Scan barcode
car_theauthor's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
5.0
strategineer's review against another edition
2.0
There's no denying that V.E. Schwab is a great writer. She's able to construct stories that entice you to keep reading despite the underlying story not being all it's cracked up to be.
Her Villains duology leaves me feeling empty. She knows what the big moments she wants to have in her story are and she constantly steers her characters in the direction of those big moments without it feeling earned.
Usually her characters haphazardly waffle about, forcing her to quickly redirect the paths of characters such that the big moments can happen as she imagines them.
But these big moments come out of nowhere and don't feel earned. She has a hard time writing characters that feel real.
The choice to go back and forth between various times allows the author to patch holes in her story to make it make more sense. It also gives her an A plot (present) / B plot (past) to keep you occupied. But it's a crutch that hurts more than it helps because it gives her ample room to hang herself with a paper thin plot and cardboard cutout characters.
To be fair, in Vengeful, the characters have a lot more life to them compared to the first novel. It sucks that none of the characters other than our two heartthrob hot men Eli and Victor (the most shippable pair to ever grace a page) matter or have any sort of character arc.
Every character in this story serves only to set up the final confrontation between Eli and Victor. They don't exist outside of that.
I need a break from V. E. Schwab. Her Darker Shades of Magic series is better than this one overall.
The Villains series is all style no substance. It's the novel equivalent of the Transformer movies. It's a "Blockbuster", it's got a lot of flashing lights and cool effects but it lacks anything underneath the surface.
There's nothing stopping someone from writing a great story with sexy shippable pairs of all kinds for fans to write heinously explicit fan fiction about but Vengeful isn't one of them.
Her Villains duology leaves me feeling empty. She knows what the big moments she wants to have in her story are and she constantly steers her characters in the direction of those big moments without it feeling earned.
Usually her characters haphazardly waffle about, forcing her to quickly redirect the paths of characters such that the big moments can happen as she imagines them.
But these big moments come out of nowhere and don't feel earned. She has a hard time writing characters that feel real.
The choice to go back and forth between various times allows the author to patch holes in her story to make it make more sense. It also gives her an A plot (present) / B plot (past) to keep you occupied. But it's a crutch that hurts more than it helps because it gives her ample room to hang herself with a paper thin plot and cardboard cutout characters.
To be fair, in Vengeful, the characters have a lot more life to them compared to the first novel. It sucks that none of the characters other than our two heartthrob hot men Eli and Victor (the most shippable pair to ever grace a page) matter or have any sort of character arc.
Every character in this story serves only to set up the final confrontation between Eli and Victor. They don't exist outside of that.
I need a break from V. E. Schwab. Her Darker Shades of Magic series is better than this one overall.
The Villains series is all style no substance. It's the novel equivalent of the Transformer movies. It's a "Blockbuster", it's got a lot of flashing lights and cool effects but it lacks anything underneath the surface.
There's nothing stopping someone from writing a great story with sexy shippable pairs of all kinds for fans to write heinously explicit fan fiction about but Vengeful isn't one of them.
barbarazs's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
josies02's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 ⭐️ and so much to say
audiobook???? immaculate. voice actor was so good
marcella? THE SEXIEST WOMAN ALIVE FUCKING HELL
victor vale??? KILLING SOMEONE WITH GUN FINGERS UGH
THE WAY ALL OF THE PLOT COMES TOGETHER OH ITS GENIUS OH ITS BEAUITFUL
dominic my unsung hero he’s so fucking cool this is what inspired my goodreads review he’s just saved victor again he’s carrying fr. WTF WTF WTF i’m back because he literally just died and i didn’t expect it even tho i knew most spoilers and i’ve never been sadder my little meow meow i’ll never forget you
eli kinda slay but i think i just like how the narrator plays him. but his backstory??? marcella trying to kill him and eli already regenerating ugh that was so hot
ELI AND VICTOR ELI AND VICTOR GOD THEYRE SO OBSESSED JUST SO SO GAY CODED. run. chase me.
sydney and mitch <333
the last 4 hours of this audiobook had me SNATCHED i coudlnt stop it’s all so sexy
i have a bit of a crush on stell
sorry but victor is so DAD like he cares about sydney so much and their relationship is just so GAHHHHHH
audiobook???? immaculate. voice actor was so good
marcella? THE SEXIEST WOMAN ALIVE FUCKING HELL
victor vale??? KILLING SOMEONE WITH GUN FINGERS UGH
THE WAY ALL OF THE PLOT COMES TOGETHER OH ITS GENIUS OH ITS BEAUITFUL
dominic my unsung hero he’s so fucking cool this is what inspired my goodreads review he’s just saved victor again he’s carrying fr. WTF WTF WTF i’m back because he literally just died and i didn’t expect it even tho i knew most spoilers and i’ve never been sadder my little meow meow i’ll never forget you
eli kinda slay but i think i just like how the narrator plays him. but his backstory??? marcella trying to kill him and eli already regenerating ugh that was so hot
ELI AND VICTOR ELI AND VICTOR GOD THEYRE SO OBSESSED JUST SO SO GAY CODED. run. chase me.
sydney and mitch <333
the last 4 hours of this audiobook had me SNATCHED i coudlnt stop it’s all so sexy
i have a bit of a crush on stell
sorry but victor is so DAD like he cares about sydney so much and their relationship is just so GAHHHHHH
valecore'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
tatyanavogt's review against another edition
4.0
Okay, so although I really enjoyed this book, I wasn't as hooked as I was with the first book. I felt like all the new characters were interesting and the different story lines were cool but I was missing that big clear purpose that drove the plot along in the first book. The big thing that you're rooting for, that you're waiting for, that you're trying to uncover.
In this book I felt like I was reading different stories that were not really connected and although they did converge at some point it wasn't as satisfying as I would have liked considering how long I was waiting. Again I still really enjoyed it and gave it a high star rating regardless. I love the world, I love the characters and I love just hearing about and learning about the different E.O.s in the world.
In this book I felt like I was reading different stories that were not really connected and although they did converge at some point it wasn't as satisfying as I would have liked considering how long I was waiting. Again I still really enjoyed it and gave it a high star rating regardless. I love the world, I love the characters and I love just hearing about and learning about the different E.O.s in the world.
jenbeforemen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0