Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

5 reviews

mynameisrebecca's review

Go to review page

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

on_your_raedar's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

5.0

This was so good! Once I got into it, it was really hard to put down (the library due date helped some too 😂😂). 

Fastest summary: this book is about Eli, a college student, that does his thesis on extraordinary (EOs) people and his roommate Victor, the POV you spend majority of the book in, work together to test Eli’s theories into practice to see if they can make EOs. Victor accidentally kills someone with his gift and Eli turns him in and goes on a self righteous kick using religion as his motivator. You spend the whole book waiting for the V and E show down. 

I’m not sure if the intent was to make Victor a likeable character but I really liked him. Mitch was easily my favorite character, I really hope the6 make this into a movie or tv show and get his character right because I’d love to see him. Sydney was a solid character, she’s really young so I’m excited to see her growth if she’s in book 2, especially with
her not knowing that Victor killed her sister, not Eli. I can already feel the tension there, but I hope it works out.
 

Needless to say, I have book 2 ready to start and also another book by the author. I could easily see V.E. creeping into my top 5 authors and I’m ready.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

chronicacademia's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

itsnotalakeitsanocean's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark 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

2.5

Pros
  • I really liked some of the side characters, particularly Mitch, Sydney, Serena and Dom. I think in the case of the first three, we got a more throrough look into their lives and how circumstances changed their lives. Are they the most interesting characters of all time? No, but they were better than the two men who were supposed to be the focus of the book in my opinion.
  • It did get interesting with the countdown to Vic and Eli's showdown towards the end of the book.
  • I think Dom's powers were very interesting (reminded me a little of Homura's time stop powers from Madoka Magica) and my favourite of the bunch, and I would have liked to have seen the full extent of their powers.

Cons
  • The two main leads felt kind of generic and cookie-cutter compared to characters and I feel like I've seen characters based in this concept of intimate enemies done infinitely better in other pieces of media. These guys feel like all edge, little substance (mostly on Vic's part with the latter).
  • Eli's religious bigotry compounded with his mental health issues just came off as a lazy excuse to make him "the truly evil character" and frankly ableist concerning the latter (i.e. the "he's evil because he's crazy" stereotype). With the former I feel like there wasn't much exploration into what made him that way, and I feel like he just ended up repeating the same hollow sentiments of God wanting EOs dead because they're freaks etc. over and over. This could have been improved by exploring his religious upbringing more, which I think could have lended some more opportunities for darker moments.
  • Speaking of, I don't like how Dom was introduced so late into the story and ended up being treated more as a get-out-of-danger-free card instead of a fully fledged character which is especially damning when he is physically disabled.
  • I think the timeline constantly jumping around harmed more than helped the narrative. I think the book took longer for me to read than it actually did because I had to do mental gymnastics to keep track of who did what that I feel like I forgot some important details along the way.
  • I think the way Serena was killed was kind of out of nowhere and felt cheap. Then again I might be biased because I really liked her character and the ways in which she was lowkey terrifying
  • On a similar note Angie felt like she was just there to be the generic love interest that got fridged partway through the story.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

emily_reads09's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.75

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...