh well. I still really liked her as an antagonist.

Also, as an Asexual myself, I appreciate that Victor is a canon biromantic asexual, and I just want to say how happy I was to realize that he was ace. Overall I personally approved of the representation.

I definitely recommend this for fans of darker superhero content, like Joker. While it falls a little short of its true potential, the story is still a satisfying ride with characters you hate to love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Gun violence, Violence, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Drug abuse, Animal death, Torture, and Blood

Moderate: Chronic illness and Child death

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content

adamparrishlover's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Murder