Reviews

The Vindico by Wesley King

izzys_internet_bookshelf's review

2.0

2/5

I was excited to read this because it was said to be a mixture of the breakfast club and x men. I felt like the characters weren’t explored as much as they could have and it was like they were just following along with instructions

ghutter05's review

1.0

It was a dnf for me, but I could have finished it. It wasn't bad, exactly, but it wasn't good, and I have a lot of other books waiting. Too many characters introduced in exactly the same way in the beginning felt cookie cutter-ish, and the writing seemed somewhat clumsy. I picked it up because it popped up on my weeding list and I wanted to give it a chance, but I think it's going to have to go.

_camk_'s review

3.0

Five teenagers are kidnapped and become protegees to super-villains. They learn how to use powers and some get capes. However, when the line between good and bad blurs, these teens may just have to choose a side.

The Vindico possesses a very simple writing style that is better aimed towards a younger age group. It is stuck between trying to make the content more mature yet the writing lets it down.

King also got caught in the ever dangerous story no-no: introducing too many characters at one time. You meet the five protegees chapter after chapter so when you get to chapter Six you do not actually remember the first character you read about. Add five more characters, the super villains as well as the super heroes and that is just too many characters for 272 pages. The characters in turn are not well developed and all the protegees seem to take the whole situation in their strode.

The book has insta-love in it also, which is BAD on this blog. Thankfully, it does not play a huge part in the book so it was easy to skip past.

The book relies heavily on the concept of death but it is talked about in an uncomfortable way. I know super-villains do not really have much care for causing someone death but these super-villains talk about death in a strange way where they convey no emotion; no pride or regret. It was just strange to read for me. As writing, it did not read well at all.

Final Thought.
Despite the interesting concept of "X-Men meets Breakfast Club", King fails to execute a story that would connect with anyone.

cherryslush's review

5.0

Read it along time ago, but an enjoyable read from what I remember.

*Edit: After reading it again it was more of a three star read instead. But nolstalgia wins, so it's still five stars. :)

calynnali's review

1.0

Quit at page 118.

I wanted this to be an outrageous school for villains. Like, Phineas and Ferb style villains.

BUT, then I started to get the vibe that this was more of a. 'Misunderstood villains, and the heroes are actually the bad guys', and I was okay with that.

Sadly, this was mix of the two. It did not know what it wanted to be! There were all the clues that the heroes couldn't be trusted, but then the villains were TOTAL DICKS! On top of that the setting, world building, and characters were all uninspired. There were also LOTS of perspectives...but only one voice. The douchey cool guy was the only character I could really distinguish from all the voices. I just couldn't follow what was happening.

There was mystery aspect, but honestly I just don't care enough to reads on and find out who the real dicks are...or maybe everyone is just misunderstood. I don't care.

This is called YA, but really it's written more like middle grade. Because of the senseless bullying and violence though, I don't think kids should read this book. That isn't good for a kids book.

cjyu's review

4.0

3.75 stars

Kinda... Weird in a good way. I still think it's the League who's the actual bad guys....
Hayden is absolutely hilarious. Interested in the next book.

maisha_adil's review

3.0

What I really liked about The Vindico was how unique the plot was. The whole superhero idea was turned upside down because this book took place from the point of view of the villains. Basically the Vindico (the super villains) had specially chosen 5 kids to become their proteges who would take their place in the future. After kidnapping them and bringing them to Vindico HQ, the super villains trained the proteges to use their powers so they would be able to defeat the League of Heroes, their arch enemies. Overall, I have to say I liked it, although there were times that the plot confused me.

evaosterlee's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

not_a_violin's review

2.0

It was fun and kind of light hearted, but I didn't think it was that great.

As for the characters, I felt disconnected from most of them most of the time. I could understand some of their actions...some. I know I didn't like Hayden, and I didn't like Lana all that much, either. Sometimes, Emily was alright, and James was OK, but Sam got to me sometimes. He was OK, though, because he was so young.

The story was entertaining and kind of cool, but I found myself wondering whether or not to carry on a lot. Around page sixty, I almost gave up, but I let it go. It got more interesting after that, but I almost gave up again around 150. After that, I realized there wasn't all that much left, so I just went ahead and finished it quickly.

Oddly enough, I want to read the next book so I can see what happens to the characters when they finally get their chance, so I had to say why I rated this book so low. If I had the ability the rating would probably be more along the lines of 2.5 or 2.25. I just couldn't see myself giving it anything above a two on the rating.

jcika's review

2.0

I was really drawn to the concept of this book - troubled kids "recruited" to become the next big villains. It was refreshing to see a story where good guys versus bad guys wasn't so black and white. The book is definitely written for a younger crowd, and the writing style was fairly plain/simple. I would have liked to see more development with the villains, and most of the kids seemed rather bland, with a total lack of conviction. A good, quick read, though I hope the sequel provides more depth to the characters (with so many characters, it's hard to give any one too much attention).