Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

60 reviews

kryzysowa_narzeczona's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Medical trauma

lizgriffinwords's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

It’s been days since I finished this book and I still don’t know how to adequately sum it up. The Villians Verse is closely tied with Darker Shades for my favorite of Schwab’s universes. The tension grips the reader relentlessly, and though there are many POVs and timeline shifts, I never felt lost. Learning Eli’s backstory brings so much sympathy to his character, his faith and guilt and implied neurodivergence all ring so true.

CW: death, murder, violence (including gun violence)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Domestic abuse

avajhall's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

snapweed's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual assault

queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

5.0

5 ⭐ CW: violence, gun violence, domestic abuse, child abuse, suicide, murder, sexual content, prescription drug misuse, torture, medical horror, descriptions of blood and gore 

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content

sunrae_booknook's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this book so much. I usually am not a fan of book two but this was better than the first. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

epsyphus's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

The new characters and old ones balanced out nicely; I thought new ones forced the old ones into very interesting situations. The dual timeline thing was a little more complicated with more characters, but it was still manageable. I'd kill to read the third book right now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Torture, Blood, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death

kaadee'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This one blew me out of the fucking water, dude. From the first page and Marcella’s death to the very end! I fell in love with Victor, which I didn’t like him before. I felt sorry for Eli which I honestly didn’t expect to. I enjoyed June A LOT but I feel her character didn’t have enough background! I need more. I need more. I need more. I love Sydney and Mitch. I love that Sydney and Victor have a specific special relationship. This book really brought the thunder. I was hoping the whole time for an enemies to lovers thing with Victor and Eli but of course, no. They were so in love with each other and they just had bitter ex energy the whole time. I love the way they thought about each other, even if it was in a very fucked up way.

Eagerly waiting for the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition

4.5

 4.5 rounded up! I'm so glad that Victorious is coming, that ending sure is a hanger. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Sexism, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death

thebankofbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, and Suicide attempt